Q&A: Religious LGBTQ People
Religious LGBTQ People.
Question
I have a few questions regarding religious LGBTQ people:
1. Are religious gay men allowed to get married?
2. I heard that some say that what is written in the Torah about the prohibition of male same-sex intercourse refers to a specific act, but that other sexual acts are permitted according to Jewish law for a male couple. What is the Rabbi’s opinion on this?
3. Is a religious person allowed to undergo sex reassignment surgery?
Answer
1-2. Gay men cannot get married. Do you mean a civil marriage? That is a meaningless ceremony, so there is nothing to prohibit or permit about it. They are forbidden to have sexual relations or forbidden sexual closeness, and living together is problematic closeness (for example, because of the law of seclusion).
3. The important question is not whether he is allowed to undergo surgery, but what his status is after the surgery (that is, whether he indeed becomes a member of the other sex). I do not have a clear position on this (though admittedly I have not thought about it enough). There is an overview here: https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%99_%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%9F_%D7%91%D7%94%D7%9C%D7%9B%D7%94
Discussion on Answer
On the subject of sex reassignment surgeries in Jewish law—whether they are permitted and whether they are effective in changing halakhic status—Rabbi Idan Ben-Ephraim’s book, “A Generation of Upheavals,” is devoted to this topic.
Best regards, Yafaor
The surgery involves the prohibition of castration.