Rabbi addresses gay rights, right wing
Lesbian rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum blamed conservative ideologues for stalling gay rights in a speech Wednesday sponsored by the Jewish studies department. Titled "Moral Values?: The Challenge the Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transsexual Jewish Community Poses to the Radical Right Wing," the lecture was sponsored through the Mary and William Barnet II 1934 family fund, which brings lecturers to speak on topics that influence the Jewish community. Since 1992, Kleinbaum has been the senior rabbi of New York City's Congregation Beth Simchat Torahk, the world's largest and second-oldest lesbian and gay synagogue since 1992. Kleinbaum began her speech by holding up the front page of an issue of The New York Times, which included a photograph and article featuring six major leaders of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, who gathered in Jerusalem to protest plans for a gay pride festival. "When I first picked up the paper, I thought, if you would know anything about religion then you would know that these six men do not speak to each other," Kleinbaum said.