Reflections on and Reactions to a Student Club for “LGBTQ”

Whenever I learn and teach Torah, I experience tremendous simcha. פקודי השם ישרים משמחי לב, torascha sha'ashuoy. Not so tonight. I speak with a palpable sense of sadness, pain, anguish and difficulty. בעזרת השם בלי נדר we're going to speak about issues, not people. Those who have been and are the architects of and approve YU's response to the gay pride litigation are individuals of integrity. Their commitment to Torah is absolute, they obviously regard homosexual behavior, same-sex marriages, transgender surgeries and other sexual deviances as categorically prohibited, and their intentions are l'shem shamayim. A chilul Hashem has been and is unfolding here at YU. What does the odious acronym LGBTQ represent? I'm not inquiring as to its literal semantic meaning, rather its actual meaning within its cultural context. The moniker LGBTQ embraces and celebrates sexually deviant behaviors which are anathema to the Torah. In adopting this acronym, people self-identify by celebrating behaviors, lifestyles and values which brazenly and defiantly reject divine morality. They openly defy Hakadosh Baruch Hu. The acronym reflects a nihilistic philosophy, a philosophy which rejects divine morality for its "alternate morality", which denies the objective reality of זכר ונקבה ברא אותם and substitutes its non-binary and transgenderism lunacy, which offers ואת זכר לא תשכב משכבי אשה as an alternative to v'davak b'ishto, etc. A failure to grasp the actual cultural meaning of the LGBTQ acronym can have catastrophic unintended spiritual consequences. Is it conceivable that YU would allow a club entitled מלעיגים על דברי חכמים or kofrim baTorah, albeit under rabbinic supervision? Just by virtue of its nomenclature, the existence of such a club would constitute a chilul Hashem. It should be equally unimaginable that YU would have a club for LGBTQ students referred to as such, identified as such. The oxymoronic reality that such a club is officially sanctioned at YU constitutes a chilul Hashem. Moreover, how can we expect the outside world not to be confused? How can we expect people to comprehend that we do not have a gay club, and we don't, when YU itself speaks of a club for LGBTQ? Would anyone understand how a kashrus symbol can appear on a product labeled pork? Chilul Hashem is a function not only of reality, but also of perception. Rambam writes in Sefer Hamitzvos

שאפילו שיבוא עלינו מכריח גוי ויבקש ממנו לכפור בו יתעלה לא נשמע ממנו.

Even if we're pounced upon by someone who looks to coerce us to profess kefira, lo nishma mimenu, we shouldn't accept it, אבל נמסור עצמנו למיתה, we should incur martyrdom, ולא נשיאהו לחשוב שכפרנו, we shouldn't mislead him into thinking that we're succumbing. We shouldn't even posture that way. ואף על פי שלבנו מאמין בו יתעלה. Chillul Hashem is a function not only of reality, but also of perception. No dividend can legitimize the chillul Hashem of a club which is entitled as being for LGBTQ, or for that matter can it justify, no dividend can justify any other chillul Hashem either. We live in a moment in history when divine morality is constantly attacked and maligned. Torah's sexual ethics are branded homophobic rachmana litzlan. How are we to react? We need to unapologetically and unabashedly affirm our beliefs, our principles, our commitment. This cannot be accomplished by simply expressing a general commitment to halacha. In the surreal reality which is ours, people brazenly demand recognition as Orthodox Jews while living openly homosexual lives. They heretically seek and demand validation for sexual deviances as reflected in the LGBTQ acronym, thereby seeking to redefine halachic commitment. In such a context and at this and at such a moment, we need to explicitly detail our commitment. What do we believe? We believe in the eternal truth and we abide by it: ואת זכר לא תשכב משכבי אשה תועבה היא. We believe in the eternal truth and we abide by כמעשה ארץ מצרים אשר ישבתם בה לא תעשו, the practices of ancient Egyptian society were the most degenerate.

ומה היו עושים שחזל בתורת כהנים איש נושא לאיש אשה ניסת לאשה,

same-sex marriage epitomizes sheer and ultimate degeneracy. We believe and abide by that u-be-artzachem lo sa'asu, that castration in any form, including of course transgender surgery, is categorically prohibited, etcetera. We need to clearly, explicitly, and unabashedly affirm all this. Not every drasha should begin with or contain these explicit affirmations, but neither should we retreat and never be clear and explicit. We must not rachmana litzlan soften or water down the Torah's formulations or hide behind vapid, intentionally non-specific professions of adherence to traditional values. In so doing, we rachmana litzlan effectively censor Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That too constitutes a chillul Hashem. It's undeniably true that in the confused, perverted world of 5785, some people will be offended by our candid affirmations. They may refuse to support us in other areas. We obviously welcome and seek genuine friendship and support, but nonetheless, the fact that we may forfeit such friendship and support because of our candid affirmations is of no consequence. Hakadosh Baruch Hu has not authorized us to engage in horse-trading. רווח והצלה יעמוד ליהודים ממקום אחר, not through feckless formulations. I conclude with a quote from the Rav. We must remember that an ethical or halakhic principle decreed by God is not rendered void by the fact that people refuse to abide by it. Its cogency and veracity are perennial and independent of compliance on the part of the multitude, the multitudes. If the ethical norm 'Thou shalt not kill' has not lost its validity during the days of extermination camps and gas chambers when millions of people were engaged in ruthless murder, but on the contrary has been impregnated with deeper meaning and significance, then every halakhic maxim assumes greater import in times of widespread disregard and unconcern. The greater the difficulty, the more biting the ridicule and sarcasm, and the more numerous the opponents, then the holier is the principle and the more sacred is our duty to defend it. Hakadosh Boruch Hu should bless us, allow us and bless us to be mekadesh Shem Shomayim.