Politics & Government

Gay Marriage: Jewish Drive to Redefine 'Value Voter'

Shir Tikvah rabbi, congregants pin faith to their fight against the proposed constitutional ban.

Early in the evening Wednesday, Michael Adam Latz, the rabbi at Shir Tikvah Synagogue, spoke two Hebrew words—tikkun olam. The phrase is a precept of Judaism, a duty to “repair the world.”

That repair, Latz urged, begins with a coordinated, impassioned effort to defeat the measure to amend Minnesota’s state constitution to ban gay marriage.

“How does the amendment violate this?” Latz asked, referring to tikkun olam. “The world is a shattered vessel, and it is our responsibility to put it back together. We’re trying to build a world where this doesn’t happen.”

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The term “values voter” has grown synonymous with social conservatism, and it’s hard to find anyone referring to the “religious left.” Yet Latz and many members of Shir Tikvah, long an anchor of spiritual progressivism and social justice in South Minneapolis, are becoming activists on the issue of gay marriage, roused by the proposed amendment.

The town hall-styled meeting drew about 80 teens, seniors, Jews, Christians, atheists and self-identified straight and queer people. Latz and others close to the issue spoke of their rationale and motivation. People then broke into small groups for bonding and brainstorming and developed to dozens of ideas, modest and ambitious, for winning over minds, hearts and, ultimately, votes.

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“It makes me so mad that they want to take away the rights of 10 percent of the population,” said Eleanore Troxel, a member of United Church of Christ.

“The church I belong to is open and affirming,” she said. “This (proposed) amendment isn’t Christian.”

Alan Lifson, a public health physician, considers this as much an issue of public health issue as one of social justice. He’s driven, he says, to reclaim the definition of values voter.

 “The stigma and discrimination that come with being gay have real health implications,” Lifson said. “The other side always talks of freedom, but this is anti-freedom, anti-choice, anti-independence. To me, it’s just the worst kind of bullying.”

Amy Lange, a Shir Tikvah member who identifies as atheist, called the measure “an affront to the idea of human dignity.”

“I just don’t want this to be the story of Minnesota,” she said. “We could be the state that says ‘We’re tolerant,’ and we don’t put up with this crap.”

While houses of worship that fall under nonprofit tax-exempt status can’t endorse political candidates or get involved with specific political races, they can involve themselves with community issues. Shir Tikvah has a storied history of unwavering progressivism. Latz, who , tells of the immediate days after 9/11, when his congregation adopted and found housing for a Somali-Muslim family.

“In Jewish history, we have faced many pharaohs,” he said to the assembled. “It’s a little chilling this time around because our pharaohs are complacency, misinformation, misunderstanding, our own apathy and exhaustion.”

Organizers from Out Front Minnesota, Jewish Community Action and the new Minnesotans United for All Families spoke of maintaining a vision beyond the 2012 election, when this proposal will sit on the ballot. Organizers talked of initiatives to “strengthen the progressive movement for social change in Minnesota.”

After group discussions, people wrote their ideas onto sticky notes and pasted them on the walls of the synagogue, where they’ll stay through weekend services. Organizers will also use these ideas as starting points for planned actions.

One such action is likely to be engaging members of other Twin Cities synagogues—some considerably less engaged on social issues than Shir Tikvah. Meanwhile, Shir Tikvah leaders are in early conversations with other faith leaders for collaborative educational initiatives.

“If we only get a ‘no’ vote, we’ll be exactly in the place we are now,” said Beth Zemsky, who specializes in what she calls intercultural organizational development. “If in the next 17 months we focus only on defeating an amendment, we’ll have lost an opportunity.”


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