Orthodox Jewish anti-LGBTQ+ ideologies, with implications for clinical practice with Orthodox Jewish LGBTQ+ persons

Abstract

ABSTRACT Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, and other sexual and gender minority (LGBTQ+) clients experiencing conflict over personally-held conservative religious beliefs benefit from their clinicians’ having knowledge of their movements’ specific anti-LGBTQ+ ideologies. This paper examines anti-LGBTQ+ ideologies found in Ultra-Orthodox, and Modern Orthodox Judaism. Orthodox Jewish anti-LGBTQ+ ideologies are impacted by historical and intellectual traditions, their adherents’ privileged or oppressed positions in society, their institutions’ relationships to national and global politics, and various historical, social, and economic forces that they help their adherents face. Orthodox Jewish institutions are also associated with certain benefits of staying and costs of leaving, which may draw LGBTQ+ persons to remain involved with them despite having to cope with an intolerant milieu. We suggest classic theories of rational choice, identity development, and religious judgment as ways of understanding and working with LGBTQ+ persons experiencing conflict over personally-held Orthodox Jewish ideas.