7 Congregational Resources for LGBTQ Pride Month and Beyond

In her recent personal essay LGBTQ Acceptance in the Jewish Community: How Far We've Come and What's Next, Cantor Shira Stanford-Asiyo, shares the story of meeting her now-wife at summer camp when they were just kids. Now a project manager with the URJ’s Audacious Hospitality team, Cantor Stanford-Asiyo talks about the importance of creating transformational changes that will more fully allow LGBTQ youth to access Jewish community as their full selves. She also shares a few of the Reform Movement’s recent steps toward making this inclusive dream a reality.

In honor of Pride Month, we’ve rounded up resources – both from us and from others in the Jewish community – that will help your congregation better practice audacious hospitality to the LGBTQ community.

• The pilot edition of our Audacious Hospitality Pilot Toolkit is now available. This how-to guide for becoming a more welcoming congregation and will soon include a module that will provide guidance for ensuring that LGBTQ people and their families feel like an integral and accepted part of your Jewish community. 
• Read through "18+ Ways to Make LGBTQ Members Feel Welcome in Your Congregation" and "3 Ways to Build LGBTQ-Inclusive Communities" for oldie-but-goodie blog posts that will get your gears turning about how welcoming your congregation currently is and how it can get where it wants to be.
• In “How to Better Welcome Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Congregants,” two professionals in the Jewish community share resources for involving your entire community in inclusion work, especially centering the voices and leadership of transgender community members. The URJ’s 2016 Transgender Inclusion Active Learning Network (ALN) is archived and available for download in The Tent. 
• In "LGBTQ: Focusing on the T in Synagogue Life," congregational leader Jane Tausig shares how her synagogue planned a conference focused on inclusion of trans and non-binary Jews in synagogue life – and what they took away from it. Want to follow their lead? Download the Religious Action Center’s Transgender Inclusion Guide, then start a conversation with your synagogue leadership about taking action to make your congregation more inclusive of transgender and gender non-conforming individuals.
• Looking for programming ideas? Several of our 2017 Belin Award Winners have created innovative and effective LGBTQ-centric programming, and NFTY’s gender equality resources provide resources to run programs for teens, written by teens, about transgender inclusion. You can also bring the Youth & Gender Media Project films and study guide to your congregation and explore Keshet's many resources
• Visit the Religious Action Center’s LGBT Rights page for ways to engage in LGBTQ advocacy, information about Pride Month, and more.

Finally, some exciting news from the URJ’s Audacious Hospitality team: We recently received a generous grant from an anonymous donor to fund a LGBTQ Inclusion Educational Resource Module, which will be made available before the URJ Biennial 2017 this December.

Coming on the heels of our successful Active Learning Network on Transgender Inclusion in 2016, this new module will be a dynamic, user-friendly resource for use by URJ-affiliated institutions, including congregations, camps, youth groups, and early childhood education centers. It will be designed to equip Reform Jewish clergy, staff, and educators with the resources they need to become more aware of LGBTQ inclusion and become consistently and proactively inclusive of LGBTQ Jews and their loved ones.

We’re honored to have the opportunity to create such a resource. Stay tuned for details about its launch!  

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