By Grace Tesoro, Staff Writer
A discussion led by Director of Jewish Life Maria Carson and activist in residence Peterson Toscano covered topics of gender identity, sexual identity and Jewish identity on at 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 19 in Degenstein Meeting Rooms 1-3.
The event was co-sponsored by Susquehanna’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA), The Office of Religious and Spiritual Life and Susquehanna Hillel.
The topics of discussion were all brought together and conveyed through a series of YouTube videos, excerpts from talk shows, clips of documentaries, video diaries and news programs.
To prepare for this presentation, Carson and Toscano browsed the internet to find thought-provoking and informational clips that portrayed Jewish tradition and faith while also showing the complexities of responses the community has to members of the LGBTQ+ community.
“I think it is really important that people learn about the gay-Jewish community and the particularities of the gay-Jewish community just as a way to make our Jewish home here at Susquehanna more accessible to the diverse Jewish community itself,” Carson said.
“We may meet people all the time who have these complex identities, but we only get to see one side of it. I like a space like this because it brings things together,” Toscano said.
The first clip to be presented was from a talk show titled “Sitting in the Bathroom with Trans People.” The clip featured author and activist Kate Bornstein, who identifies as a Jewish transgender woman.
“Talk shows were the only place that trans people could reach out into the public sector and say ‘this is what I am,” Bornstein explained in the clip. Bornstein also presented the significant difference between one’s gender identity and one’s sexual orientation.
“Gender identity is what you are. Sexual orientation is who you’re attracted to,” Bornstein said.
Carson strategically segmented blocks of video clips to demonstrate the various responses an Orthodox Jewish community may have to a member of their community coming out as transgender or beginning their process of transitioning.
There was a block of video clips that portrayed a more emotional side to being both an Orthodox Jew as well as part of the LGBTQ+ community. The audience was shown certain excerpts from the movie “Trembling before God” where Orthodox Jews were shunned from their community for being gay.
One of the women from the film detailed a failed marriage after fully coming to terms about her sexual identity. “I feel like an outsider, there is no place for me there,” she said regarding her Jewish community.
“I can’t help but think of the pain I have caused my husband. That lie of the marriage is what hurts the most,” another woman said, her face hidden behind a screen to remain anonymous. The film also showed a lesbian couple, living happily in their home and embracing their Jewish faith.
The lesbian couple, however, did have concerns about whether they would be together in the “Next World.” Their faces too, were hidden by objects or their hair to remain anonymous.
After each block of videos, the audience gathered to answer discussion questions, led by Carson. During the discussion of the more emotional block of videos, Carson pointed out how sometimes the outcome of coming out can be an isolating feeling.
“The hiding of one’s face, you can’t even have it be known who you are because of the shame it may bring to their family or possibly even separate them from their family is sad to watch,” Toscano said.
The overall tone of the video clips that followed were more joyful and optimistic to show a more positive side of being Jewish and part of the LGBTQ+ community.
“Peterson really enabled me to see that if I only showed the sad, Orthodox stories, I was maybe not showing how great liberal queer Jews are existing. I wanted to show a plurality of Jewish experiences,” Carson said.
One of the clips that was presented towards the end of the discussion was titled “Jews, All Equal and Diverse.” This clip portrayed Jews who identified themselves somewhere in the LGBTQ+ community and how they have come to learn to accept themselves and have found a community that has accepted them also.
In the clip, young Jewish adults encouraged the idea of embracing their intersectionalities as Jewish and as members of LGBTQ+.