I'm an American Orthodox rabbi and I visited a gay bar. Here's why I did it

But we all realised that we had to act. Our country was in tremendous pain - is still in tremendous pain. We wanted to try to connect and offer support. When we see pain around us, our first question always has to be: how can we make a difference? It should be said that we had no illusions that we would take away everyone's pain or solve the problems that face our world, and specifically the problems facing gay people in our own community.

We need to actively challenge hatred of gay people

Neither am I pretending that in our shul we have the perfect path forward for gay people in an Orthodox Jewish community. The intersection between the gay community and Orthodox Judaism is obviously a work in progress.

We did not go to recruit members that night or to express any new theological ideas. Our goal was simply to try to connect, build bridges, heal a little and be with a community in pain. I view our visit as similar to a shivah visit. When someone makes a shivah visit, the power is in just being there.

That night I felt both the pain and the reassurance in the room.

I felt pain when I stood in that bar - pain that I wouldn't have been able to comprehend without being there.

I felt reassurance that we were doing the right thing. When we stood outside on the street corner, unsure of what to do, a man named Seihei embraced us and said: "Please come in. Everyone inside would love to meet you." We walked inside and just by standing there with our kippot I felt that we were embracing a community that was looking for an embrace.

As an Orthodox community, we need to communicate a message of unconditional love and unconditional safety and protection to all of our children from as young an age as possible.

We need to communicate a message that actively challenges homophobia and transphobia - and to actively assert that such harmful messages will not be tolerated. For some children this can be a matter of life and death.