Your various articles regarding the gay pride parade, the Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage, and the JONAH verdicts prompt the following reaction.
First, the presence [at the parade] of a woman dressed up as male yeshiva student shows utter disrespect for the Orthodox community. Whether she likes it or not, that community has a right to have its beliefs respected, whether one agrees with them or not.
Secondly, there have already been effects regarding the legitimization of gay marriage. We have seen florist and bakers fined for refusal to serve a gay wedding; said refusals were due to the vendor's religious beliefs (Catholic and Evangelical Christian). Are the spokesmen for Freedom to Marry now going to force kosher catering halls to host same-sex marriages? Are they going to advocate abolition of tax-exempt status for those yeshivot that refuse to admit children of same-sex couples?
Third, JONAH is an organization based on a dubious assumption that you can somehow change sexual orientation with the therapy, [claims that the court ruled fraudulent] … . However, my fear is that this logic could be extended to treatment offering preparation of a conflicted gay individual to a life of celibacy. This logic would be a crimp on religious freedom. It is true that the time has come that gays and lesbians should not be marginalized. However, that does not mean that Orthodox Jews, Catholics and Evangelical Christians should now be marginalized instead.
N.J.
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