TIMES OF ISRAEL
by Gabe Friedman
April 28, 2015

A group of modern Orthodox rabbis have done what advocates for Orthodox gays and lesbians say would have been unthinkable as recently as five years ago: They spoke at a conference on the treatment of gay, lesbian and transgender people in Orthodox communities. Four prominent Orthodox rabbis participated in “Faith, Desire and Pyschotherapy,” a conference held April 19 at Columbia University that was said to mark the first time rabbis and mental health researchers engaged in a public discussion about homosexuality and Orthodoxy. A similar discussion was held in 2009 at Yeshiva University without Orthodox rabbinic participation. “There’s no question this was a huge deal,” said Mordechai Levovitz, the co-founder and executive director of Jewish Queer Youth, which advocates for gay Jews in the Orthodox community and helped coordinate the conference. READ MORE