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Gays Deemed Kosher

By Christopher Beam
Posted Thursday, Dec. 7, 2006, at 5:41 PM ET

Bloggers ponder the decision to allow same-sex unions and ordination of gays—with a few caveats—within Conservative Judaism. They also consider Mary Cheney's pregnancy and sigh over Lindsay Lohan's questionable writing skills.

Gays deemed kosher: The Rabbinical Assembly Committee on Jewish Law and Standards approved same-sex commitment ceremonies and the ordination of gay rabbis but still prohibits sodomy. Four rabbis resigned over the decision after submitting two dissenting resolutions. Bloggers agree on one thing: It's complicated.

Group blog The Pagan Science Monitor claims the "incoherent" policy "doesn't change anything. Conservative/Masorti congregations that don't want to go along with the liberalizing resolution won't. And our homophobic families get to keep their attitudes, with new justification from the other 2 CJLS resolutions … one of which actually calls for 'reparative therapy.' "

Alcibiades at New York-based abracadabrah calls the decision "incoherent" and a possible precursor to a split: "What will they do if an ordained gay rabbi chooses a mate? Are they going to do the Jewish equivalent of defrocking (what's the word for that, by the way?)—or just politely ignore the issue and pretend there is no contradition with the halachah?"

At group legal blog PrawfsBlawg, Jeremy Blumenthal clarifies the level of the committee's authority: "[I]t is explicitly not a legislative or judicial body, imposing such rulings. Under the approach of the CJLS, multiple, even contradictory positions may be set out by the Committee; when that happens, it is left to the local rabbi to determine what rules or practices a particular congregation will follow." Conservative Rabbi Barry Leff at Reb Barry's Blogspace susses the contradictory resolutions: "The movement's seminaries are free to choose which opinion to follow, so it is not AUTOMATIC that the seminaries will now start admitting openly gay rabbinical or cantorial students."

Mikey McCormack at The Mikey Times compares the new policy to the homosexuality debate in Christian churches: "[W]hile consevative christians spend their time freaking out over the homosexual community—the split in the episcopalian church over the ordainment of a gay, and the split in the evangelical community over gay marriage, and catholics continuing to live in denial of their obviously gay priests—the jews, jesus' people, show them all up."

Read more about the rabbis' decision.

Mama Cheney: Cyberspace is atwitter over news that Mary Cheney, daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, is pregnant. She and her partner, Heather Poe, have been together for 15 years. Bloggers wonder what this means for the right.

At Ankle Biting Pundits, conservative dad Bull Dog Pundit says his "only concern is that they are purposely bringing a child into the world without a father. But that concern has nothing to do with their sexuality, as there are many heterosexual women who choose to have children without fathers, or there are fathers who have kids and then forget about them."

Dayglored, posting at the conservative FreeRepublic, chastises other commenters for what he calls their "uneasy hypocrisy": "I find it fascinating that many (not all) anti-gay-parent folks … are willing to give Mary Cheney a pass simply because she's the daughter of a favored Republican. If this were the gay daughter of Democrats they'd want to string her up and/or throw her out of the country, and/or say it was all the fault of her Democrat parents. Where is the condemnation they heap on the opposition?"

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Christopher Beam is a Slate political reporter.
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