LGBT Book Readings at the Jewish Community Library

Reconciling queerness with religion has always been an enormous challenge. When the religion is Orthodox Judaism, the task is even more daunting. The anthology Keep Your Wives Away from Them, edited by Miryam Kabakov, takes on that challenge by giving voice to lesbian, bisexual and transgender Jewish women who were once silenced—and effectively rendered invisible—by their faith. It tells the story of those who have come out, who are still closeted, living double lives, or struggling to maintain an integrated "single life" in relationship to traditional Judaism.

How can transgender people live pious Jewish lives when many of their significant life choices might be considered “un-kosher”? How might parenting be complicated, or perhaps, enhanced, when one parent has changed sex? How does it feel to be in “men only” ritual space when you were once defined by your community as female? Balancing on the Mechitza is an anthology by activists, theologians, and scholars, both transgender and non-transgender allies, who share their interpretation of Jewish texts about ambiguous bodies, as well as their sacred and secular stories

                                                                                                                                     

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                                               Both readings are free and open to the public at the San Francisco Bureau of Jewish Education (BJE) Jewish Community Library. The library is located at 1835 Ellis Street, San Francisco, 94115, between Scott and Pierce on the campus of the Jewish Community High School. There is free garage parking at the entrance on Pierce Street between Ellis and Eddy. For more information contact Allison at (415) 567-3327, ext 703 or ajgreen@bjesf.org.

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Gay Ugandan refugee finds home in Jewish Bay Area

Yasher Koach and Todah Rabah to Avi Rose & Jewish Family and Children Services of the East Bay as well as all of those that were involved.

Do you remember when a few Americans got involved in launching a political movement to eliminate homosexuality in Uganda? How about when The Rachel Maddow Show covered this anti-gay hysteria with the catchy title, “Uganda Be Kidding Me“? Do you remember learning about the murder of David Kato after a Ugandan media outlet published his name and photograph along with 99 additional Ugandan leaders with the corresponding title, “Top 100 Homosexuals – Hang Them”? (read more)

It was within this mishigas that Bay Area LGBT Jewish community leader, Avi Rose with Jewish Family and Children’s Services of the East Bay (JFCS) began to take action. Now, Danny Dyson, a Ugandan refugee who gained asylum status based on all of this anti-gay persecution, is living here in the Bay Area.

What’s next? Gay refugees settling in our community from Iran? Yes! I understand more LGBT folks will be joining us from both Iran and Uganda soon thanks again to Avi Rose, JFCS, a few philanthropists and the Direction of Neil Grungras with the Organization for Refuge Asylum and Migration (ORAM). These amazing leaders and advocates truly help make our Jewish community shine…

Related articles

• Learn more about our new Bay Area community member Danny Dyson, in a article by Matt O’Brien, Gay Ugandan Refugee Finds Home in Bay Area (Contra Costs Times)
• Ugandan ‘Kill the Gays’ Bill Is Back (Bilerico.com)
• Network with Bay Area LGBT Jewish Professionals over a free five-series lunch and learn! (Jewish Community Federation)
• What is the group that advocates for refugees fleeing sexual or gender based violence all about? (ORAM)
• Tulituuka Women’s Group : Uganda (Kiva.org)
• Queer and Jewish? Looking for something to do in San Francisco? Take a look at our LGBT Calendar! (Jewish Federation)
• Uganda Is Trying To Sneak The “Kill The Gays” Bill Under Our Noses (queerty.com)

 

Celebrating life, legacy and 5 foot tall lesbians

Each time I walk by one of the many billboards across town proudly showcasing a rather butch-presenting 5′ tall Gertrude Stein, I have a little self-loving-pride moment. I have a feeling that I am not the only 5’3″ Jewish woman who finds the sight similarly validating. But sadly, this spectacular pride-filled San Francisco Summer of Stein will come to a close at both the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) and the Contemporary Jewish Museum (CJM) on September 6 (event listing)… So, folks, go to the exhibitions soon or you will miss it… Need a little nudge to get there? Take a look at a few shots of folks in our community who have already enjoyed a little Parisian summer time fun…

Don’t let the summer go by without experiencing how the City of San Francisco is celebrating the life, legacy and lesbianism of two Jewish icons, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas on view now through Sept. 6 (learn more). Continue to get to know who makes up this incredible queer Jewish community by tagging yourself and your friends in these and more of the photos from the summer on facebook.

Related articles

• SFist Reviews: Four Saints in Three Acts (sfist.com)
• Volunteers are my personal hero’s and further, they are serious superstars! Thank you for your help. (qjew.wordpress.com)
• Lesbian couple ejected from Gertude Stein exhibit (jta.org)
• Gertrude Stein Through Artists’ Eyes (npr.org)
• The infamous brownies of Miss Alice B. Toklas. (inaparisstateofmind.wordpress.com)
• After Anti-Gay Incident, Let’s All Hold Hands At SF Museum (lezgetreal.com)
• be here or there or there rain or shine (qjew.wordpress.com)
• Exhibition Shows Fierce Art Patronage of the Fierce Steins (nytimes.com)
• SFMOMA ‘Steins Collect’ – labels tell more (sfgate.com)

 

finding the community that works for you

san francisco is the home of the third largest metropolitan jewish community in north america and within this number are approximately 36,000 lgbt queer self-identified jews. i get asked a lot about how to find “the” queer jewish community. meaning to many that are asking, “where is the community? you know, the one that distinctly pulses with fabulous people sort of like me?”

i don’t have a definitive answer but it seems folks generally want to know where to physically find the queer jews that they want to hang-out with, to date, to fall in love with, to have a family with, to network with, to simply know who and where they are…  so far, in my relatively short time in the bay area, it seems that the community is made up several intersecting times. each time seeming to intersect within a microcosm of a few respected and connected people. these people also seem to make the time to show-up, often bravely alone, at events or activities that seem to share similar themes and values to them.

so this is one of the reasons why i am constantly populating our queer jewish community calendar with ways that queer jewish folks (and their family and friends) can get involved and get connected to the community.  so take a look and match your interests with the events listed (film festivals, israel travel, active-activism like the aids walk, family camping weekends, foodie conferences, art exhibitions…) and find the community of queer jews that works for you.

Related articles

• Jewish LGBT organizations stake claim in SF (Heather Cassell for ebar.com)
• a new queer jewish san francisco based blog with lots of photos of local queer jews  (jewga.tumblr.com)
• Religion: My Struggle to be Jewish and Queer (pinkbananaworld.com)
• Choosing Femme: Visibility, Safety, Community, Liberation (queeringjew.com)
• Things You Should Never Ask a Jew of Color (Black, Gay & Jewish Blog)
• Volunteers are my personal hero’s and further, they are serious superstars! Thank you for your help. (qjew.wordpress.com)
• Pink Washed: Gay Rights and the Mideast Conflict (Salon.com)
• Oy Gay! (Jewish Journal)
• Kirtzono a forum for Orthodox Jewish parents with LGBT children
• With flurry of new local studies, Jewish communities seeing trends and making changes (jta.org)
• Claiming our Inheritance at the Boston Dyke March (queerinterfaithcommunity.org)
• Tirtzah: A Community of Frum Gay Women
• Shalom! Sasha T. Goldberg! Shalom! (qjew.wordpress.com)

 

Volunteers are my personal hero’s and further, they are serious superstars! Thank you for your help.

For the past several years my work has allowed me to partner with several organizations at our two-day Jewish Community Outreach booth at San Francisco Pride.

The partners we choose is based on their continuous efforts in distinguishing themselves as partners in the work of celebrating our diverse LGBT Jewish community.

Thank you to the Contemporary Jewish Museum (CJM) and Be’chol Lashon, meaning In Every Tongue in Hebrew, who contributed as primary partners to the San Francisco Pride Jewish Community outreach booth.

A next huge thank you to the professional partners of Kol Tzedek, Keshet, Nehirim, A Wider Bridge, NUJLS and Congregation Sha’ar Zahav for making this year such a success.

An additional thank you needs to be extended to Sierra Gonzalez, the Marketing & Audience Strategy Associate at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), for loaning us the Backdrop depicting Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas’s Salon at their famous 27 Rue de Fleur apartment in Paris taken in 1934.

For our volunteers, staff and selfless-schlepps alike please feel just one more huge thank you. These folks are superstars in my heart: Adar Schneider, Amy Rabbino, Ariel Chasnoff, Daniel Sanson, Dakota Hunter, Daryl Carr, David Zeeman, Dr. Donny Inbar, Erik Ludwig, Esther Gibian Fishman, Glen So, Harriett Hardy, Johnny Sun, Josh Weisman, Kevin Johnson, Leah Greenberg, Marissa, Maxwell Kopeikin, Melanie Samay, Rachel Levinson, Zach Ruleymeyer, Rabbi David Baur and Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder.

Lastly, a very sincere deep thanks needs to be saved for Diane Tobin. Diane, who is the Director of Be’chol Lashon, modeled exceptional community partnership, friendship and professionalism.

אַ דאַנק. Thank you. তোমাকে ধন্যবাদ. 谢谢. salamat. Thank you. σας ευχαριστώ. Mèsi poutèt ou. תודה. Dankie. شكرا. Terima kasih. ありがとう. با تشکر از شما. 감사합니다. Muchas gracias. آپ کا شکریہ. 

 

what are you living with? this film provides moments of hope and validation for folks living and thriving with HIV/AIDS. want to see it with friends? i have two tickets left!

Commemorating the 30-year anniversary of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, The HIV Story Project (a non-profit based in   San Francisco) presents the West Coast premiere of Still Around on Friday, June 24^th, 2011 as part of Frameline35, San Francisco’s International LGBT Film Festival at the Castro Theatre.

The feature length short film compilation brings together sixteen San Francisco Bay Area filmmakers and fifteen local subjects to tell powerful stories about people living and thriving with HIV/AIDS.Want to see it with me and my friends Donny Inbar and Kevin Johnson on Friday? We have two more tickets available.

 

 

marc smolowitz is still around and shines brightly with 15 stories of hope

you might know my friend, marc smolowitz. maybe you know him from his days organizing in the castro with the act-up movement. maybe you took one of his courses at the art institute of california, or you might know his name because he directed and produced a few highly awarded films. you might know him because of his local leadership at full circle fund, sf public press, jewish film festival, or san francisco’s access public cable tv. folks might know him because he served on the jewish community federation’s lgbt alliance board. i just know him, love him, have been mentored by him and want to share that he is very much still around.

this month is the 30th anniversary of HIV/AIDS. and marc has been preparing by devoting the past two years to create the HIV Story Project. this new npo produced an unrivaled collection of 15 stories by local directors. each story speaks to what survival for our times mean. still around shows people living and thriving with HIV/AIDS. even 30-years into this epidemic, this work is groundbreaking by featuring stories of hope and courage. marc’s most recent work is a definitive ‘must see’.

let me know if you will be in the audience supporting this film, these local producers, directors and frameline on friday june 24 at the castro theatre (1:15pm w. a 3:30 after-party at the Lookout co-hosted by AIDS Healthcare Foundation). trust me, you can do all of this before pride shabbat begins this friday (get tickets). the screening is co-presented by various HIV/AIDS nonprofits and the directors and subjects are expected to be in attendance for a post-screening question and answer session.

Related articles

• Frameline Opens Tonight with a host of LGBT Queer Jewish filmmakers to support! (qjew.wordpress.com)
• What We’re Reading: How Ghana has more than halved its HIV/AIDS rate (one.org)
• AIDS/LifeCycle Stories: Oldest LifeCycle Participant Inspired By Daughter’s Early Work With HIV Patients (towleroad.com)
• The Stigma Double Standard (projecthopeful.wordpress.com)

 

Frameline Opens Tonight with a host of LGBT Queer Jewish filmmakers to support!

How does this happen? Each year Frameline jumps into the middle of the best month of the year with some of the hotest and most incredible films and on the day of the opening night I am hustling to buy tickets before everything sells out.  As I need to be organized about which films to see, I created a list. Some of the films I am opting to see this year are made by Jewish LGBT local leaders and friends and some of the films I am opting to see are simply themed around the complexity of queer Jewish identities.

So if you are like me and you want to attend at least a few of the 200+ films at the the oldest and largest GLBT Film Festival in the world, we need to get on it and purchase our tickets today. So, just in case you want a cheat sheet to Frameline, here is mine…

Films based in Jewish Identity

• The Queen Has No Crown – Israel, 2011, 85 Min. with an ASL Assisted Intro & Q&A with Tomer Heymann on Saturday, June 18, 6:30 PM at the Roxie Theater
• Christopher and His Kind –  USA, 2010, 90 Min. shown as the Gala Closing Night Screening Sunday, June 26, 7:30 PM shown at the Castro Theatre followed by the Closing Night Party at the Contemporary Jewish Museum
• 30 is the new 12 –  USA, 2010, 30 min. shown on Friday, June 24, 9:30 PM at the Roxie Theater featured within Girl Scouting
• A Word – Israel, 2010, 19 min. shown on Saturday, June 25, 1:15 PM at the Castro Theatre featured withinWorldly Affairs  
• Splitting Hares – San Francisco & Israel, 2011, 6 Min. shown on Wednesday, June 22, 9:30 PM at the Roxie Theater within Fluidity – Bisexual Shorts
• The Time In Between – Norway, 2009, 24 Minute Running Time shown on Thursday, June 23, 9:30 PM at the Roxie Theater within She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not

Films Directed and/or Produced by local LGBT Jewish leaders

• Celebrating the Life of Del Martin – San Francisco, 2011, 57 Min. Directed by Debra Chasnoff. Shown on Friday, June 17, 11:30 AM at the Castro Theatre.   
• Blink – San Francisco, 2010, 8 Min. directed by Yoni Klein and Alka Joshi. Shown on Tuesday, June 21, 1:30 PM at the Castro Theatre within The Grove.
• The Grove – San Francisco, 2011 62 Min. Directed and Produced by Andy Abrahams Wilson. Shown on Tuesday, June 21, 1:30 PM at the Castro Theatre 
• Still Around –San Francisco, 2011, 85 Min. a feature length compilation of 15 short films produced by Marc Smolowitz. Shown on Friday, June 24, 1:15 PM at the Castro Theatre.
• Gillian– San Francisco, 2010, 11 Min. Directed by Martin Rawlings-Fein. Shown on Wednesday, June 22, 7:00 PM at the Victoria Theatre within Transtastic!
• Spiral Transition – San Francisco, 2010, 6 min. Directed by Ewan Duarte. Shown on Wednesday, June 22, 7:00 PM at the Victoria Theatre within Transtastic!
• Genderbusters – San Francisco, 2010, 6 min. Directed by Sam Berliner. Shown twice! Wednesday, June 22, 7:00 PM at the Victoria Theatre within Transtastic! and Friday, June 24, 4:00 PM at the Castro Theatre within Dyke Delights.
• Perception – San Francisco, 2010, 2 min. Directed by Sam Berliner. Shown on Thursday, June 23, 11:00 AM at the Castro Theatre within Queertoons.
• We Who Are Sexy: The Whirlwind History of Transgender Images in Cinema – Live on-stage conversation and film clip presentation, 90 min. with film historians Jenni Olson and Susan Stryker on Sunday, June 19, 2:00 PM at the Victoria Theatre.

There's just one day left before the World Premiere of Debra Chasnoff’s latest film, Celebrating the Life of Del Martin on Friday, June 17 at 11:30am at the Castro Theater.

Coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the first reported AIDS cases, local filmmaker Andy Abrahams Wilson will be screening his new work, The Grove. His film which gives a history on the AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park shown at Frameline on June 21 at 1:30pm at the Castro Theater.

Israeli filmmaker Tomer Heymann will be speaking after showing his film The Queen Has No Crown on Saturday evening, June 18 at the Roxie Theater 6:30pm.

Marc Smolowitz is one of the local filmmakers who produced Still Around. This feature length compilation of 15 short films will be shown on Friday, June 24, 1:15 PM at the Castro Theatre.

Martin Rawlings-Fein is another local filmmaker who will show a film at Frameline this year. His short film, Gillian will be shown on Wednesday, June 22, 7:00 PM at the Victoria Theatre within Transtastic!

Local filmmakers Yoni Klein and Alka Joshi created Blink an 8 minute short that will be shown on Tuesday, June 21, 1:30 PM at the Castro Theatre within The Grove.

Related articles

• Frameline festival celebrates 35th year (sfgate.com)
• Many ways to celebrate (sfgate.com)
• Have you started to celebrate LGBT Pride month yet? Here is my top ten moments that I look forward to each year in San Francisco. (qjew.wordpress.com)
• Frameline35 LGBT film fest bigger and stronger (sfgate.com)

 

Another spectacular Stein opening

An American Jewish family, the Steins – writer Gertrude, her love Alice B. Toklas and her brothers Leo and Michael, and Michael’s wife, Sarah lived as expatriates in early 20th century Paris. They were among the first to recognize the talents of avant-garde painters like Henri Matisse, Paul Cézanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Pablo Picasso. For the past decade the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) has been drawing on collections from around the world to reunite the the Steins’ unparalleled holdings of modern art. I was able to see the opening of this spectacular exhibition at SF MOMA on Friday evening joined by my dear friend Douglas Bondick.

Appealing mostly to the LGBT Jewish family or queer art aficionados I have put together a few events on our Jewish Community Federation community calendar so you too can enjoy the Stein Salon amongst friends (or soon to be friends).

 

Honor the memory and birthday of one of our most globally recognized San Francisco Gay Jewish leaders with your own messages of hope!

Come Out! Come Out! Wherever you are and celebrate the 2nd Annual Harvey Milk Day this weekend! Harvey Milk, the New York born and raised son of Jewish immigrants became the first openly gay man elected to a major public office in 1978. Sadly, within a few months of his San Francisco election he was assassinated (more). Harvey’s memory is now being remembered, celebrated and honored globally each year on his birthday as a day of action. Celebrate by telling your story and taking action. Celebrate by suggesting more LGBT Jewish hero’s to honor with the Hineini Visibility Project.  Learn more about Harvey Milk and how to honor his memory…

 

Change your Facebook profile picture to this 1953-54 US Navy photo provided here for download from the Harvey Milk Foundation