L’chaim… to life, to love, to equality by Rabbi Judy Schindler

Join us at Temple Beth El tonight, June 26, 2015 at 5:15 pm for a Shabbat champagne toast to celebrate the Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage in our country.
On June 28, 1969, the American gay rights movement got its formal and strongest start with the Stonewall riots. 46 years ago this weekend, the LGBT community said, “No more.” No more will be arrested for simply being who we are – gay and lesbian, bisexual and transgender.
Today we celebrate this monumental milestone on the journey to LGBT equality. Those among us who are gay and lesbian are finally free to celebrate their love not only through the eyes of our faith but through the rites of legal marriage.
For forty years our Reform Movement has been working towards LGBT equality. For nearly two decades, Temple Beth El has worked to warmly embrace our LGBT congregants inside our sanctuary while the climate outside has, at times, been hostile and harsh. Today the moment for which so many of our Beth El members have labored has arrived. The Supreme Court has ruled that same sex marriage is legal in all fifty state of our country.
Ecclesiastes teaches, “There is a time for mourning and there is a time for dancing.” We recognize that Supreme Court rulings of equality, whether for African Americans or for the LGBT community, do not eradicate discrimination. At this moment in history, celebration and sorrow are co-mingled.
We continue to mourn with Charleston and with our country. Today we are watching the funeral of Former South Carolina State Senator and Emanuel AME Zion of Charleston’s Pastor Reverend Clementa Pinckney. The hatred that led to his death is a deeply and profoundly painful wound. We have a long and hard journey ahead of us in healing and in the fight for equality for all human beings. The road to racial justice and LGBT full equality will continue to be challenging yet we will walk it, hand in hand with our brothers and sisters, strengthening one another as we mourn and as we celebrate milestones, such as today’s Supreme Court ruling.