On Yom Kippur, over thirty people gathered during the break between Musaf and Mincha to discuss LGBTQ youth homelessness and the Ne’ilah liturgy—the closing gates. “Be for them a shelter, and rescue them from terror, Seal them for honor and joy, at the hour of the locking.”
The discussion was lively and reflected the work that CBST has been doing around this issue—including the Mutlifaith Martin Luther King Jr. service we had this past year, Rabbi Kleinbaum serving on Mayor Bloomberg’s Commission on LGBTQ Runaway and Homeless Youth, and most recently, the Koleinu action team’s decision to develop a campaign to ...
Over 25 members and staff from the CBST community turned out to join with 1000 Muslims, Christians, and other Jews at an interfaith rally on 9/12 -- the day after 9/11, when it seemed like all New Yorkers were united in cooperation, solidarity, and compassion.
The rally at St. Peter's Church downtown focused on supporting the proposed Park51 Muslim community center that's been so controversial. But speakers were clear that the real issue has become much greater: the fight for the future of the U.S. as a pluralistic democracy in which minorities, people of color, and even unpopular opinions are valued ...
Throughout the yamim noraim (the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur) members and guests of CBST have been signing a greeting card wishing our friends at Park51, the folks behind the proposed Muslim Community Center in Lower Manhattan, a good Eid ul-Fitr. Eid is a three day holiday marking the end of Ramadan. The image of hundreds of names from our community to theirs is as moving as it is meaningful.
We wish the members of Park51 many years of peace, celebrations, freedom and acceptance.
Forty percent of LGBTQ teens will attempt suicide. This if four times greater than their straighter counterparts.
Today is the first day back for NYC public schools, as well as being the last day of 5770. Fortunately, 5771 will usher in a year of increased safety for all students. This morning at the LGBT Community Center, Governor Paterson signed the Dignity for All Students Act (DASA) , which protects students on the basis of gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, race, color, national origin, ethnic group, religion, religious practice, weight, and disability.
While this is a huge win for LGBTQ ...
This week, New York State made history by being the first in the U.S. to pass a law providing labor protections to domestic workers (i.e. people who work in childcare, house keeping, and eldercare). Having previously been excluded from labor laws, this is a tremendous victory for the roughly 200,000 domestic workers in New York City.
At CBST, we are a community that includes people who have worked in others’ homes, descendants of domestic workers, as well as employers of domestic workers—given our complex demographics, what do we make of this? One of the biggest ...
