Same-sex marriage and Judaism

As the issue of same-sex marriage has broached the forefront of social and political consciousness in the United States over the past few years, it has also become more prevalent in the Jewish community as well.

The Conservative Movement was the last of Judaism’s liberal streams to adopt a more progressive streamlined approach to dealing with issues related to homosexuality.

[2] Even within the insular Orthodox community, there is a small, but growing population of individuals and leaders who are actively engaged in the struggle for same-sex marriage as a secular institution in America.

Despite the general consensus against same-sex marriage, there are some dissenters including Rabbi Steven Greenberg who argues new interpretation of the halacha that is more accepting of homosexual people is required.

The ruling was reversed, however, in June 2012, the Committee of Jewish Law and Standards voted on the issue of same-sex marriage with thirteen for, zero against, and one abstention.

[7][9] Some synagogues within Conservative Judaism still reject recognition of same-sex unions as marriages, but permit celebration of commitment ceremonies, in part as an expression of their belief that scripture requires monogamy of all sexually active couples.

In 1997 the General Assembly of the Union for Reform Judaism (formerly known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations) passed a resolution supporting secular efforts to promote legislation which would provide through civil marriage equal opportunity for gay men and lesbians; encouraging its constituent congregations to honor monogamous domestic relationships formed by gay men or lesbians; and supporting the efforts of the CCAR "in its ongoing work as it studies the appropriateness of religious ceremonies for use in a celebration of commitment recognizing a monogamous domestic relationship between two Jewish gay men or two Jewish lesbians.

Also in 1998, the Responsa Committee of the CCAR issued a lengthy teshuvah (rabbinical opinion) that offered detailed argumentation in support of both sides of the question whether a rabbi may officiate at a commitment ceremony for a same-sex couple.

Also in 2000, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, the Reform seminary, established the Institute for Judaism, Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity to "educate HUC-JIR students on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues to help them challenge and eliminate homophobia and heterosexism; and to learn tools to be able to transform the communities they encounter into ones that are inclusive and welcoming of LGBT Jews".