JQY Rabbi’s Project
Sometimes LGBTQ Orthodox advocacy and education require a more personal and informal approach than a training or a panel. Some of the most important work is often done in private conversations between small groups of people. This approach is vital when responding to a family or school crisis’s, where interventions for youth must be done quickly and precisely.
To this end, since 2002 JQY has continually run its premiere advocacy program known as The Rabbi’s Project. The way it works is that an Orthodox rabbi or leader is identified, and JQY sends two or three trained JQY members to speak with this rabbi/leader in private. Sometimes this rabbi is a person from a particular JQY member’s past, and sometimes this rabbi is a change maker in the Orthodox community who has influence over the way LGBTQ youth are treated. Often the rabbi is identified because he is involved with a situation that affects an individual JQY member.
- Rabbi’s Project helping Families: JQY is dedicated to keeping Orthodox families together. When JQY members experience family conflict due to Orthodox issues, JQY connects their families with well informed supportive Orthodox rabbis whom the families can feel comfortable speaking with. Identifying the right Orthodox leader who can best intervene with an individual family issues is an essential part of JQY support. Developing Orthodox Rabbinic connections are a hallmark of JQY’s advocacy work.
Through The Rabbi’s Project JQY members have met with more than 200 Orthodox rabbis in private. The change accomplished has been astronomical. Youth have been accepted back in their families, Orthodox Schools have refrained from expelling LGBTQ students, and organizations have been stopped from running homophobic and transphobic programing.
Demystifying the idea of being Gay and Orthodox and personalizing it with names, faces and stories helps create inroads of tolerance in even the most stringent Orthodox communities. JQY Rabbi’s Project is able to create inroads because the advocacy comes from individuals who come from within the Orthodox community. We help our members arrange meetings with rabbis, former teachers and Orthodox leaders within their own communities.
Rabbi’s Project changes policy and rhetoric: We meet with Orthodox rabbis and leaders all over the country to talk about the sensitivities and needs of LGBT Jews in the Orthodox Community. From Ultra-Orthodox Gedolim like Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky to Modern Orthodox Rabbinic leaders like Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb JQY members have met with Rabbis across the spectrum of Orthodoxy. Through our Rabbi’s Project advocacy efforts, JQY led the OU (Orthodox Union) and RCA (Rabbinical Council of America) to withdraw their endorsements of harmful forms of “reparative” therapy, as well as disassociate themselves from Conversion therapy organizations.
For more information about the JQY Rabbi’s Project, or if you would like help speaking with an Orthodox Rabbi or leader about an issue relating to sexual orientation or gender identity contact us.
JQY Speaker’s Bureau: Community and Campus Panels
The JQY Speakers Bureau features an array of compelling speakers from Orthodox communities who are able to speak to the challenges, hopes and fears that exist around being LGBT in the frum world.
JQY is proud to have created the “It Gets Better for Gay Orthodox Gay Jews” video. The JQY “It Gets Better” video has become the premiere educational tool in Orthodox circles when it comes to teaching about LGBTQ sensitivity. The Youtube movie has been viewed over 135,000 times.
Since its inception JQY has organized over 50 speaker’s panels and workshops for College Campus Hillels, Orthodox Synagogues, Jewish conferences and organizations.
Most famously JQY organized the Yeshiva University Gay Panel
- YU Gay Panel – Being Gay in Yeshiva
- JQY organized the groundbreaking speaker’s panel in Yeshiva College at Yeshiva University. The JQY panelists (consisting of YU students and alumni) talked about what it was like to grow up gay in Yeshiva. The event had over 1000 attendees and the subsequent online videos of the event have over ten thousand viewers!
- The program has been credited with inspiring the The Statement Of Principles, in which over 200 Orthodox Rabbis called for the welcoming and acceptance of gays in the Orthodox community.
- Press Coverage
- Press Coverage
- View the videos for this panel.
JQY provides panels and speakers upon request. Our speaker’s bureau consists of individuals who are willing to share their personal stories to raise awareness of the issues faced by LGBT Jews in Orthodox communities. We work together with institutions to design a program that fits the organization’s individual needs and concerns.
Our speakers represent a range of experiences, ages, orientations, and gender identities. We also have a wide network of allies, parents, rabbis and mental health professionals with experience speaking about LGBT issues in the Orthodox community.
Past Panel Topics have included:
- Growing up Gay and Orthodox
- Counseling Gay Orthodox Jews: what helps, what hurts?
- Being Gay in Yeshiva
- Staying Orthodox while being LGBT
- Bullying and homophobia in the Orthodox community
- Keeping families together
- Orthodox parents of LGBT Jews
For information about available speakers, honorariums, and logistics, contact us.
JQY Orthodox School and Camp Trainings
JQY, in collaboration with Orthodox mental health professionals, educators and rabbis, has designed a comprehensive LGBTQ sensitivity training program for Orthodox high schools and camps. At JQY we believe that creating safe spaces for LGBTQ youth in Orthodox environments does not require changing halacha, reinterpreting the Torah, or permitting sexual behavior. It begins with combating institutionalized shame, educating people on terminology, research and best practices, and a collective commitment to every student’s sense of dignity and self esteem. Along with the Jewish ethics of modesty, honesty, respect for Mesorah, and caring for others, these are the values that guide and inform our High School and Camp Training Program.
All JQY training programs are facilitated by licensed mental health professionals who are proficient in Orthodox sensitivities and have at least two years experience working directly with LGBTQ Orthodox Jewish youth. References are available upon request.
The program includes 7 training modules. Each is available individually or as part of a combination program. Modules can be tailored to the specific needs of an institution, as well as adapted for different kinds of Orthodox youth programing.
Training Modules
High School
- Orthodox High School Staff (teacher, rebbe, and administration) -Sensitivity- Training
- Orthodox High School Student -Safe Space- Training
- Orthodox High School Guidance Counselor -Competency- Training
- Orthodox High School -Policy- Workshop
Camp
- Orthodox Camp Staff -Sensitivity- Training
- Orthodox Camp Camper -Safe Space- Training
- Orthodox Camp -Policy-Workshop
For more information on our training programs, including pricing, logistics, booking availability and curriculum, please contact us.
JQY Mental Health Professional Training
JQY has over 15 years experience providing support resources for at-risk LGBTQ Jewish youth. We are often the first line of outreach for Jewish teens and high school students in the Orthodox community, and over 1,000 LGBTQ Jewish youth have taken part in our programing.
Using this breadth of direct experience as a basis for developing practical skills that are applicable in all Jewish environments, JQY has become a premiere training source for Jewish Schools, camps, youth organizations, and mental health professionals seeking to provide better care for LGBTQ Jewish youth.
JQY has made it a priority to work with mental health professionals in the hopes of ensuring an accessible network of expert licensed therapists available to help vulnerable LGBTQ Orthodox Jews. JQY has developed panels, workshops and training curriculum for therapists who want to better serve LGBTQ Jews and their Orthodox families.
If you are a mental health professional who would like to become involved with JQY or attend a JQY mental health professional training program here.
Want to hang out and chill with other LGBTQ Jewish teens? Our weekly Drop-in Center, located in the heart of New York City, is the perfect place to meet others like you, enjoy a hot kosher meal, check in with JQY’s licensed Social Workers, have access to STD testing, and much more.
Please note that our drop-in hours will resume in Fall 2016. Stay tuned for updates!
