Back in New York City in the 1980s, AIDS, death and discrimination defined my life as a young gay lawyer whose partner was dying of AIDS. Same-sex couples were denied an entire slew of basic rights such as the right to hospital visitation, medical decision-making, adoption, and immigration, to name just a few. During that …
Read MoreRuth Messinger will receive InterAction’s2015 Julia Taft Award for her tireless leadership as an activist and social change visionary at InterAction’s Forum 2015. As president of American Jewish World Service she helps mobilize faith-based communities throughout the U.S. to speak on behalf of oppressed and marginalized people around the globe. You can learn more about …
Read MoreI lived in a tent in Nepal as a refugee from Bhutan in the 1990s. And so it broke my heart this month, when I traveled to Nepal in the wake of the recent earthquake and witnessed Nepalese families living in a sea of plastic tents, much like the ones my family and I lived …
Read MoreFor those who dedicate their lives to pursuing justice, every moment is urgent. As the great Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel famously taught, there is simply “no time for neutrality.” Every act is needed. Every gift, every word, every choice has the potential to save a life.
Read MoreLast spring, I traveled to Washington, D.C. for my first experience as a citizen-activist, lobbying in Congress for the rights and well-being of women and LGBT individuals in the developing world. I recently returned there to see some of the impact of that work – crucial new appointees, new legislators in support of key issues …
Read MoreLast Saturday, I watched with the rest of the world as images emerged in the wake of Nepal’s violent earthquake: the dusty faces of survivors, bloodied bodies, the ruined historic buildings. It reminded me of the devastation I witnessed after the earthquake in my homeland, Haiti, five years ago — and it made me worry …
Read MoreDonors in the United States and elsewhere are sending millions of dollars to earthquake-shattered Nepal, even as organizations on the ground report difficulty delivering relief to some areas. On Thursday, five days after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the mountainous country, Nepal’s National Emergency Operation Center updated the death toll to 5,582. It reported 11,175 people injured. …
Read MoreA group of religious leaders have joined forces with the World Bank to attempt to end extreme poverty by 2030. A few hundred people met in Washington on Wednesday with World Bank President Jim Yong Kim to discuss their shared goal.
Read MoreSupreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, famous for her legal pen, has now written a short essay for a different occasion: Passover.
Read MoreRuth Bader Ginsburg is a Supreme Court justice. To some, she is also a hipster folk hero known as the Notorious RBG. Now she can be part of your Passover seder.
Read More