Gay and Jewish

(First published in Huffington Post 2017)

When we were toddlers, my mother taught my sister, brother and me a prayer to say every night before we went to sleep. It was modeled after the Pledge of Allegiance.

“I pledge allegiance to the Torah and to the Jewish people. I promise to live a nice Jewish life and to marry a nice Jewish boy.”

My brother’s prayer ended with “girl.”

Seriously, that was the prayer. It was so ingrained in me that I said it every night without thinking about the words. It became part of my DNA, brush my teeth…