An old story finds new life in LGBT haggadah
Asher Gellis talks about his life with a modest but clear-eyed sense of wonder that fits his role as a young community activist who is just beginning to hit his stride. Next week, JQ International, an organization that has helped to nurture his development as a leader, will host a seder that will include readings from a new haggadah weaving the history of gay and lesbian people into the story of the Exodus. "There was no place to be Jewish and gay in Los Angeles," he said. "Some temples had gay programming, but they seemed more oriented toward people who were partnered, had kids." As a young man just discovering himself, Gellis said, he simply didn't connect with communities oriented around family identity -- conventional or otherwise. Then he discovered a scattered group of like-minded young gays and lesbians who were beginning to coalesce into a community. They had a variety of backgrounds -- from secular Jews who had been involved in JCCs to Orthodox Jews who...