First gay Jewish organization opens in Brussels

Group called “LGBT Jews in and around Brussels” now has 60 members.

By JTA
An aerial view of people walking through the Brussels Grand' Place (photo credit: REUTERS)
An aerial view of people walking through the Brussels Grand' Place
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Reform Jews in Brussels opened the city’s first gay Jewish organization.
The group’s inaugural meeting took place on October 18 and it now has 60 members, according to David Weis, one of the founders of the community, called “LGBT Jews in and around Brussels.”
LGBT is an acronym for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender.
Two Progressive communities — a term which in Europe is applied to Reform and Conservative denominations — have pledged their support for the new group, which nonetheless operates as a separate entity both to the Beth Hillel congregation and to the International Jewish Center community.
“Our aim is also to build close links with Luxembourg Liberal Jewish community which has been very supportive as well,” Weiss said.
According to the European Union of Progressive Judaism, similar groups already existing in France, Britain, Germany and the Netherlands.
Some of the community’s most active members are English-speakers living in Brussels, Weiss said.
“The fact that Progressive Jewish movements in the United Kingdom and the United States have started welcoming LGBT Jews,” Weiss added, “means that expats often still have links with Jewish communities back home. In Belgium many LGBT Jews have cut their links with Jewish communal life, and we hope indeed to bridge that gap among Belgian Jewry.”