by Jill Finkelstein

Link Roundup: Same-Sex Marriage and Fighting the "War on Women"

Welcome to this week’s installment of Lilith’s Link Roundup. Each week we post Jewish and feminist highlights from around the web. If there’s anything you want to be sure we know about, email us or leave a message in the comments section below.

On Wednesday, President Obama made a historic endorsement of same-sex marriage. In an interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts, he stated, “At a certain point, I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.” [NY Times]

After three years of banning women from singing at events in South Africa’s Jewish community, most notably at Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israel Independence Day) and Yom HaShoa (Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day) events, a new organization called South African Centre for Religious Equality and Diversity’s (SACRED) has begun to fight back. This year, a compromise was made allowing women to sing at a Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration in Johannesburg, but only in a mixed choir, along with men. The organization released a video as part of their campaign to stop the discrimination. [Ha’aretz] & [Ha’aretz]

Lilith author Jennifer Rosner explained why she chose to communicate primarily  with her deaf daughters in spoken language rather than sign language. [Motherlode]

Click HERE to read a fuller description of this mother’s parenting challenges and joys in Lilith’s current issue.

Over 200 military sexual assault survivors gathered together on Tuesday for the first-ever summit on military sexual violence. Unfortunately, sexual assault is rarely reported in the military. The Pentagon estimated that 19,000 sexual assaults that took place last year, however only 3,192 cases of sexual assault were actually reported. The summit, which was sponsored by the Service Women’s Action Network, allowed sexual assault survivors to meet with U.S. lawmakers in an effort to end the sexual violence in the military. [Washington Post] & [Huffington Post]

Last month, the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization passed in the U.S. Senate by a vote of 68-31. The bill featured new provisions to protect specific groups, including undocumented immigrants, members of the LGBT community, and Native American tribes. [Huffington Post]

Rabbi Sally Priesand, the first female rabbi in America, reflected on her experience as she approaches the 40^th anniversary of her ordination. [eJewish Philanthropy]

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