Believing that all, regardless of sexual orientation, are created in the image of God and entitled to equal rights, liberal Jews overwhelmingly believe that gays should not face discrimination either in terms of marriage or in terms of ordination.

Neither my family nor any other is threatened by the consecration of the love of two people of the same sex who wish to have a family of their own. Nor do I believe that any religious community is threatened by embracing the gifts of intellect, love, compassion, and leadership offered by those who seek to serve their religious family as clergy, regardless of their sexual orientation.

It is interesting to see in polls how, across religious lines, support for gay rights increases significantly once someone has a close friend or family member who is gay.

Further, as Jews, who along with Blacks were the quintessential victims of group hatred in Western civilization simply because of who we were, and against whom many cultures, nations and religious groups justified laws restricting our rights because we were different, we cannot now remain silent in the face of legalized discrimination against others.

And increasingly, America as a whole seems to be coming to the same conclusion.

A substantial and growing majority of Americans support the legal recognition (either marriage or gay unions) of committed gay relationships. Thoughtful polls suggest the numbers may be higher than understood.

People for the American Way’s Center for American Values did an interesting study in 2006, asking how people felt about gay unions and gay marriage. Initially the results were consistent with the national trends of the past few years: around 28% supporting gay marriage, 33% civil unions, and 38% opposing any civil recognition of gay relationships. That means 62% favor legal recognition of gay relationships.

But when given with the assurance that no church or clergy would be forced to perform such marriages if they objected, support for gay marriage jumped to 40%! And it increased in almost every religious group. And if you look at the under-40 generation, the numbers jump far more.

I suspect that a generation from now, many faith traditions that are struggling with this issue (not all of course) will look back on that struggle with the same bewilderment we look today on our earlier struggles with whether to ordain women.