Gay cantor
Taking pride in who they are: Houston-area clergy unseal up on personal journeys
Galveston Congregation B’nai Israel Rabbi Peter Kessler, Congregation Brith Shalom Cantor Mark Levine and Congregation Beth Israel Cantor Kenneth Feibush got together for lunch on June 12. Inset: Congregation Or Ami Rabbi Gideon Estes was out of town during the lunch. |
By JUDY BLUESTEIN LEVIN•• |
The Houston/Galveston area is home to two cantors and two rabbis who happen to be gay.
They illustrate the evolution of same-sex attracted rights, from an openly gay rabbi who had to wait nearly 20 years to attend rabbinical school, to clergy who came out to their congregations, confident they would lose their jobs (they didn’t) and a cantor whose only experience has been love and acceptance.
When Rabbi Peter Kessler of Congregation B’nai Israel in Galveston first applied to Hebrew Union College in 1979, he was turned down. He was openly gay and the rabbinical school was not yet accepting openly gay candidates.
Nearly two decades later, the school finally opened its doors to LGBTQ+ students and, in 1991, he began his quest to become a rabbi.
While waiting to begin his rabbinical journey, Rabbi Kessler
Parish Fires Gay Cantor: “Those who minister in the Church…are to support Church teaching and practice”
Jeffrey Higgins says he never thought his same-sex marriage would be a issue at his position. But on November 8, his marriage came up during a conversation that led to his termination from Mother Seton Catholic Church in Germantown, where he worked part-time as a cantor and choir member for 1.5 years.
On November 8, Higgins, 29, says Pastor Lee Fangmeyer invited him to his office, asked him about his marriage, and then asked him if he’d resign. “I was shocked,” Higgins says. “He told me it had been discovered, that’s the word he used, that I was gay and married and would I resign. I told him I wouldn’t resign, that I liked my career, that I was good at my job, and I didn’t see the need to resign. He told me I’d been an asset to the music program at Mother Seton and that I’d be missed, but that I was terminated as of that moment.”
Higgins told ABC7 News that a fellow parishioner allegedly saw him and his husband together in public and then found their wedding photos online and alerted the church. He says he didn’t telecast his marriage while working at Mother Seton, but pointed o
Dr. James Cantor (@jamescantorphd) is a clinical psychologist and sexologist whose research centers on the growth of sexual interests, including sexual orientation and paraphilias. He maintains the Sexology Today blog, which focuses on the current state of sex research.
What We Discuss with James Cantor:
- What makes people gay?
- The differences between gay men and gay women.
- What should society do about pedophiles who decide to live lives of celibacy rather than act on their urges?
- Is there a link between autism and gender dysphoria?
- What's the deal with asexuality, paraphilia, vorarephilia, and that thing you assess about when nobody else is around?
- And much more...
Full demonstrate notes and resources can be set up here: jordanharbinger.com/815
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Don Croll left Broadway to locate more consistent work as a Jewish cantor, coming out as gay along the way
Don Croll
DAVID TAFFET | Staff Writer
taffet@dallasvoice.com
Don Croll has learned that his route to becoming a cantor — with an Actor’s Equity card and a Broadway run — was not that unusual. Today Croll is the cantor at Temple Shalom in North Dallas.
After graduating from Ithaca College with a major in theater, Croll was hired as a dancer for the Summer Melody Theater in Charlotte, N.C. There, he earned his Equity card and next was hired by Fran and Barry Weissler for their National Theater Company.
At the time, it was one of the best children’s theater companies in the country, Croll said, adding that the Weisslers have since become what Croll calls “the revival king and queen.” Their production of Chicago has been running on Broadway since 1996.
“They liked me very much and would possess used me one day,” Croll said. He said he ran into the couple at Impartial Park Music Hall, at the opening of one of their shows, and Barry Weissler told him, “You could have understudied Joel Grey in our revival of Cabaret.”
Croll did produce it to Broadway