ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 29, 1996 TAG: 9603290095
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA
SOURCE: Associated Press
The Central Conference of American Rabbis, representing 1,750 rabbis of the liberal Reform movement, voted Thursday to support civil marriage for lesbians and gay men and to oppose governmental efforts to bar such unions.
The resolution of the central conference, which passed resoundingly by voice vote at its convention here, has no practical religious consequences, because it avoids the question of rabbinic officiation at same-sex marriages. But it could have considerable political impact, coming as state legislatures around the nation are debating the issue in anticipation that Hawaii may allow marriages of people of the same sex next year.
The Reform rabbis were mindful of their timing and the potent message they were sending by allying leaders of a large, mainstream religious denomination with advocates of marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples.
``There is an urgency here,'' Rabbi Charles A. Kroloff of Temple Emanu El in Westfield, N.J., told the several hundred participants. ``The action of this conference will be a powerful statement.''
At the same time, it underscored a stark division in Judaism over the place of homosexuals in society.
Orthodox rabbis criticized the resolution harshly.
``We are absolutely against it,'' said Rabbi Hersh M. Ginsberg, director of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada.
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