D
uring the spring of 2011 the New York State legis-
lature was engaged in the passage of the Marriage
Equality Act. The press and public dialogue were
fraught with anger, angst, and vilification against passage as
well as passionate supplications in favor of the change. Legal
recognition of same-sex relationships already existed in eleven
sovereign nations and civil unions and registered partnerships
were recognized in an additional twenty-one international
countries. Fourteen American state jurisdictions had previously
enacted legislation making same sex marriages legal. Why
then were so many journalists, television networks, popular
pulpits, celebrity spokespersons, and political leaders goading
the public and legislators to nullify and protest this humane
and long overdue legal action?
The tenor of the rhetoric became increasingly inflamed,
echoing the worst fears of persecution and discrimination.
Having previously born witness to hatred and depredations
in the name of intolerance of religion, race, nationality, gen-
der, age, and class, a surge of spirited individuals representing
diverse fields, professions, and talents stood forth and gave
positive support to the valiant fighters for justice and com-
prehension. Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of
Religion is itself a leader in the field of sexual understanding
with the initiative of the Jeff Herman Virtual Resource
Center and the Institute for Judaism and Sexual Orientation
and the Kalsman Institute on Judaism and Health located on
the Los Angeles campus, the Blaustein Centers for Pastoral
Counseling in New York and Jerusalem. The HUC-JIR
Museum realized that it too could play a role in making a
positive change in public understanding and compassionate
support.
The Sexuality Spectrum
uses the language of fine art
to present, celebrate, and yes, mourn individuals whose lives
were and are jeopardized by discrimination and prejudice.
Fear of the ‘other’ has been a root cause of wars, persecutions,
slavery, and eradication. In defining sexuality as one of the
oppressed categories it is necessary to use the correct defini-
tions. All people have sexuality. Gender is merely male or
female … a broad umbrella terminology. The rainbow nu-
ances of sexuality are often referred to as LGBTIQ, Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Queer. Add to that
Heterosexual, Pansexual, and re-named variants. Gay is the
preferred word for men attracted to men, no longer consid-
ered a slur. Queer, once a derogative term that referred to all
people who did not behave along heterosexual lines, is now
the umbrella term used to refer to all LGBTIQ people.
The HUC-JIR Museum staff held numerous focus groups of
artists, asking them to share their intimate feelings concern-
ing their lives as LGBTIQ in the community ,including their
faith-based experiences. We frequently heard incidents of
marginalization, isolation, and exclusion. They shared their
long years of concealment as well as the wrenching experi-
ence of ‘coming out;’ their relationships with family members,
employers, and friendships that disintegrated; and the search
for life-long partners. Through this process we drew up a list
of prevailing injustices and subtle emotional adjustments.
The first creative artwork that came to mind was the riveting,
emblematic painting,
Pansy Crucifixion
by Judy Chicago.
A portion of the much larger work,
The Holocaust Project
,
it is a brutal reminder of the persecution, enslavement, and
murder of thousands of homosexuals during the Nazi era.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum came forth
with a long lost print of a drawing by a camp inmate, Richard
Grune, who perished in the Holocaust because of his sexual
orientation.
Addressing issues of ‘hiding in full sight,’ we selected works
that alluded to masks, to mirrors, to eyes looking out from
concealment. The plight of transgender teenagers was most
troubling to us. Rejected by their own families and local
welfare institutions, literally thousands of young people con-
tinue to migrate to New York City from other parts of the
country for the city’s more liberal, humanistic social welfare
network. Even there they are harassed, attacked, molested,
and murdered. The renowned photographer, Josh Lehrer, in
what started as a compassionate outreach effort, created indi-
vidual portrait Cyanotype prints which very clearly restore to
these children their robbed dignity and individuality. Deal-
ing with a similar subject, Joan Roth presents a photograph,
Joy/Jay Laden
,
that of a MTF, a transsexual formerly male,
now a female. This portrait of a vibrant, beautiful young
woman was formerly the father of three and Gottesman Pro-
fessor of English at Yeshiva University, an academic position
that she still holds.
Lilith Magazine
featured this photograph
as their cover for a groundbreaking issue on transgender issues.
The Sexuality Spectrum
Laura Kruger,
Curator