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Jewish Groups
Rally behind
Homosexual Marriage
An umbrella group
of 42 Jewish organizations, temples and citizens in the Boston area are speaking
out in favor of same-sex marriage.
The overwhelming
vote by the Jewish Community Relations Council comes as the state's Roman
Catholic bishops are stepping up the rhetoric against same-sex marriage.
The bishops
announced they will mail a flier to more than one million Catholic households in
Massachusetts, urging the faithful to support a Constitutional amendment banning
same-sex marriage.
In November the
Massachusetts Supreme Court of Justice ruled that preventing gay and lesbian
couples from marrying violates the Massachusetts constitution.
The issue has landed back in the
lap of the high court as it examines a draft bill from the state Senate
legalizing civil unions but not marriage. The Senate wants to know if it would
suffice for the court's November ruling.
Meanwhile,
pressure from the Catholic Church and other conservative religious groups is
mounting for an amendment to the state constitution barring same-sex marriages
altogether.
The bishops'
flier calls on Catholics to lobby lawmakers to support a proposed amendment
defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman. It gives three
options for how to do this: by visiting Legislators personally; by calling them
on the phone; and by writing them a letter or e-mail.
The Jewish
Community Relations Council represents mainly a liberal element within the
Jewish community, but has a powerful voice and represents the largest segment of
the Jewish community in the state.
Its support for
same-sex unions sends a strong message to the legislature.
"The
Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston urges our elected officials
to enact legislation providing for same-sex marriage, in accordance with the
recent ruling of the Supreme Judicial Court in the urges our elected officials
to enact legislation providing for same-sex marriage, in accordance with the
recent ruling of the Supreme Judicial Court in the Goodridge case," the
organization said in a statement.
The Council said
it also "opposes any effort to amend the state Constitution to bar
same-sex couples from marrying, or to deny legal benefits to same-sex couples
and their families."
Reform and
Reconstructionist Judaism have supported LGBT rights for a number of years, and
permits gay and lesbian rabbis and allows temples to perform blessing ceremonies
for same-sex couples. Some temples even conduct weddings, although they are not
recognized by the state.
Earlier the Union
for Reform Judaism, the largest Jewish denomination in the country, and the
Northeast region of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the association
of Reform rabbis voted unanimously to support same-sex marriage. "This is
hugely important, and it reflects the broad base of support for civil marriage
within the Jewish community," said Rabbi Devon A. Lerner.
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