Bashert
Bashert is the LGBTQ Initiative of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. Bashert reaches out to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender and questioning Jews in Greater Seattle in order to build a stronger, more inclusive Jewish community. This initiative creates opportunities for Jews to come together, celebrate and explore their Jewish identities in a welcoming environment.
Email: Bashert@JewishInSeattle.org
Phone: 206.443.5400
While we anticipated this day was coming, it is now official: marriage equality for loving, gay and lesbian couples is the law of the land in Washington State.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and 25 other Jewish organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, Jewish Family Service, Herzl-Ner Tamid, Union for Reform Judaism, Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center and the National Council of Jewish Women, supported Washington United for Marriage and the campaign to defend the marriage equality law in Washington State. We support marriage equality as a matter of basic religious liberty. Clergy should be free to decide for themselves which couples they choose to marry.
Today, rabbis from the Reconstructionist, Reform, and Conservative movements issued the following joint statement:
Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, issued the following statement regarding the recent Washington visit by the Alliance of Israeli LGBTQ Educational Organizations:
Last week, a group of lesbian and gay delegates from Israel stopped in Seattle as part of a West Coast tour to promote awareness of LGBT issues within their country. In the ensuing days since their arrival, there appears to be a growing impression that no leaders of Washington's LGBT community would agree to meet with them. While it is true that the Seattle LGBT Commission rescinded an invitation to meet with the delegation under pressure from a small, vocal opposition, on the whole this impression is incorrect.
UPDATE: The LGBT Commission has issued an apology. Read it here.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle is disappointed that Seattle's LGBT Commission chose to cancel a planned event with six Israeli LGBTQ activists. These six activists represent a broad cross section of the Israeli LGBT community. Some have been fighting for LGBT civil rights in Israel for more than 30 years. They have challenged law and custom through court challenges, and have built an effective network of supporting organizations that enable children and adults to be supported and live a normal, "out" life in a country with unique challenges.
Bashert is the LGBTQ Initiative of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. Bashert reaches out to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender and questioning Jews in Greater Seattle in order to build a stronger, more inclusive Jewish community. This initiative creates opportunities for Jews to come together, celebrate and explore their Jewish identities in a welcoming environment.