GLBT group meets recruiting barriers

Keshet, a Jewish Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender group, has been a part of IU for seven years and is looking for new members.

“It’s the group’s intention to have a club where people can come together and talk about what is going on in their lives ... and have a good group of friends to support them,” Sally Kaplan, co-president of Keshet, said.

But the co-president said the group is finding it difficult to attract new members.

“It’s hard to flyer when your fliers say ‘Gay Jew’ because people are more inclined to tear them down,” Kaplan said. “The night we were putting flyers up for the call out meeting, 20 minutes after we put the flyers up, 12 of them were ripped down.”

Another difficulty, she said, has been getting members because of the specificity.

“It is really hard to find gay Jews. That’s really specific,” sophomore and co-president Jon Menachem said.

“One time this guy walked up to me and said ‘Gay Jew? That is oddly specific.’ I just had to say that it is a really tight-knit group,” he said.

But Kaplan said having similar backgrounds, both as homosexuals and Jewish people, often helps the group bond at its meetings.

“It’s a very different dynamic between gay Jews and a group of gay students,” Kaplan said. “It’s because as Jews, we have been through such similar situations.”

Keshet group outings include visiting the Helene G. Simon Hillel Center for Shabbat services and dinner or impromptu get-togethers and barbecues. Many of the events utilize the Hillel Center’s facilities.

“Hillel is open to all Jewish students, and it is here to support them and to help them in any way that we can,” said Rabbi Sue Laikin Silberberg, executive director of Hillel.
“So it is very important to us that the GLBT students feel that they have a community here at Hillel and that they have a place in the Jewish community.”