First, a bit of housekeeping (can you tell I’m in conference mode?) As promised we’re blogging on Forward.com. The first post is Queer Jews Convene in Berkeley.

Also, participants here are tweeting, and it’s been great. Head over to twitter.com/gaygevalt to follow our new twitter account, and also set your twitter to search for the hashtag #jqm to follow and join the conversation. Many people that are important to the LGBTQ Jewish movement aren’t here so, please join in the conversation in the comments here, on twitter, and at the Forward.

I sat down to write this post simply to record this: there is actual work happening here and that is a unique and great thing. The discussions are serious, the mood convivial, and the collaboration real. The idea of creating or defining a movement is lofty to say the least, and may even strike some as a bit arrogant. But there has been an LGBTQ Jewish movement for some time now, and these meetings are helpful and productive.

We’re in the middle of a SWOT exercise. We’re identifying Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

What would be on your list of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats? Put em in the comments.

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Dear Friends, Colleagues, Fellow Activists:

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our dear
friend and community activist, Gay Catholic Priest, Rev. Dr. Paul E.
Murray.

Rev. Dr. Murray, Chairperson of the God &
Sexuality Conference, Catholic Chaplain and Visiting Assistant
Professor of Religion at Bard College passed away on On
January 31st in his home in
Tivoli, NY.

Dr. Murray was an author, teacher, scholar, and activist. 
He touched thousands of lives and devoted his spiritual and intellectual
energies to creating a more dynamic, welcoming, and safe Catholic
church and understanding of religion in general.  Paul was the founder
and executive director of Among Friends, Inc.,
which provides transitional housing, counseling, and job-search support
to persons in crisis. 

Paul was a great and quiet man.  He changed the lives of thousands and
offered a vision of compassion, spirituality, and promise to Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer people of all ages and faiths.  
His work was confident, his beliefs deep, his patience endless.  He
is greatly missed.

He most recently published his memoir Life in Paradox, The Story of a Gay Catholic Priest
(2008, O Books). Other publications include: “A Cultural Reading of Literature on the Catholic Church in the South,” Culture of Bible Belt
Catholics; “The ‘International Outlook’,” Place of the Person in Social Life; and articles, interviews, and book reviews in
Anthropos; Technology and Disability; National Catholic Reporter; Charities, U.S.A.; Washington
Blade. 

He is survived by his mother Verna H. Murray, sister
Rebecca Burns, nieces Julia Warga and Jennifer Glynn, and many friends, students, and colleagues.

Friends may call at the Arlington Funeral Home, 3901 N. Fairfax Dr.,
Arlington, VA on Friday, February 13, 2009 from 6 to 8 p.m. A mass of
Christian burial will be celebrated on Saturday, February 14, 2009 at
10:30 a.m. in St. Stephen-Martyr Catholic Church, 2436 Pennsylvania
Ave., NW, Washington DC. Interment to follow in Oakwood Cemetery, Falls
Church, VA.

Memorial contributions maybe made to the
The God and Sexuality Conference at Bard College, PO Box 5000,
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504.  Please let us know if you would like to make a contribution in Paul’s memory.

In Sorrow,

Gabriel Blau

Director, The God & Sexuality Conference

Gay Catholic Priest, Paul Murray, Bard College,

This one will blow you away.  She’s about as qualified to be Vice President as a Pitbull (with or without lipstick) but, this just blew me away.  Sarah Palin wanted rape victims to… I can’t even say it… just check it out…

That’s right, this humble, but fabulous, site has now had 811 events posted to it.  And for your information, we haven’t posted ANY of them.  We do help with posting when necessary, but every single post comes from someone not affiliated with GayGevalt.com.  That means that there are lots and lots of Lesbian, Gay< Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, and Allied Jews out there using the site.

So we have only one thing to say: Yay!

Working with the Jerusalem Open House (well, with Dror, over at the Jerusalem Open House) we’re not experimenting with Israeli events (in Israel) on GayGevalt.com  Israel has been added as a State and, as Dror pointed out, that’s not necessarily so far from the truth.  So, our first event is Israel has been posted!  Just look for Jerusalem in the Cities list when you’re narrowing your view of the calendar.

We hope this will lead to an upgrade that will more easily (and more organized) add events around the world.

On another note, GayGevalt.com has now past 775 events!!  We atarted the week at 703!!!

Mac OS X Leopard is coming out this Friday (October 26th). If you order it by clicking on this link, you’ll get a discount on the new operating system, AND GayGevalt will get a tiny percentage!! In fact, every time you shop at Amazon.com you should use this link so we can get a bit o dough.

Buy Mac OS X!

We thought it would be an exciting day when GayGevalt posted its 613th event.  We thought the symbolism would be a good way to mark the growth of the LGBTQ Jewish Community.  Well, We flew past 613 to a whopping 620 events!  Over a dozen events were posted this week!

Thanks to everyone for your support.  Please spread the word!  The more people (Gay Jews or allies) visit and find events on GayGevalt, the more all of our events, YOUR events, are seen.

Thanks again!

I couldn’t be more excited to let you know that GayGevalt now has over 570 events on our calendar! That’s an amazing and growing number. Thank you to everyone who has posted events, and to everyone that uses GayGevalt to find events.

The new site launched last week and response has been fantastic. We believe the design rocks, and comments have echoed our sentiments. But more importantly, the site is easier to use and people are responding. More people are joining the email list, visits to 2+ pages have been rising, and visitors to this blog have been slowly increasing.

There are more features on the way, to stay tuned!

It’s finally here, the blog. Or should we say THE BLOG. This was our number one requested feature, and we delivered. The site is being updated and will continue to be updated with the new version over the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, let’s get some traction on this blog thing.

Want to post something?? We’re looking for some dedicated bloggers… when you find something the rest of us should know about you’ll post it. Let us know if you’re interested. We’ll take on just a few to get started as a trial. To become a Contributor Register Here

Hope you’re enjoying GayGevalt.com and thanks for the great support!