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 Jewish Women and GLBT Pride"As a woman, as a lesbian, as a Jew, I know that much of what I call history others will not. But answering that challenge of exclusion is the work of a lifetime."—Joan Nestle
 In 2000, former president Bill Clinton designated the month of June as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month, encouraging Americans to "recognize the joys and sorrows that the gay and lesbian movement has witnessed and the work that remains to be done." For the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender (GLBT) community, June is a time when the gray exteriors of apartment buildings are draped with rainbow flags (the official GLBT Pride symbol) and traffic is halted as festive parades take to the streets around the country in celebration of GLBT identity and visibility. Since the rise of the GLBT movement in the 1970s, Jewish women have played critical roles in advocating for the full inclusion of GLBT people in civil society, in synagogues, in history books, and in cultural, political, and spiritual life. For many feminists, GLBT advocacy is an integral part of feminist responsibility. In 1972, feminist writer Joan Nestle helped launch the Gay Academic Union, and in 1973, she co-founded the Lesbian Herstory Archives, a rich collection of documents and memorabilia of lesbian history and culture, including photographs, recordings, buttons, and publications donated by American lesbians. One year later, political activist Bella Abzug, who was elected to Congress on a strong feminist and peace platform, introduced the first Federal bill to support gay/lesbian rights.  The wedding of Tamara Cohen and Gwynn Kessler, 2004 Photo courtesy Tamara Cohen Recent decades have brought many advancements for the GLBT Jewish community: the establishment of GLBT synagogues, gay/lesbian haggadahs, the ordination of gay/lesbian rabbis, rabbinic officiation at GLBT commitment ceremonies, and much ritual and liturgical innovation. All of these changes have helped transform GLBT Jewish experience from silence and erasure, to dignity and celebration. It can be complicated to assign contemporary GLBT identities to women of the past, and many today continue to struggle with the heterosexual norms of our secular and Jewish communities. Pride month is an important time to recognize the experiences of all GLBT people of the past and present. While there is still much work to be done, we invite you to honor Pride month by celebrating some of the Jewish women who have contributed to the richness of GLBT experience and worked toward the full inclusion and acceptance of GLBT-identified Jews in American Jewish life.
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