Session 18: Parashat Acharei Mot

"The Hope Speech," Harvey Milk, 1978

Parashat Acharei Mot includes one of the most challenging verses in the Torah for modern, liberal Americans–God forbids male homosexuality, categorizinging it with bestiality and child sacrifice. It is difficult to read this commandment as anything other than dehumanizing bigotry.

There is no reason to make apologies for the Torah, and no need to pretend it says something different from what it says–this part of the text is homophobic in the extreme. Instead, the commandment presents an opportunity to consider both the way homophobia attempts to other and dehumanize homosexuals and how queer rights advocates like Harvey Milk have worked to assert their dignity in this country.

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