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Affirmation Chicago Chapter president to speak on being queer and becoming Jewish

Karl Malchut at 2019 International Conference

May 14, 2020

Karl Malchut at 2018 International Conference

Affirmation Chicago President Karl Malchut at the 2018 Affirmation International Conference.

by Joel McDonald

Affirmation Chicago Chapter President Karl Malchut will be one of three thoughtful LGBTQ activists to participate in an online panel discussion, Becoming Jewish: A Queer Perspective, an online Center for Gay and Lesbian Studies in Religion (CLGS) Jewish Queeries Series event!

Introducing the discussion that will happen online via Zoom on May 21st at 1:00 PM Pacific, CLGS writes, “Adopting Jewish culture and community as an adult can be both challenging and empowering. For queer people, becoming Jewish raises issues not only about religious affiliation but also about the nature of gender identity and sexual orientation. If Jewish queers have a double identity as “twice blessed” — in the words of an early anthology of Jewish LGBTQ stories — then LGBTQ people who become Jewish as adults are thrice blessed.”

Karl, who was raised within a fundamentalist branch of Pentecostalism, converted to Judaism after a religious journey that included being Quaker and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He will be joined by Dr. Barbara Johnson, an 81-year old retired professor of Anthropology and Jewish Studies at Ithaca College, and Noach Dzmura, who edited the Lambda Literary award-winning anthology Balancing on the Mechitza: Transgender in Jewish Community.

 

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