robison@eosp1.UUCP (Tobias D. Robison) (06/11/84)
References: It is pleasing to see so many Jews who feel that they can use the words "goy" and "goyim" in an objective sense. It has been my experience that most Jews using the words, even those under age 40, use them in the contexts of disparaging and discriminating statements. But judging from the net mail, maybe there is hope for the future. There is a movement in modern halacha to try to rescue homosexuals from the stigma of the Torah quotes made in the net. I have read about attempts to treat homosexuals as individuals who (like suicides) are sick or temporarily deranged, and therefore not reponsible for their actions. Nothing very successful seems to have come from this, however. I believe that both the Torah quotes speak against male homosexuality. Claims have frequently been made in the past that Orthodox jews are largely obivious to many overt manifestations of female homosexuality, and that it does not cause the same degree of Halachic problems. Halachic Concubinism was proposed in the 60's as a way of dealing with the widespread practice of couples living together. - Toby Robison (not Robinson!) allegra!eosp1!robison decvax!ittvax!eosp1!robison princeton!eosp1!robison