Gay Jewish men and women who want to raise a family can now join a new matchmaking service that would allow couples to unconventionally sprout a family while still maintaining their sexual orientation – no required lifestyle change.
Rabbi Arele Harel, 36, founder of the service, insists the matchmaking is simply designed to encourage more Jewish children to enter the world, but the service is not without criticism from both Jewish groups and advocates for the LGBT community.
Orthodox Jewish rabbis disapprove of the service, insisting Harel “should be doing more to encourage gays and lesbians to try to change their sexual orientation” the Washington Post reports. Meanwhile, the LGBT community and religious gay groups criticize the service for merely suppressing homosexuality.
“The main aspiration here is parenthood,” said Harel. “It allows them to become parents in a way that is permitted by religious Jewish law and prevents a conflict between their religious world and their sexual world.”
The ‘love arrangement’ must not even be love – in fact, the service itself is not designed, according to Harel, to inspire love or commitment, but rather allow Jewish people to have legitimate children according to Jewish law without bearing weight to the person’s sexual identity. It even allows for sexual exploration outside of the couple’s commitment to having children.
The American Psychological Association condemns the act of ‘gay therapy’ or any kind of conversional method to ‘turn’ a gay person straight. No reputable evidence exists that such change is likely, and many reports provide evidence that such ‘therapy’ can be detrimental to a person’s psyche. While Harel insists the matchmaking service does not attempt to convert those who are gay into a straight lifestyle, LGBT advocates and allies have expressed concern over the service.
According to Harel, he has already married 12 couples as a result of the matchmaking site, yet insists while the service is not impedingly meant to convert gays into straights, it can often result in the outcome nevertheless.
More than 80 gay and lesbian people have expressed interested in the Jewish matchmaking service after it went live this month.
