Blog

On my very first day at Temple Sinai, I walked into my new office. My furniture hadn’t arrived, yet. A computer sat on a card table and on top of the keyboard was a welcome gift from Rabbi Perry. She had bought each of us clergy a rainbow kippah in Israel for us to wear at the Pride Parade. I didn’t even get to attend Pride in October of 2015, but I did in 2016, and it was one of the most memorable days of my life. Over the prior year I had had many private conversations with relatives, friends and colleagues, but that day was the day I decided to have “the conversation” with my congregation. It was on the bus on the way to my first Atlanta Pride Parade that I came out as a lesbian to Temple Sinai. I was incredibly nervous, but I remembered our temple’s tagline, “Your journey, your home.” During my first year in Atlanta you welcomed me home. During my second year, I welcomed you to my journey.

As you can imagine, it is not the easiest thing to come out in your late 40s, but the embrace from the people on that bus allowed me for the first time to walk with pride in my identity. So many young people, as well as adults, struggle to be accepted by family, friends and co-workers, not to mention themselves. The Pride Parade is the day when all get to come together and celebrate sexual diversity steeped in love and exuberant joy. There is truly nothing more joyful than marching in the Pride Parade. That said, I am extending a personal invitation to you to come march with me this year on Sunday, October 13. A link to register is below. We will march alongside the rest of the Jewish community led by Sojourn, the Jewish LGBTQ+ organization here in Atlanta. Temple Sinai showed me what a loving and accepting community we are that day in 2016. Join me this year in telling the rest of Atlanta!

RSVP here and you will get email info on bus, meeting points, etc.
https://www.templesinaiatlanta.org/form/pride%20parade%202019

Shabbat shalom,

Beth