Jewish Council says it is Okay to be Gay
The Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV) has made a significant step towards equality by publicly acknowledging for the first time “it’s okay to be gay”.
Following the JCCV’s release of a statement in support of the No To Homophobia campaign, co-convener of LGBTI Jewish organisation Aleph Melbourne Michael Barnett criticised the JCCV’s failure to publicly affirm gay people in society.
The JCCV responded with the comment: “It’s okay to be gay.”
A follow up statement confirmed the organisation’s position.
“The JCCV joined the No To Homophobia campaign because members of the GLBTI community experience harassment and abuse. This is not ok,” it stated.
“That’s why we joined the campaign, started the reference group—to acknowledge that it’s ok to be gay and to help with reducing mental wellbeing issues and harassment.”
Barnett praised the response, saying it is particularly significant given a majority of the JCCV’s constituent organisations are from the conservative, often anti-gay Orthodox Jewish community.
Barnett called on the JCCV to take further steps in support of the LGBTI community, by working with Jewish organisations like Aleph on strategies to address high rates of suicide, mental health issues and self-harm amongst young LGBTI people.
“A good way to do get this message out to the community is to make it a condition of JCCV membership that affiliate organisations implement such strategies in their organisations,” Barnett said.
You May Also Like
Support the Star Observer… while you still can
LGBTQIA+ media is under threat. Queer content is censored by tech conglomerates who amplify bigotry and push out AI slop — so we receive less financial support than ever.
When our community is muzzled and intolerance intensifies, we need queer media more than ever. Your donation means we can continue paying queer journalists to write queer news.
Don’t rely on the straight lies of big tech – support Star Observer instead and donate now.
