Reconstructing Rituals: Using bricolage to (re) negotiate faith based rituals with the Jewish LGBT+ community.

In Judaism, hetero-normative expectations which reify the binary of male/female exist in cultural and religious life. These presumptions of the centrality of heterosexuality to Judaism can create both psycho-social exclusion (Takács, 2006; Mendes, undated) and a sense of detachment from ritual and practice (Schneer & Aviv, 2002; Alpert, 1997) for those who do not ‘fit’ this binary model. Accordingly, some Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning and Intersex (LGBT+) Jewish people perceive themselves as ‘doubly other’ (Rose & Balka, 1989) experiencing a sense of cultural loss, religious exclusion and discrimination in key ritual settings. This problem of ‘double-othering’ (exclusion by virtue of both LGBT+ identity and as a result of religio-cultural practice) can be particularly acute for Trans-Jews who report that they can be confined to a ‘limbo’ situation, even in contexts where lesbian and gay co-religionists are accepted as full members of a congregation (see Dzmura, 2011). In a community-driven initiative, members of the UK Jewish LGBT+ community codesigned and participated in an Arts and Humanities Research Council UK funded project “Ritual Reconstructed: Challenges to Disconnection, Division and Exclusion in the Jewish LGBT+ Community”. It explored participants’ relationships to faith through the use of film and bricolage which (re)created public and personal rituals incorporating both Jewish and queer identities alongside and through the medium of art, storytelling, poetry, music and performance. The Community project has taken as a starting point Mary’s (2005) definition of bricolage - a dialogue between ‘meaningful material that one borrows’ and ‘incarnated forms one inherits’, through which we contemplate Savastano’s (2007) argument that LGBT+ persons are forced to create our own sacred or alternative myths in order to create a new way of bringing together queer spiritual identities

World Aids Day

This film is the second in our sequence of LGBTQI-Jewish ‘ritual year’ documentaries. The film consists of a clips of a memorialisation service and ritual activities, interspersed with short discussions with LGBTQI Jewish activists (including a Gay Rabbi) who participate in a memorialisation event which is explicitly Jewish in format and which was designed to offer an opportunity to mourn, remember our dead and have hope for the future in a specifically Jewish context. One key element of this film consists of the incorporation of the ‘Aids Quilt’ into the ritual process. This beautifully made object was created by a Jewish gay man and is curated and preserved by Rabbi Mark Solomon who is a key discussant in this film along with other Gay Jews. The quilt incorporates embroidered and appliqued richly coloured Jewish symbols, Hebrew text and symbolic representations which enable both Gay and Jewish identities to be publicly displayed and celebrated including (as discussed) within inter-faith World Aids Day events

Purim Spiel and Purim Group Talk

These documentaries are the third and fourth in our sequence of LGBTQI-Jewish ‘ritual year’ films. The third film captures a re-production of a musical ‘Purim Spiel’, replete with references to London topography and gay (male) life. The Purim Spiel shown in this film was first written and performed by a group of Gay Jewish men at the height of the 1980s AIDS crisis and as such it can be seen as an act of defiant laughter which incorporates both Jewish and Gay (predominantly camp) performative identities, subverting still further the transgressive, subversive Festival of Purim in which the world is turned ‘upside down’ and during which cross-dressing is permitted, an act which in traditional Judaism is usually completely forbidden

Pride Seder

This film is the fifth and final in our sequence of LGBTQI-Jewish ‘ritual year’ documentary programmes. It was the only programme made by filming as the ritual took place, rather than ‘pre-creating’ elements of ritual activity, prior to the actual service. In itself, the process of filming at the service during the Seder was not unproblematic, in terms of team members being able to gather visual and audio recording permissions from people who arrived late, or who changed their minds about being seen or heard having reached a decision on participation on the spur of the moment

Developing a collaborative research agenda regarding the equitable delivery of LGBTQ-inclusive older age care services by religious providers.

Addressing the attitudes of staff working with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people is important for inclusive older age health and social care. International research suggests religious beliefs can inform some care providers’ negative attitudes towards LGBTQ people. This has not yet been researched in the UK. Engaging with key stakeholders, while essential, can be fraught with tensions and challenges. This article describes a recent UK project which did so, using diverse consultation techniques, including a World Café. The importance of networking and collaborative methodologies in intersectional research is discussed, together with the implications for promoting LGBTQ-inclusive care

Religion, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in Older Age Care Contexts

This report describes the key themes and ideas, which were discussed at a collaborative consultation event held at York Law School, University of York, on 7th July 2022. The event followed on from a pilot research project, funded by C & JB Morrell Trust, which explored the issues associated with religion, sexual orientation and gender identity in older age care, and, more specifically, the delivery of care to older LGBTQ people by religious providers.1 That project had identified that many older LGBTQ people are very anxious and concerned about receiving care from religious organisations and/or staff in later life, fearing religiousbased prejudice and discrimination during times when they are at their most vulnerable.2 A review of the international and national literature as part of that project highlighted that healthcare, social care and social work students and practitioners with strongly held religious beliefs, especially highly religious individuals aligned with conservative arms of the main world religions, are more likely to hold negative attitudes about LGBTQ people.3 However, there is a vast knowledge gap about whether and how those attitudes inform practice, although there are accounts of it sometimes doing so.4 The purpose of the event reported here was to start a conversation about these issues, promote future dialogue, and embed a future research grant application in the views of key stakeholders