Alycia Fridkin leads two JQT Mental Health Support Series workshops: Facing Emotions and Healing Relationships on March 30, and Queering with Our Kids on April 6. (photo from JQT Vancouver)
JQT Vancouver is hosting two supported and spiritually grounded workshops in partnership with JFS Vancouver, as part of the JQT Mental Health Support Series: Facing Emotions and Healing Relationships on March 30, and Queering with Our Kids on April 6. Both three-hour, free gatherings will be held from noon to 3 p.m. at Little Mountain Neighbourhood House.
In the first workshop, participants will explore how they have been wrestling with some relationships since Oct. 7, 2023. Drawing on open-hearted sharing, deep listening and collective wisdom, they will process this tension and arrive at insights together for how to manage the emotions within themselves and with their families, friends, colleagues and other people in their lives. The goal of this gathering is to listen to one another, as participants share their lived experiences navigating relationships in conversation around Israel and Palestine and/or being Jewish. Come learn how to build capacity as a community to create an intentional, supportive, safe and healing space for diverse voices to be heard.
The second workshop is for parents of queer/trans youth and queer/trans parents to share, listen and learn from one another as parents in the Jewish community. The goal of this gathering is for participants to listen and learn how they can support themselves and their children facing tensions in the Jewish and/or queer/trans communities. This could include issues related to Israel and Palestine, gender diversity and sexual orientation. The workshop aims to build capacity as a community to create an intentional, supportive, safe and healing space for families and caregivers.
Both workshops will be led by Alycia Fridkin, an experienced facilitator on equity issues and a member of the Vancouver queer Jewish community, who led JQT’s Listen & Be Heard a year ago.
Fridkin is an equity and anti-racism consultant who supports individuals and organizations to address inequities in health care and other sectors. She has facilitated engagement sessions and workshops on systemic racism, whiteness and white fragility, meaningful involvement, stigmatized topics such as substance use and decriminalization, and the Palestine/Israel conflict. Her training includes a PhD in interdisciplinary studies and a master’s in health science, and she is a certified transformational coach.
To register for either or both workshops, and for information on JQT, its events and activities, visit jqtvancouver.ca.
JQT Vancouver’s table at the BC Hospice Palliative Care Association’s Grief, Bereavement and Mental Health Summit 2024, which took place Nov. 20-22. (photo from JQT)
In 2024, JQT Vancouver, a queer and trans nonprofit, and Jewish Family Services Vancouver teamed up – through financial backing from the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Vancouver and private donations – to create the JQT Mental Health Support Series, a set of informational workshops, resources and events for the LGBTQ2SIA+ community.
The organizations have now entered 2025 invigorated by the response and eager to continue and expand their offerings.
“Like any marginalized community, queer and trans people are aware of their needs and are tired of being surveyed. They have been historically, persistently and systemically marginalized and are waiting for changes in society and health care to be more inclusive of them,” JQT founder and executive director Carmel Tanaka told the Independent.
Tanaka added that a limited operating budget can present challenges when providing the necessary safe spaces, programs and awareness resources for Jewish queer and trans community members and beyond. These needs for support far outweigh JQT’s capacity alone, she said.
In her view, moving away from the survey model to a model of outreach and engagement not only fosters community between Jewish queer and trans people but ensures that Jewish queer and trans people are seen and treated as more than survey data.
Tanaka credited JFS Vancouver chief executive officer Tanja Demajo for understanding this. Demajo listened to the recommendations JQT had been urging for a long time and took steps to fill the gap in mental health support services for the Jewish queer and trans community, said Tanaka.
“This partnership has been an incredible learning experience for me personally,” Demajo shared with the Independent. “Working closely with Carmel and the JQT team made me recognize the importance of being present, listening and understanding how JFS needs to evolve to better serve populations that may have felt isolated. Empowering others to take the lead in this context was inspiring and has already resulted in some truly amazing programming.
“Seeing the community come together – sharing laughs, conversations and moments of joy – has reinforced one key takeaway: we should continue building these connections and creating even more opportunities to collaborate.”
The partnership between JQT and JFS dates back several years. In 2020, the two groups started conversations pertaining to diversity education, ensuring JFS supports for the social, physical and emotional wellness of all people, and providing a welcoming and inclusive organization for the Jewish LGBTQ2SIA+ community. Their partnership was given the name Twice Blessed 2.0: The Jewish LGBTQ2SIA+ Initiative. The Mental Health Support Series, rolled out last year, is the second phase of the initiative; it follows the 2022 Community Needs Assessment.
The mental health series provided numerous offerings last year that encompassed an array of topics – some serious, some lighter – such as dying and death, clay as a medium for mindfulness, and belly dancing. There was also an evening of comedy with Los Angeles-based performer Antonia Lassar and music from Victoria’s Klezbians.
“This series deals with very heavy issues, a lot of which are highly contentious and divide our communities in a number of ways. Our series also provides opportunities to laugh, have fun, relieve stress and move energy. When it comes to mental health, there needs to be a balance,” Tanaka said.
“There are many highlights for me personally,” she continued, “but one that stands out was when a group of queer Chinese folx attended our mahjong event to learn how to play mahjong because they didn’t have the opportunity to learn in their community. That’s when you know that you’re making a positive difference, when you are also helping out communities beyond your own.”
With the positive reaction thus far,JQT and JFS are maintaining their partnership into 2025 to bring more programs and support to the Jewish queer and trans community.
“We look forward to continuing our learning journey and offering meaningful programming and support for the LGBTQ2SIA+ community. In partnership with JQT, we’re excited to develop programs over the next year that will clearly reflect our ongoing commitment to inclusivity and connection,” Demajo said.
Throughout the partnership, Tanaka said, JFS “has learned our preferred style of collaboration and communication, and has borne witness to JQT’s growth and its limitations as a 100% volunteer-led organization.
“Today,” she said, “our quarterly JQT-JFS meetings run quickly, smoothly and are a whole lot of fun because we all genuinely like each other, enjoy the work we are accomplishing together, and can see the fruits of our labour.”
In 2024, JQT gained charitable status. This is a significant accomplishment for a small nonprofit, noted Tanaka, who this month starts her seventh year with JQT.
In 2025, she aims to secure an annual salary for the organization’s executive director position, as well as extended health benefits and program funding.These, she believes, will set JQT up for further success and future executive directors.
“With an increase in queer Jewish event offerings in town,” said Tanaka, “JQT can now focus on heavier lifting, specifically education and training of Jewish and non-Jewish organizations in and out of community and health care, which has been a decades-long request from Jewish queer and trans people.
“We are starting to feel the synergy around our work and are finally being invited to the table,” she added. “It’s all been worth it and we look forward to continuing our collaboration with JFS in a good, organic way.”
The first event of the 2025 Mental Health Support Series, Jewish Magic Herbal Pottery, takes place on Feb. 25, 6 p.m., at Or Shalom Synagogue. To register, visit jqtvancouver.ca.
Sam Margolishas written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.
Los Angeles-based comedian and podcaster Antonia Lassar brings The Best Jew to Vancouver Performing Stars’ theatre on Nov. 30. (photo by Xander DePascale)
Ever wonder how Sarah might have welcomed back Abraham and Isaac from their “camping trip”? Who’s the biggest diva in the Hebrew Bible? What elements an interior designer for synagogues considers? These are just a few of the questions comedian Antonia Lassar answers in recent social media posts.
On Nov. 30, Vancouverites can see the Canadian debut of Lassar’s The Best Jew, in which she shares anecdotes about her Reform Judaism upbringing, contemplates questions like whether the late Debbie Friedman is the Messiah, and much more. Music and singing play a big part in the show, which will be opened by the Klezbians, a band from Victoria.
Lassar draws her inspiration from the Jewish communities she’s lived in, in Boston, New York and Los Angeles. “It’s sometimes brutal to be sitting in shul and not be able to pull out my phone to take notes, because I just noticed something hilarious that I need to write about,” she said. “I’m constantly having great ideas in places where I’m not allowed to write anything down!”
Lassar grew up in Newton, Mass., and attended theatre school before moving to New York City. Two years ago, she relocated to Los Angeles to focus on film and television. “I’ve known since I was a kid that I wanted to perform, but I didn’t pinpoint comedy as my strong suit until I got out of college,” she said.
Today, she describes herself as being deeply immersed in the Jewish community, but, for many years, Lassar found her Jewish life uninspiring. “I didn’t like Judaism growing up,” she admitted. “It felt like an afterschool activity I was forced to do, in the same way I was forced to take piano lessons. I thought both were useless and probably just child abuse.”
It took a foray into other religions before Lassar returned to Judaism with genuine interest and curiosity. For that, she thanks Chabad in Brooklyn. “They sucked me in and gave me a great love for Judaism,” she said. “But I wouldn’t call myself Reform or Chabad. Like many Jews of my generation, I feel like I’m between denominations.”
When it came to writing comedy, Lassar turned to what she knew best, and that was Judaism. “Most Jewish comedy stays at the level of cultural Ashkenazi stereotypes of bagels and overbearing mothers,” she said. “This never felt representative of my experience. I wanted to write comedy for Jews that went beyond stereotypes and that shows a different side to Judaism, one that’s not commonly portrayed in comedy.”
She wrote The Best Jew for a pluralistic Jewish audience and has performed it for a wide range of Jews, from Reform to Hassidic. “My material is very clean, and any passing reference to controversial subjects like the Holocaust is extremely respectful,” she said. “This is an 18+ show, but it won’t offend anyone.”
In the show, Lassar jokes about the Reform movement’s obsession with the word “meaningful,” and Chabad’s distribution of menorahs, among many other subjects. “It’s so much more fun performing for Jewish communities than at comedy clubs, where you’re just another comedian,” she reflected. “When I perform at a synagogue, they treat you like you’re Moshiach! It’s a dream job to travel around the country and meet amazing Jewish communities who are so diverse and so welcoming.”
Lassar comes to Vancouver as a guest of JQT Vancouver, a volunteer-run Jewish, queer and trans nonprofit, and Jewish Family Services Vancouver, as part of the organizations’ Mental Health Support Series. While Lassar’s queer identity does come up, “it’s not a huge part of the show,” she said. “I’ve spent a lot of time in very Orthodox spaces, where the question of queerness is unavoidable. And I’m proud to be a queer Jew who is deeply engaged in Judaism.”
To get an idea of Lassar’s comedy, check out her sketches on Instagram and TikTok. She also co-hosts, with comedian Raye Schiller, Yenta Pod, a weekly podcast with the tagline “Sometimes funny, sometimes Jewish, always gossip.”
Aviva Rathbone, chair of JQT Vancouver, finds hope in the fact that “[t]here are lots of people in the community coming together right now and finding connections to heal what they can in what is a very broken world and what is a very broken situation.” (photo from JQT)
Probably all Jews have experienced emotional and mental impacts from the events of Oct. 7 and since. For LGBTQ+ Jews, these effects are often magnified by the climates in their multiple communities.
JQT Vancouver (pronounced J-Cutie), a volunteer-run Jewish queer and trans nonprofit group whose mission is “‘queering’ Jewish spaces and ‘Jew-ifying’ queer spaces,” has released the results of a survey that indicates LGBTQ+ Jews are experiencing profound pain – regardless of where they stand on an apparently vastly diverse spectrum of opinions about the conflict in the Middle East.
Titled 2024 JQT Temperature Check Report, the document collates responses from 91 individuals, including narratives of their experiences, and the overview it paints is bleak.
“There are a lot of really sad commentaries,” Aviva Rathbone, chair of JQT, told the Independent. “A lot of the folks who responded to the survey are people who are really struggling right now.”
She cautioned that the survey may not include the perspectives of others who may be having more positive experiences.
“Some people are feeling really accepted into community right now, they are feeling like they found a place,” said Rathbone. “We didn’t hear from those folks, but that’s not to say that they don’t exist.”
The results are not surprising, she said.
“We knew people were struggling,” she said. “It was a surprise, I think, the depth of anger and sadness that was there.”
Fewer than half of survey respondents indicated that they felt safe and accepted in Jewish spaces and only about a quarter said they felt safe and accepted in queer spaces. Fewer still, 14%, said they felt comfortable in both.
Since Oct. 7, approximately half of respondents indicated that actions and/or statements of queer (57%) and Jewish organizations (51%) have had a negative impact on their mental health.
A majority (57%) of respondents indicated that their safety and security felt threatened since Oct. 7 because of their Jewish identity. More than two-thirds of respondents (68%) said they experienced antisemitism online or in-person since Oct. 7.
Much of the discomfort centres on divergent attitudes toward Israel and the war against Hamas, as well as opinions around the definitions of antisemitism and what some respondents describe as exclusivist attitudes in the Jewish community, often described as overwhelmingly pro-Israel, and in the LGBTQ+ community, described by many as unwelcoming to pro-Israel Jews.
One respondent said the Jewish community should “acknowledge that anti-Zionist Jews are still Jews and should be welcome in Jewish spaces” and that “queer Zionist Jews are still queer and should be welcome in queer spaces.”
JQT serves members who self-identify as Zionist and those who self-identify as anti-Zionist.
“When the mainstream Jewish community dismisses Jews who criticize Israeli actions, it makes me feel alienated from that community, more than before,” wrote one respondent.
Two among scores of examples illustrate the chasm between the narratives shared in the report. One respondent accuses “queers for Palestine” of trying “to turn Zionism into a dirty word” and making them feel “unwelcome as a Jewish Israeli in queer spaces when not hiding myself.” Another writer says, “It makes me unsafe when Jewish organizations […] make wildly racist statements about Palestine. Conflating Judaism with Israel makes it seem like I am complicit in this genocide.”
Said another respondent: “None of the synagogues or even [Jewish queer groups] have made any statements that humanize the struggle of non-Zionist Jews and how we’ve been systematically shut out of spiritual, social and cultural Jewish spaces for far too long. In fact, the current climate within these spaces promotes a pro-war and anti-Palestinian rhetoric that pushes me and my friends away from feeling security and belonging in our identities.”
The divergence in attitudes is typified by another survey response.
“People wearing an End the Occupation T-shirt or other such slogans signal to me that the wearers believe Hamas to be righteous rather than terrorist, that all lives are not equal, makes me uncomfortable, as does the aggressivity of protesters, including [queer groups that support] Palestine. Standing in solidarity with Israel and its absolute right to defend itself, while not recognizing the numbers of non-Hamas Palestinians killed and the living conditions in Gaza during the war is also not comfortable for me,” wrote a respondent.
If there is a clear takeaway from the study, Rathbone said, it can be summed up in one word.
“Empathy,” she said. “We have the ability to hold space for our own pain and anger and for other people’s pain and anger. I fully believe that humans are expansive and the Jewish community for sure is expansive and we have done this many times. We have been able to hold space for ourselves and for other people who are suffering, even when we don’t agree with them.”
Disagreements over politics, no matter how intensely and personally held, should not erase the empathy Jewish people have for one another, she said.
It is possible to have conversations across that divide, as JQT did recently in a “listen and be heard” event, facilitated by two professionals.
That event was part of a major mental health initiative in collaboration with Jewish Family Services, with funding from the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Vancouver, that was in the works even before Oct. 7. Among numerous projects rolled out in recent months addressing the challenges facing LGBTQ+ Jews is a 10-page resource issued last week, titled JQT Affirming Care: A Toolkit for Mental Health Providers. It was developed by care providers Hannah Zalmanowitz and Anat Kerelstein.
Carmel Tanaka, executive director of JQT, said the toolkit, which Jewish trans or queer people can give to healthcare providers, as well as friends or anyone else who might benefit from a deeper understanding of their experiences, is a direct response to expressed needs in the community.
JQT Vancouver executive director Carmel Tanaka talks about Twice Blessed 2.0 at a recent event. The 2022 needs assessment includes 13 calls for action, including mental health support and being open to those who have a spectrum of opinion on Israel/Palestine. (photo by Kathryn Nickford Photography)
“We kept hearing that one of the barriers to receiving mental health support was linked directly to the lack of provider knowledge, training and competence around working with Jewish queer and trans people,” Tanaka said. “So, we created this educational toolkit aimed at reducing the burden on JQTs of having to educate their mental health providers on their lived experiences and mental health needs.”
Along with the Temperature Check report, Tanaka said, the toolkit provides tangible evidence of both the challenges and steps to improving the isolation and difficulties faced by affected individuals.
“I just really hope that leaders in the Jewish community, as well as leaders in the queer community, do take a moment to seriously read this so that they can better understand why we are doing this and why there is a need to support our community,” Tanaka said, adding that JQT continues to remain open to those who are on a spectrum of opinion on Israel and Palestine. “It really hurts to not be included in Pride events or in queer spaces, to not feel included in Jewish spaces. It’s an impossible situation to feel like you don’t belong.”
Even amid a plethora of discouraging responses, Rathbone said there is reason for hope.
“I don’t want folks to read it and to become really depressed and hopeless, because there are lots of ways to find hope,” she said. “There are lots of people in the community coming together right now and finding connections to heal what they can in what is a very broken world and what is a very broken situation. That also gives me hope, to watch people recognize that they can come together in community and do their part to heal something.”
Carmel Tanaka, JQT Vancouver executive director, speaks at the May 28 launch of the B.C. Jewish Queer &Trans Oral History Project online exhibit. (photo by Brianne Nord-Stewart)
The B.C. Jewish Queer &Trans Oral History Project online exhibit went live amid the cheers of those gathered in the standing-room-only Zack Gallery May 28.
With a total of 38 interviews, the project is “one of, if not the, largest Jewish LGBTQ archives in the world,” said Carmel Tanaka, JQT Vancouver executive director, after she guided attendees – both online and in-person – through the website, jqtvancouver.ca/jqt-oral-history-bc.
The project had its beginning in 2019, when Tanaka approached the Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia (JMABC) asking if there was any queer and trans content in the archives. When the answer was no, JMABC and JQT Vancouver joined as partners to train volunteers in interview procedures, identify and connect with interviewees and record the stories of Jewish queer and trans elders throughout the province.
Alysa Routtenberg, archivist at JMABC, shared with the Independent how the collection of oral histories, proceeded. “We approached our funding partners, to fund the training of 13 volunteer interviewers in best practices and how to ensure consent from the interviewees, as the information would be archived and accessible to all, with each contributor identified and ‘out’ as Jewish and LGBTQ. The energy of Carmel Tanaka positively influenced the framing of the interview questions and our understanding of the Jewish queer community and ensured the inclusion of all willing community members in the oral history archives,” she said, welcoming the volunteers who were trained to participate in other oral history projects with the JMABC.
The target group for the B.C. Jewish Queer & Trans Oral History Project was identified as Jewish, trans and queer and age 65 years and older. The intention was to gather interviewees’ lived experiences in community as Jewish and LGBTQ. It was an intergenerational effort, with many of the interviewers being younger than the storytellers. When the pandemic hit, the interviews moved onto Zoom accounts already in place with the museum, and everyone learned new technical skills and continued collecting the stories. Funding for the project was provided by the Jewish Community Foundation, Isaac and Sophie Waldman Endowment Fund, Live Educate Transform Society, and the Vancouver Heritage Foundation’s Yosef Wosk Publication Fund, along with private donors.
The B.C. Jewish Queer &Trans Oral History Project was a catalyst for two other JQT initiatives: Twice Blessed 2.0 and The B.C. Jewish Queer and Trans Seniors Resource Guide.
When Tanaka interviewed Jacqueline Walters for the oral history project, Walters shared that she had conducted a community needs assessment in 2004 while working in the counseling department of what was then called the Jewish Family Services Agency (and is now just Jewish Family Services). Walters had kept a copy of the full report and offered it to Tanaka. Thus, the Twice Blessed 2.0 project took flight. A new needs assessment took place and data points were compared to get a sense of what has and hasn’t changed in the past two decades. Twice Blessed 2.0 – with its 13 calls for community action – is available on JQT’s website. Walters flew in from Salt Spring Island to be at the launch.
“Also, during these interviews,” said Tanaka at the event, “we began to hear firsthand the fears of our community members when it comes to aging, particularly homophobia, transphobia and antisemitism upon entering assisted living and long-term care. This led to the creation of the JQT Seniors Initiative, a community response network, and this initiative just released a seniors resource guide, basically a report card on what you can and cannot prepare for as you get older in the Jewish community, in the LGBTQ community, and in the healthcare system in B.C. in 2023.” The guide is also available on JQT’s website.
With the formal JMABC interviews completed, the online exhibit was the next step undertaken by JQT, with Tanaka as project coordinator, and a team of volunteers. “I am thankful for the wisdom and resilience of everyone involved with this project,” Tanaka told the Independent.
Some of the many people who contributed to and/or supported the B.C. Jewish Queer &Trans Oral History Project online exhibit. (photo by Brianne Nord-Stewart)
The online exhibit features an interactive timeline of B.C. Jewish queer and trans activity from the 1920s to 2020s; an essay weaving together the stories that emerged from the interviews; an article on the Klezbians music group; video excerpts from the oral history interviews; interviewee statistics; and more. Three of the interviewees spoke with the Independent.
Syd Lapan lives in Comox and was “absolutely” enthusiastic about being included. Lapan said she has been out since 1971. Living in the United States at the time, she said she was, as a lesbian, considered illegal and insane. She was active in the women’s liberation movement, then in the gay rights movement in Colorado. Excited about JQT’s oral history project from the beginning, she was glad to share her story, to have it noted, and she joined the launch via the Facebook livestream. When she saw the video on the oral history site of herself being interviewed, she confessed that she cried a bit, finding it emotionally striking. She was thankful for the care Tanaka displayed while interviewing her.
Ira Rogers attended the launch, but, unlike Lapan, he was not initially keen about being included in the project – Tanaka’s enthusiasm won him over, he remarked. Rogers said he felt good sharing his story, he liked going back to earlier chapters of his life. He grew up in New York and moved to Nashville, Tenn., to pursue a career in songwriting – among other things, he contributed to a Grammy-nominated Reba McEntire album, helping create the songs “All Dressed Up (With Nowhere To Go)” and “For My Broken Heart.” Even with such successes, living in Tennessee became too much, though, and Rogers set out to find a gay-friendly city, eventually relocating to Vancouver. Rogers currently is associated with the Vancouver Men’s Chorus.
Finally, Marc Gelmon, who transitioned at age 19, discovered JQT while searching online for information related to his work at TransCareBC. He made a note to himself and got on with life. When contacted to participate in the oral history, he was interested right from the start. “I’m a Vancouverite, I’ve lived my adult life as a trans person. I love telling my story, as it is always cathartic for me,” he said. “I hope it is also cathartic for others.” At the time of his interview with the Independent, Gelmon had not seen his oral history interview online, as he was traveling in the United Kingdom.
In addition to Tanaka and Routtenberg, also speaking at the May 8 launch were emcees Aviva Rathbone, chair of JQT, and Sophie Macdonald, JQT vice-chair. Mack Paul of Musqueam First Nation gave the land acknowledgement. Alison Cristall, assistant executive director of the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, shared a few words, as did Allison Dunne, co-executive director of Vancouver Pride Society. Carol Herbert, past chair of the JMABC, spoke and Raegan Swanson, archivist and executive director or the ArQuives: Canada’s LGBTQ2S+ Archives, joined the proceedings virtually, from Toronto. JQT ethnographer Maxa Sawyer, speaking from Winnipeg, closed out the proceedings.
To view the JMABC oral history collection catalogue, including all the interviews conducted for this project, go to archives.jewishmuseum.ca and enter JQT or the name of the interviewee. To access any of the full interviews, contact the museum at info@jewishmuseum.ca or 604-257-5199. Go to jqtvancouver.ca to view the online exhibit, a video of the launch event and learn more about JQT.
Trude LaBossiere Huebner is a Vancouver freelance writer.
A screenshot of Jeff Kushner’s July 2, 2020, interview with Carmel Tanaka for the B.C. Jewish Queer & Trans Oral History Project, which can be found on YouTube.
JQT (Jewish Queer and Trans) Vancouver has compiled a resource guide in an effort to address the needs and concerns of older LGBTQ+ Jews.
With the financial support of the B.C. Community Response Network, the Province of British Columbia and Jeff Kushner of Victoria, JQT produced the B.C. Jewish Queer and Trans Seniors Resource Guide, which was launched in April. The guide can be accessed at jqtvancouver.ca, along with a series of eight videos that cover the main points in each of its chapters. The guide is conceived as a “living document based on info collected in 2023,” and visitors to the website are asked to “help keep it relevant by completing the short 4-min survey at the end of this resource guide.”
“This resource guide is meant for older Jewish queer and/or trans people over the age of 55, as well as for those who are caring for them,” it states in the introduction. “We recognize the stigma associated with the term ‘senior’ and define it as ‘persons over the age of 55.’ We do not want to isolate anyone, as a lot of content collected in this resource guide may be relevant for Jewish queer and/or trans people of all ages.”
In explaining why the guide was created, the introduction says: “You may be worried or trying to figure out how to manage changing care needs, now or in the future, for yourself or for someone else. Many of you will likely choose to stay in your home well after you require healthcare support. In addition to what you don’t know, you may have come across misinformation that can get in your way. This guide has been developed to reduce fears by providing reliable, useful and current knowledge that can help to protect you from potential discrimination and abuse, allowing you to live out your days with dignity.”
The publication and videos are part of the JQT Seniors Initiative, which is described on the website as “a community response network of Jewish, LGBTQ+ and seniors healthcare organizations,” and many people contributed to the resource guide.
The story of the JQT Seniors Initiative can be traced to the early days of the pandemic, when JQT began conducting the B.C. Jewish Queer & Trans Oral History Project, which primarily interviewed older adults across the province. Elders in the community discussed their fears of having to go back into the closet and/or hide their identity upon becoming more dependent on the healthcare system, such as through assisted living and long-term care.
“This feedback from interviewees birthed the JQT Seniors Initiative,” said Carmel Tanaka, the founder and executive director of JQT Vancouver.
According to Tanaka, the oral history project further revealed that Jewish Family Services (Jewish Family Services Agency at the time) had directed a Jewish LGBT community needs assessment, called Twice Blessed, in 2004. The report, which had been in the possession of former JFSA counselor Jacqueline Walters on Salt Spring Island, had not been released.
“Following her interview for the project, Jacqueline mailed me the envelope, which thankfully arrived, and this birthed Twice Blessed 2.0: The Jewish LGBTQ2SIA+ Initiative in partnership with JFS – a 2022 community needs assessment that compared needs to the 2004 assessment,” said Tanaka.
Included in the recent survey were questions on seniors care, which continues to help identify needs. While the assessment was intended to focus on Metro Vancouver residents, JFS’s geographical mandate, people from across the province participated.
After its homepage, the seniors initiative page is the next most visited page on the JQT website, and its resource guide has the highest views across JQT’s social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
“This was definitely, without a doubt, exactly what our community needed, for people of all ages, because dying can happen at any age,” Tanaka said. “Navigating friction between civic and Jewish law is also at the forefront of this resource guide, particularly around intermarriage, MAiD [medical assistance in dying] and LGBTQ+ inclusion of trans and non-binary bodies in Jewish burial practices.”
An example of the preparations that should be made in advance is appointing a trusted person to ensure that final wishes, such as not being “misgendered” by healthcare professionals or the chevra kadisha (Jewish burial society), take place.
“This resource guide is also helping to build a stronger JQT community, connecting pockets of folx on the periphery who are working on elements touched on in this guide, such as ‘queering’ chevra kadisha, so that we are not doing the work in silos,” Tanaka said.
Tanaka lauded the positive response from numerous organizations and community groups. “Older Jewish queer and trans folx are feeling seen and grateful that such a guide has been resourced and put together,” she said.
As for her personal involvement in the initiative, Tanaka explained, “My mom is a gerontologist and, from a young age, I knew the limitations of seniors homes. So, in a way, it’s not surprising that I would end up working towards more inclusion. Also, my background is in public health, emergency and disaster management, and the lack of support for older queer and trans seniors is an emergency.”
JQT Vancouver was started in 2018, becoming a nonprofit – incorporated as the Jewish Queer Trans Folx of Vancouver Society (dba “JQT Vancouver”) – in 2023. A current objective for JQT is to obtain charitable status to secure core funding for its operations. Since it began, it has been an all-volunteer organization that operates solely on donations and grants.
JQT offers inclusion training to local Jewish community organizations, as well as partners with organizations on various projects. “We’re already in partnership with JFS, and will be offering a staff training session to the JCC [Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver] later this month,” said Tanaka by way of example.
JQT will unveil the B.C. Jewish Queer & Trans Oral History Project in a hybrid celebration at the Zack Gallery on May 28, 1 p.m. The following day, the exhibit will be available online.
Sam Margolishas written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC. Jewish Independenteditor and publisher Cynthia Ramsay is on the JQT Vancouver board.
JQT Vancouver and JFS Vancouver are partners – with support from Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver – on Twice Blessed 2.0: The Jewish LGBTQ2SIA+ Initiative.
The purpose of the initiative is to understand the current needs of the Jewish LGBTQ2SIA+ community. The agencies involved are committed to creating an inclusive community and survey feedback will inform the changes they need to implement. The self-identification survey is open to all members of the Jewish LGBTQ2SIA+ community and can be accessed at tinyurl.com/twiceblessed2.
In 2004, Jewish Family Services (then Jewish Family Services Agency) conducted Twice Blessed: The Jewish LGBT Project – Needs Assessment of the Jewish LGBT Community in the Greater Vancouver Area. For full transparency, this survey was conducted, but only resurfaced in 2021 during an interview for JQT’s B.C. Jewish Queer & Trans Oral History Project with Jacqueline Walters, who conducted the 2004 survey. (JQT, pronounced J-cutie, is a Jewish queer and trans nonprofit dedicated to “queering” Jewish spaces and “Jewifying” queer spaces to make them more inclusive.)
It has been nearly two decades since this 2004 assessment was conducted, and JQT and JFS apologize that its findings were not acted upon, and want to honour those who participated in that survey by amplifying their voices today.
JQT has been contracted by JFS to update the assessment, using the same or similar questions and adding new questions as language and needs have evolved, in order to compare data, compile, analyze, report and make recommendations on next steps for LGBTQ2SIA+ initiatives.
This new initiative began on Nov. 15, 2021, with a full day of JFS staff training, at which JQT presented on Jewish organizational LGBTQ+ inclusion information collected during the oral history project. JQT will present to the JFS board in early 2022, followed by a JQT-led JFS virtual townhall on April 10, 6-8 p.m., with the findings from the updated survey.
According to a 2020 Simon Fraser University survey of 4,000 Canadians, 10% of respondents identified themselves as part of the LGBTQ2SIA+ community. Further, Statistics Canada and United Jewish Federations of Canada estimate the population of Jewish people in British Columbia at 35,000 with 26,255 in Vancouver, meaning that approximately 2,626 Jewish queer and trans people live in the city. This number is likely higher, given many queer and trans Jews come from mixed families (multicultural, multiethnic, multifaith), patriarchal Jewish families (traditional Judaism follows matriarchal descent), are in diverse relationships, may be unaffiliated to the Jewish community and/or vary in how they identify Jewishly. Currently, JQT’s reach is approximately 1,000 in the Vancouver area, or 38% of the estimated total JQT community.
This latest survey is for people living in the Greater Vancouver Regional District and the online questionnaire is 100% anonymous, and optional, though JQT and JFS strongly encourage community members to participate. The higher the number of participants, the more confidently JQT and JFS can create strategies to affect real and necessary change.
JQT and JFS will not collect personal information such as your name, address or IP address, in order to protect your confidentiality. All information gathered will be securely stored by JQT, accessible only by JQT founder and executive director Carmel Tanaka and shared with JFS chief executive officer Tanja Demajo.
The survey is open for submissions until March 27, 2022. It has a total of 45 questions and will take 15 to 20 minutes to complete. The first question is required but the rest of the questions may be left blank – though JQT and JFS encourage people to complete the survey to the best of their ability. Please check all categories that apply, or specify in point form in the comments field. The examples listed are designed to illustrate some of the possible answers and are not intended to be exhaustive.
Language and terminology on ethnicity, race, religion, culture, gender, sexual orientation, and many more identities are constantly evolving. JQT has prepared a glossary resource for reference.
If you are a parent of LGBTQ2SIA+ Jewish youth, you may fill it out together with them (noting in the comments that it was jointly completed). If anyone requires assistance in filling out the form – needs to do it over the phone or have it translated, for example – email carmel@jqtvancouver.ca.
People should feel free to share this survey with their Metro Vancouver Jewish queer/trans friends, whether they be un/affiliated to the Jewish community, in newsletters and at places of work.
