Everyone is welcome a Masorti communities. Here’s what we’re doing to make our communities welcoming and inclusive for LGBT+ Jews.
In 2021, we launched our LGBT+ Inclusion Project, in partnership with KeshetUK, and funded by a three-year grant from the National Lottery Community Fund.
Over the course of the project, we want:
“After taking more than five decades to ‘come out’, I’m so grateful for the network. It’s a safe environment where we talk about shared values and how to build growing acceptance of LGBT+ people within our shul, so that it’s a natural and celebrated part of our communal life.”
Viv
The Masorti LGBT+ Network is a welcoming group that meets for social events, workshops and more, celebrating LGBT+ identities in a Masorti Jewish context.
The Network met for the first time in July 2020. Since its launch, we have had a full calendar of events, meetings and workshops, including:
We also work on issues of importance to LGBT+ Masorti Jews, such as:
For many members, the network is affirming (as well as fun!), some having left communities where they had to make the impossible choice between being Jewish and being openly LGBT+. We are now working towards a celebratory atmosphere within our synagogues!
For more info or to join the network email [email protected]
Below you’ll find recordings of just some of our sessions on LGBT+ topics. Subscribe to our newsletter below and check our events page to find out about future events.
Our LGBT+ Inclusion manager, Daniella Shaw, led this session with a panel of LGBT+ Masorti rabbis speaking about their experiences and what they think we should be doing about inclusion in our community.
Rabbi Natasha Mann in conversation with Rabbis Mark Solomon, Roderick Young and Chazan Stephen Cotsen to discuss their experiences of being LGBT+ Jewish leaders.
“My favourite thing about being Masorti and LGBT+ is that I don’t have to choose between being engaged in Jewish life and my queer identity. I’m welcomed in Masorti as a trans person.”
