Motley Moose – Archive

So, it’s almost Chinese Food Day again (also known as December 25).  While most Americans will be celebrating with their families, many of us will be going to the movies and eating Chinese food.  Yes, it’s cliché, but it is what it is.  I don’t know what movie I’m going to see tomorrow, so I am open to any suggestions people might have (I just saw The Hobbit on Sunday night, though).  I do know, however, that I’ll be eating Chinese food, although somewhat complicated by the fact that the Chinese place I usually eat out in has apparently closed.

This, ironically, is also a time for me to be thankful to be an American.  This is a country where I can openly practice my religion and embrace my culture.  I am free to be a Jew and do not have to worry about whether the government will decide it’s a good time to stir up some violence against me.  I don’t have to worry about being consigned to the ghetto or the shtetl.  I’m free to go to see the movie I want to see and eat the Chinese food I want.  Those actions might seem irrelevant, but they mean that I am free to embrace my Jewishness.

Let me start with a very simple statistic about the degree of support marriage equality enjoys within the Jewish American community:

Most Jewish communal leaders celebrated the landmark Supreme Court decision striking down the Defense of Marriage Act. The Jewish community, with 81% of support for gay marriage according to public opinion polls, is the constituency most supportive of marriage equality, second only to the LGBT community in its backing of the rights of gays and lesbians to marry.

By comparison, among the population as a whole, marriage equality is enjoys anywhere from plurality to a small majority in support.  Given this 81% figure, it should come as no surprise that much of institutional Judaism (to the extent it exists) in the United States has been supportive of the effort for equality.  Many such organizations filed amicus briefs in support of marriage equality before the DOMA and Prop 8 cases were heard and now that the cases have been decided have reiterated their support.