Gay couples may be able to wed in synagogue

Gay couples may soon be able to marry legally in both Reform and Liberal synagogues under proposed changes to marriage laws.

Same-sex couples are expected to be given the right to hold legal civil
partnership ceremonies in places of worship.

The move would enable non-Orthodox communities to hold a wedding under a chuppah, and immediately follow it with a civil ceremony in a shul.

Liberal Judaism, Quakers and gay rights groups, led the pressure on the government to offer greater equality.

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Peter Tatchell guests at gay group

Gay rights activist Peter Tatchell praised Liberal Judaism for its same-sex commitment ceremonies when he addressed a Friday night dinner of the Jewish Gay and Lesbian Group in central London.

Mr Tatchell, co-founder of OutRage, also told the 50 diners that the UK had become one of the most progressive societies in the Western world in terms of gay rights.

Rabbis Judith Levitt, Mark Solomon and Ariel Friedlander were also among the guests.

JGLG vice-president Ed Teeger said Mr Tatchell had been "inspirational. He has done such good work for gay rights and for human rights.

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When 'tradition' means 'bigotry'

New Yorkers opened their newspapers a couple of weekends ago to read of a brutal attack on three gay men in the Bronx who were kidnapped, beaten, tortured and sexually assaulted by a gang of nine men. In Belgrade, over the same weekend, about 100 people, mainly policemen, were injured after far-right demonstrators rioted because of a gay parade.

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Gay wedding notice banned

A Jewish newspaper in New Jersey has banned same-sex marriage announcements, the day after the first happy couple had their nuptials printed. Justin Rosen and Avi Smolen's wedding announcement was in the Jewish Standard, complete with a smiling picture of the couple.

The newspaper said that following "negative comments", other such announcements would not be printed. Editor Rebecca Kaplan Boroson wrote an editorial explaining that it was a "divisive issue". But after outraged comments on the newspaper's website, publisher James Janoff said they were reconsidering their decision.

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Scientists hear how gays can be 'cured'

An Orthodox scientific group has sparked controversy by giving a platform to a Jewish organisation that believes homosexuality can be cured.

The Association of Orthodox Jewish Scientists invited Arthur Goldberg to speak at its annual convention in Connecticut last month.

Mr Goldberg is a proponent of reparative therapy, which seeks to transform gays and bisexuals into heterosexuals through therapy.

In 1999, he co-founded JONAH (Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality). Opponents claim such therapies are ineffective and even harmful.

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