An LGBT flag stamped with a Jewish star floats in the streets of Paris. The standard is held up by Alain Beit, the president of the French Jewish association LGBT Beit Haverim – “house of friends”, in Hebrew –, during the Paris Pride March, on June 24. This symbolic image appears on his Instagram account with a sentence: “Yes, it exists and we can very well experience this double belonging. » A 46-year-old father, who joined the association in 2007 after coming out and a stormy divorce, this Parisian financier has noticed a growing relationship “uninhibited” to these two identities among Beit Haverim affiliates. “When the association was born in 1977, our members rejected religion as a whole because it was not accepted. Today, we assume a spiritual life, with more and more practicing people”he comments.
This is the case of Joane (who wished to remain anonymous), 22, a psychology student. She describes herself as “Jewish and pansexual” – attracted to anyone regardless of gender or sexual orientation – but she calls herself a lesbian to her family, very refractory, in order to keep everyone away. “hope of [la] see with a man ». Raised in a non-practicing Jewish environment, the young woman became closer to religion at university. At the time, she already knows she is pansexual and starts going to a synagogue “very orthodox”wears skirts and long sleeves, makes Shabbat every Saturday. “It was complicated to combine the twoshe says. When I surveyed around me, I was told that a gay or lesbian person must be put back on the right track. » She then renounces any intimate relationship, isolates herself from her original friends, becomes depressed. Then she took the opposite path, moving away from the Orthodox current, in particular by engaging with Beit Haverim and discovering a more liberal Judaism, with “new landmarks”. Now involved with the youth group, Joane has never “not yet completely succeeded in linking the two identities” : “It’s always a struggle when you’re Jewish and LGBT, no matter what background you’re in. »
Alain Beit assures him: “The fear of rejection is huge. Some people interact with us on the WhatsApp group, but we will never see them. They lead a double life. » Recently, the association challenged the Jewish consistory of Paris after one of its members was fired from a kosher company (control of kosher food). “Rabbis summoned his employer to tell him that his employee represented a danger to young people as a homosexual”, explains the president. The reaction of the consistory is still awaited… Alain Beit denounces a “facade talk” rabbis and a “resistance in Jewish schools and youth movements”. He regrets the lack of “positive role models” visible among LGBT+ Jews. In fact, Elise Goldfarb and Julia Layani, who created the “Coming Out” podcast, are an exception. This separation between faith and sexual orientation affects many believers, regardless of their religion.
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