The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is correct: Same-sex marriage is, for many, a religious issue.
It is for me, a rabbi who officiates Jewish weddings equally for couples of opposite and same sex.
Like the Democrat-Gazette, I understand that some people best experience ultimate love and intimacy with partners of the same sex.
Unlike the Democrat-Gazette, I use religious language to describe that reality: God has created all of us equally, in God’s image: male and female, straight and gay, and with many other God-given characteristics that make each of us unique.
Like our newspaper, I believe that same-sex couples are entitled to seek full civil rights, with all the benefits and responsibilities that accrue to a married couple. Unlike our newspaper, I use religious language to describe that bond: “Kiddushin” is the Hebrew term, best translated as holy marriage.
Like our newspaper, I recognize that traditions in our land, religious and otherwise, have not long embraced same-sex marriage. Unlike our newspaper, I recognize religious diversity in this regard. I believe the Democrat-Gazette misrepresents religion, painting all faithful souls with one brush, as if all religious people view marriage as our traditions did in ages past. Many of us, faithful laity and clergy alike, do see holiness in same-sex marriage.
The most oft-cited scripture, seeming to prohibit homosexuality, is in Leviticus 21. As a rabbi, steeped in study of Hebrew scriptures, I read that particular verse as prohibiting homosexual behavior by heterosexual men, i.e., by those who “would lie with a woman.” The ancient text seems to proscribe licentious acts foreign to a person’s basic nature, not loving sexuality between people created with attraction to persons of the same sex.
I understand and respect that good people of faith may interpret that verse differently.
I would also note that our newspaper rightly doesn’t suggest unequal state treatment of those who eat pork, which is more clearly forbidden in Leviticus than homosexuality. No state in this great nation should be imposing any particular religion’s teachings on its citizenry.
The approach suggested by our newspaper would best be described as “separate but equal.” Surely history has taught us that “separate but equal” isn’t.
Worse, if our state says to gay men and lesbians that their relationships aren’t equal to those of opposite-sex couples, the message to gay and lesbian youth is clear: They aren’t as valued, and their love isn’t as real, as the paper says it is. Youth suicide is a substantial problem among LGBT kids, their self-esteem battered by society.
My religious values teach that nobody should receive fewer rights because of the way God has created them.
Different clergy and religious communities are well within their rights to define marriage differently. The state of Arkansas should respect our diversity, calling all of our sacred unions by the same name.
—––––– • –––––—
Barry Block is the rabbi of Congregation B’nai Israel in Little Rock.