Pride Month is not a season for lecturing people about identity. It is a season for listening carefully to what people tell us about who they are, what they have survived, and what they need in order to live with dignity.

That listening has changed many communities for the better. We are more aware of the lives of transgender people, nonbinary people, gender-fluid people, queer people, and others whose identities do not fit neatly into categories. Any Jewish community that takes human dignity seriously should welcome that growth. B’tzelem Elohim, the belief that every human being is created in the image of God, should make us humble before the complexity of another person’s life.

Pride Month gives us a chance to think more carefully about gender, dignity, and belonging — and that includes asking what kinds of support all men need today. And seeing that June also shares urgency with Men’s mental health awareness as well as Father’s Day, this is a poignant space to examine what resources for all men really look like. For understandable reasons, “men’s programming” can raise suspicion. Is this just a softer name for protecting old power? Is it a way to avoid........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)