Orthodox, Celibate, Gay and that's OK

« I am a formerly sexually active gay man who has been celibate for more than 13 years as part of my best attempt to follow halacha (Jewish law). I have a heter (permission) from my rabbi not to date, marry, or have children.
...
My personal story:

I started disclosing my homosexuality in college, and found good fellowship with other LGBT Jews. Soon after graduating, I wrote a widely syndicated gay history column, authored a book on the gay past, and owned the largest provider of content to the gay and lesbian press. I also taught gay history at educational institutions in San Jose, West Hollywood, and San Diego, California.

Already by age 20, I was craving better answers to my questions about homosexuality than non-traditional rabbis and Jewish leaders offered. In the 1990s, a widespread gay Jewish attitude toward Leviticus 18:22 (usually translated as "you shall not lie down with a male, as with a woman: this is an abomination") was so pathetic it seems funny today: a liberal Rabbi ... interpreted the verse to mean, essentially: "Don't have sex with a man as with a woman. Have sex with a man as with a man!"»

Orthodox, celibate, gay and that's OK | David Benkof | Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel
http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/orthodox-celibate-gay-and-thats-ok/


Kol Tuv,
RRW