Anonymous #fundie #homophobia aish.com
[The movie this person is referring to is "Trembling Before G-d", a documentary about homosexuals in the Orthodox Jewish community.
Acceptance of homosexual behavior
I participate in a group in Jerusalem for people with homosexual attractions who want to reduce or change their homosexual behavior and/or attractions. There are currently about a dozen of us. I think I am therefore in a good position to evaluate "change" efforts. If people knew that these efforts involve working on assertiveness, self-esteem, and other aspects of character development, they wouldn't be so quick to dismiss reparative therapy and similar approaches. Harmful? Far from it. This is about personal development. I don't know anyone in our group who feels that they haven't benefitted from the experience.
[...]
Regarding the film, I recently attended a public screening of it at a Masorti synagogue, which was followed by an audience discussion. Some people saw this issue as being all about "tolerating people who are different", which is certainly a message promoted in the film, but I didn't see it that way. Should Orthodox Judaism allow openly-adulterous rabbis to lead congregations, or give public honors to intermarried congregants? So why should the community welcome openly-gay people, who are living with same-gender partners, as rabbis or synagogue presidents? Doing so would convey a lenient attitude toward something clearly contrary to Jewish tradition.