Feb 21, 2012

PLEASE MEET CHAIM LEVIN: Chaim Levin is Giving Hope to LGBT Orthodox Jews

¨Chaim Levin, 22, grew up feeling the sting of discrimination¨
“I felt like I didn’t want to live anymore.”  Chaim Levin

¨When people think of anti-gay places, the gay Mecca of New York City does not often come to mind. However, Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community is a hotbed of homophobia, where LGBT people are shunned, abused, rejected and told they must change their sexual orientation to be accepted.

Chaim Levin, 22, grew up feeling the sting of discrimination and disgust from his Orthodox family and neighbors in Crown Heights. In his teenage years he was sent away to a strict religious boarding school in France. After Levin was outed, he was bullied and humiliated on a daily basis...¨ read it all please, HERE

Against all odds, Levin has brushed off his critics and pushed forward to break barriers and begin to create lasting change in a hostile environment. This month he started a new blog named after gay icon Harvey Milk’s famous saying, “You gotta give em hope.”*

¨Last week, Levin joined me in Atlanta to protest an “ex-gay” conference. It was part of his heroic advocacy to help LGBT youth and educate people in Brooklyn’s Jewish neighborhoods.

Levin has ruffled feathers and gained notoriety since he published an historic pro-LGBT essay in the Jewish Press, the first of its kind in this traditionally conservative publication. In reaction to his piece, some anti-gay activists urged a boycott of the Jewish Press and extremist Rabbi Yehuda Levin wrote a letter to the editor calling for the   chemical castration of gay men. Levin has also had to endure the criticism of some LGBT Orthodox Jews who prefer a quieter, more closeted approach to advocacy...¨ by Wayne Besen   HERE

*This month Chaim Levin started a new blog named after gay icon Harvey Milk’s famous saying, “You gotta give em hope.”

· Thanks to Truth Wins Out, sidebar
· Thanks to Wayne Besen
· Thanks to Chaim Levin
· Thanks to ´You gotta give em hope¨ HERE

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