From the Jewish Daily Forward:
Mark Paredes, the Los Angeles-based national director of Latino outreach for the American Jewish Congress, is taking heat from liberal Jews who opposed Proposition 8 — the ballot initiative that amends the California state constitution to outlaw same-sex marriage — for his outspoken support of the measure.
Paredes, who once served as a press attaché for the Israeli consulate in L.A. and speaks fluent Hebrew, has in recent years been a key liaison between the Mormon Church and the Jewish community on the West Coast. While Paredes’s defenders tout his deep and long-standing ties to the Jewish community and say he has a right to express his personal opinions, critics contend that his work at AJCongress — a 90-year-old advocacy group dedicated to protecting Jewish interests — comes into conflict with his visible support for Proposition 8.
“I’m upset with how Mark Paredes has conducted himself in the Jewish community over this issue,” said Denise Eger, rabbi of West Hollywood’s gay and lesbian Reform synagogue, Congregation Kol Ami. “He’s been so public about his support on Proposition 8, and he’s somehow expected that the Jewish community is with him on this, when 70% of the Jews voted no on Prop. 8.”
Read the full article at the Jewish Daily Forward
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December 5th, 2008 at 11:16 am
I am surprised that a Jewish Organization would do this. A group that has historically been persecuted for their beliefs. How pathetic.
December 5th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Jews also voted against this proposition by HUGE margins. They knew what it was.
Some beliefs are more pathetic than others. Actually, some beliefs are just pathetic.
It does not provide moral certification just because it was on the ballot.