Staff Writer

Classical Judaism and the gay rights movement seemed like an inherent "oxymoron" to Leah Meadows.

The 23-year-old was all but certain that "patriarchal" Judaism would shun gay and lesbian activism.

That is until Meadows, a District resident, attended a panel discussion Thursday evening at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in the District on the crossroads between Judaism and the fight for gay equality.

"I came to be disproved, and I was," Meadows said, after the panel of four pioneering gay and lesbian activists -- three of them Jewish -- reflected on their days fighting discrimination, and the role that Judaism played in their activism.

The forum, co-sponsored by Washington DC Jewish Community Center's Kurlander Program for Gay & Lesbian Outreach and Engagement, commemorated the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, a series of violent demonstrations that erupted in New York City in 1969 following a police raid on a gay bar.

Dana Beyer, the first transgender candidate to run for a seat in Maryland's House of Delegates, recalled that the riots were both a liberating and repelling experience. At the time, Beyer, then a man, was on a date with his future wife near the site of the row.

"I felt both attracted [to the riots] because this was my people doing it ... and repelled because I did not want to be outed," Beyer, who has since had transgender surgery, recalled to nearly 100 attendees.

Fighting for transgender rights as the vice president of both Equality Maryland and Maryland National Organization for Women, Beyer said that her earliest contact with Judaism was vexing.

Enrolled in an Orthodox yeshiva for the bulk of her childhood, Beyer was dismayed by what she called the off-putting "smells of testosterone," as she was required to lay tefillin and recite a daily morning prayer that says in part, "Blessed are you, O Lord our God, ruler of the universe, who did not make me a woman."

Only later in life did Judaism's inclination toward social justice inform Beyer's advocacy work. Deuteronomy's declaration, "Justice, justice shall thou pursue," specifically "motivates me at my core," she said.

Anne Kronenberg, former campaign manager for the gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk, though not Jewish herself, came to learn a great deal from her Jewish boss.

Compassion, in particular, was a virtue Milk embodied and impelled much of Kronenberg's campaign work, she said.

"I love when people think I'm Jewish," Kronenberg said, explaining that although not Jewish by blood, she's "very much a Jew" in spirit and value.

Each panelist pointed out that Jews are overrepresented within many grassroots movements.

Robert Raben, a lobbyist who previously served as counsel to the Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) -- both men are gay and Jewish -- had difficulty pinpointing the innate characteristic that compels Jews to tackle injustice.

"I can't tell you the psychology of why we have a preponderance in this field, but we do," said Raben.

Jewish religious values, noted Beyer, have melded into "who we are" as gay rights activists. "Being Jewish helped motivate me to be a progressive and a liberal. I don't think one could truly separate the two," she explained.

Frank Kamney, who spearheaded the campaign to halt the federal government's discrimination against homosexual employees, didn't dwell much on his Jewish heritage, but noted that attitudes in Washington have nearly come full circle.

Politicians in the 1950s met gay rights advocates "with a relentless, unyielding onslaught of negativity," Kamney recalled, lauding President Barack Obama's gay-friendly mind-set.

When the discussion closed, Mitchell Cohn, a District resident who is gay, admitted that he continually struggles to offset traditional Judaism's injunctions against homosexuality.

"It's an ongoing issue for me" because literal biblical interpretations lead to "self-hate," said Cohn, who demurred on his age.

Ultimately, he added after reflecting on religion's role in the rights movement, "if you examine it too much, you might lose the essence of that activism."