LESSONS FROM THE LAND OF MILK, MARTIN AND MARRIAGE
Rabbi Sydney Mintz
As I sat in the darkened Kabuki Theatre,
surrounded by hundreds of Jews at the Jewish
Community Federation's screening of the
newly released movie Milk, I experienced a
tremendous feeling of deja vu. Its depiction of the lesbian and gay
community's struggle against the Briggs' Amendment in 1978, an
effort to ban gays from teaching in public schools, transported me
back to November 4 of this year, when we not only elected the first
African American president of the United States, but California
citizens voted discrimination into our state's constitution for
the first time in history. I was struck by the immense paradox:
thirty years ago, the gay community successfully fought and won
against discrimination aimed at gay and lesbian teachers. In this
most recent election, Californians voted to take the right to marry
away from this same population. At Congregation Emanu-El,
we experienced a rush of couples, our own members and other
Jews who flocked to California from out of state, hoping to be
married before November 4, just in case Proposition 8 passed
and their right to marry was taken away. Although this is not only
about marriage, and civil rights, it is also about having the right
to marry your partner that grants you 1,049 federal rights that the
unmarried cannot attain. I was struck again, this time as a Jew,
by the irony that on September 15, 1935, in Nazi Germany, the
first of the Nuremberg laws took away the right for a Jew to marry
a German: "Marriages between Jews and subjects of the state of
Germany or related bloods is forbidden. Marriages nevertheless
concluded are invalid, even if concluded abroad to circumvent
this law".
I write about this, not as a warning that we may be traversing
this same horrifying downward-spiral, but as a reminder of our
experience at the hands of those who took away rights that
people assumed were theirs, simply because they were human
beings. In 1958, the political theorist Hannah Arendt, an emigre
from Nazi Germany, wrote an essay entitled "Reflections on
Little Rock", in response to the 1957 civil rights struggle for the
racial integration of Little Rock, Arkansas' public schools. She
wrote that anti-miscegenation laws were a deeper injustice
than the racial segregation of public schools. The free choice
of a spouse, she argued was "an elementary human right:" She
continued, "Even political rights, like the right to vote, and nearly
all other rights enumerated in the Constitution, are secondary
to the inalienable human rights to Ôlife, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness' proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence; and
to this category the right to home and marriage unquestionably
belongs."
Although our country has come a long way in the area of race
relations, it was as recent as 1967, in Loving v. Virginia, that
the United States Supreme Court declared Virginia's antimiscegenation
statute, the "Racial Integrity Act" of 1924,
unconstitutional, thereby overturning the 1883 Pace v. Alabama
ruling and ending all race-based legal restrictions on marriage.
That was 31 years ago. In 2000, Californians voted to support
Proposition 22, the Knight Initiative, which stated simply that:
"Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized
in California." This ballot initiative passed with 61% in support
and 38% opposed. Fast forward to 2008 when I donated money,
time, and effort; spoke out alongside our clergy, who all support
marriage equality and who are all committed to officiating at
same sex marriages. Still, I knew, somewhere in my kishkes, that
Proposition 8 would pass. At a discussion at the dinner table I
asked my sons which they would rather have: victory for Barack
Obama or the defeat of Proposition 8. I wanted to gauge their
understanding of the relative importance and effect of the
presidential election versus that of Proposition 8. They both chose
the victory of Barack Obama. I agreed with them. In order for
our country to move forward toward equality, toward a future of
inclusion and tolerance, compassion and righteousness, I believe
that we need a leader who embodies all of those qualities. We are
moving forward slowly. Unlike in 2000, Proposition 8 passed by
a much slimmer margin of only 53% to 47%. We are heading in
the direction of equality. But, it won't happen without immense
and concerted effort.
This month we celebrate the inauguration of President Barack
Obama and we also celebrate the spirit and life of a man who
dreamed an incredibly courageous dream, Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr. For the past 21 years, our congregation has come together
with the historic Third Baptist Church to remind ourselves of the
possibility of hope, and of our shared dream for the future. We
have been partners in the Back on Track Tutoring Program and
our pulpit exchange for over two decades. This year, the Martin
Luther King Jr. Weekend Pulpit exchange falls on the weekend
prior to the Presidential Inauguration. This year we are planning
something new. We will open the weekend with an "Equality
for All" Shabbat. We are expanding our service to include the
interfaith community, politicians and all those who are reaching
forward toward equality. We do this because it is the right thing
to do, because our Reform movement is in support of marriage
equality and to acknowledge and recognize Reverend Brown's
stance on marriage equality.
At a time when the faith community has been factionalized and
divided around this issue, Reverend Brown stands out as a minority
member of the Baptist community who supports equality for all.
His stance reminds me of my teacher, Rabbi David Hartman,
a member of Israel's Orthodox community who believes that
instead of rehabilitating gays and lesbians to become straight, we
need to rehabilitate the community to accept and include those
members of the Jewish community who have been marginalized
and excluded. By inviting me and other gay and lesbian rabbis
to participate in his rabbinic fellowship at the Shalom Hartman
Institute in Jerusalem, he made a profound and enlightened
statement about belonging and equality,a statement not only to
the Orthodox community, but to the entire Jewish people.
Still, as a rabbi, it is a challenging reality that I can stand under a
chuppah and perform a marriage, while I myself cannot get married
in a same-sex partnership. In some ways, this small personal irony
is perhaps the most illuminating of them all.
So, as we open this new year of 2009, I encourage you to do three
things:
- Go see "Milk".
- Learn about the two pieces of legislation (Senate Resolution
7 and HR 5 in the Assembly) launched by Sen. Mark Leno and
Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (both D-San Francisco). If
approved, the bills would place both houses of the California
Legislature on record as opposing the controversial initiative
of Proposition 8 and declaring it an illegal revision to the state
constitution.
- Join us for the Equality for All Shabbat on Friday night,
January 16 at 7:00 pm in the Main Sanctuary. Bring your
friends, too. Reverend Brown will be delivering the sermon.
Please join us again at Third Baptist Church on Sunday,
January 18, at 10:00 am, where we will pray and remember
and celebrate and commit ourselves anew to continuing our
work and the spirit of our partnership. I will be delivering the
sermon that morning.
When Coretta Scott King, civil rights leader and wife of Dr. King,
was interviewed about marriage equality she said: "I still hear
people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian
and gay people and I should stick to the issue of racial justice. But
I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Injustice
anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." I appeal to everyone
who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream to make room at
the table of brother- and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people."
This year Dr. Martin Luther King would have been 80 years old.
Let us not ask what Dr. King would do today about racism, about
civil rights for gays and lesbians, about the state of affairs in our
country. Instead, now that a new day is dawning, let us each ask
ourselves what can I do to "make justice flow down like water,
and righteousness like a mighty stream?" (Amos 5:24)
leadership, deep affection for this Congregation, and devotion to
the Jewish tradition that instruct his service and leadership. Thank
you to members leaving the board: Barbara Kaufman, Dana Blum,
Riva Berelson, and Matt Berler. We know that you will stay close
to the life of the Temple. I also welcome cherished congregants
and friends Tim Smith and Don Friend to the new board. Devoted
members like these who serve on the board of directions are what
makes Congregation Emanu-El such a unique place. My 16 years
of service to this leading institution of American Reform Judaism
continues to be a privilege that I do not take for granted. Thank
you!
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