LOS ANGELES, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- A Los Angeles rabbi says he plans to suggest an end to bans on gay rabbis and same-sex commitment ceremonies to an international rabbinical council.
However, Rabbi Elliot Dorff of the University of Judaism said his proposal to leaders of Judaism's Conservative movement would stay within the traditional rabbinical interpretation of the Bible by prohibiting anal sex between men, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday. He said other forms of consensual sex would be allowed between monogamous partners.
"It is a compromise, no question," Dorff said. His proposal seeks "to maintain the continuity of the law to the extent that we can, while at the same time getting rid of the harm it causes."
Some Conservative Jews have voiced opposition to ordaining homosexuals, citing a passage in Leviticus that many be interpreted as a denunciation of homosexuality: "Do not lie with a man as one would lie with a woman; it is an abomination."
However, others have argued for an end to both bans without sexual restrictions, as the Reform Judaism movement did in 1990.
