A new day is coming
I'm from the US. I'm going back in 10 days, having been here in Israel for 7 months now. Watching everyone here go through the same debates that took place in the United States 30 years ago has been the hardest part of my visit. We've seen Christian groups try to change gays, but the fact that even though they don't like it, most Americans see it as unchangable comes from the experiences of watching their friends, their relatives, their sons and daughters go through such an horrific process, only to suffer permanent mental scars for the rest of their lives. That's why even very conservative individuals in the US, for example Dick Cheney (The Republican Vice President under George W. Bush) accepts the fact that his daughter is a lesbian. If anyone would promote trying to make homosexuals straight it would most certainly be the heads of the political party that has wanted to ban homosexuals from jobs, from adoption, and from most other rights Americans have. If even those people have decided that change doesn't work, I do not see how one can believe it actually does. That is why I am so against it. I have seen, personally, I have met people who have gone through "treatment" and it's not good. It leaves a person without an actual success, and just feeling even more horrible about themselves than before. Look at this forum, look at all the questions from people of all ages, married, with children, who realize that it just doesn't work. How many stories does it take before people begin to see that the only way to make this work is to accept homosexuals for who they are, and then work to make them part of the community, but making it very clear what that means, to keep Torah. That day will come, just like it has in almost all religious communities in the US. And eventually we will not have to be so afraid of who we are. Eventually, it will be possible to be honest without being thrown out of the house or shunned. I told someone at my Yeshiva today, a friend who I wasn't sure how he'd react. He told me he already knew . I guess I don't hide it so well (but he's the first person to say that, everyone else has been surprised) Anyway, it felt good. He's a conservative guy, a frum yid, and he was like, "okay, whatever, not really my concern". Eventually most orthodox jews will feel that way. Not liking the idea, but recognizing it for what it is. For who we are.
