I'm not going to comment, because I'll just say something stupid that will come out wrong.

Gay Shabbat planned

Temple Beth Torah, a Jewish Reform congregation, will be hosting a Gay Pride Shabbat this evening in correspondence with the weeklong celebration of Rockland's gay community.

"The Reform movement has seen itself to be welcoming to the gay and lesbian community," said Rabbi Brian Beale, who will be officiating the service.

The county's gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered communities are encouraged to attend this and every week's Shabbat, which is "a liturgy and celebration of God," said Beale.

Today's shabbat will be like any other, said Beale. However, the rabbi's usual 20-minute sermon will be replaced by a featured speaker addressing gay concerns in Judaism.

OK, I'll comment. I personally would be interested in hearing the speaker, but I'll be damned if I can figure out how I'd explain the issues coherently to my (almost) 4 year-old daughter. The rabbi in my Conservative shul usually asks the congregation some questions on Friday nights as part of his sermon, most of which an educated child can answer. Can issues of concern to the gay community be addressed to an audience made in large part of young children? I guess the Orthodox deal with this both by not welcoming gays (at least openly) and not having children go to shul.

Sometimes I'm really glad that I was born into the first adult generation that only has to deal with the remnants of discrimination based on sex, race and religion. I wish I could have avoided the sexual preference debates as well. My apathetic butt was born a generation or two too early.

There isn't any other general group lacking rights out there...is there? Maybe if we can be done with this, we can move on as a society?