"It feels quite personal to have lost this civil right"

Conversation with Rabbi Lisa Edwards

Hosted by Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak, JewsOnFirst.org, January 27, 2009

Rabbi Lisa Edwards is rabbi of America's first gay synagogue, Beth Chaim Chadashim in Los Angeles and holds a Ph.D. in literature. Her writings include a handbook for Union of Reform Congregations entitled Kulanu: All of Us; The Women’s Torah Commentary: New Insights from Women Rabbis on the 54 Weekly Torah Portions; and Lesbian Rabbis: The First Generation

As she says in this conversation, Edwards officiated at numerous weddings between May, when California's Supreme Court affirmed the right of same-sex couples to marry, and the passage of Proposition 8 in November:

The stark disappointment that resulted from the passage of Proposition 8 is quite startling. I officiated at 43 weddings. It feels quite personal to have lost this civil right by a vote of the people.

Rabbi Edwards and Tracy Moore were married under chuppah in 1995, and under California law in 2008 by Assemblymember Karen Bass and Rabbi Laura Geller.