Schadenfreude ("shaad-en-froid-uh") is one of those great German words. It's the feeling of pleasure in someone else's unhappiness, and, as fans of the musical Avenue Q know, it's among life's guilty pleasures. It's not noble, but hey, we all do it.

For liberals, especially LGBT folks, watching the Republican...

Our national conversation about equality for LGBT people can often be, well, nasty. Opponents of "gay rights" routinely compare us to perverts, accuse us of horrible things, and deny our very existence. Meanwhile, to many religious people, gay folks really do threaten their understanding of the proper relationship of religion...

LGBT people awoke with a sense of dread to the news of Rick Santorum's near-tie with Mitt Romney in the Iowa caucuses. Santorum is not just the butt (pun intended) of a deservingly dirty joke; he has long been ahead of the curve when it comes to bashing gay...

As I've written in these pages before, I'm not a fan of our nation's airport security protocols. I think they do not adequately factor in the humiliation of old ladies in wheelchairs, incorporate a base level of common sense, or strike the right balance between security and practicality....

"And these children, that you spit on, as they try to make their way... are immune to your consultations; they're quite aware of what they're going through."

Bowie was right, of course: it's precisely what those of us over forty (or thirty) don't get that makes youth movements...

The Jewish High Holidays are an ironic time. It's the time more Jews go to synagogue than any other, yet it foregrounds a theology least likely to appeal to them, one highlighting sin and repentance, judgment and guilt. Is this a good thing?

This is not, strictly speaking, a theological...

I love where I live. Like many people, I came here, several years ago, to escape the intensity of New York City -- which I also love, but which is a lot to take 24/7 -- and to live in a place where I see trees rather than concrete,...

Let's start at the beginning.

November, 2008. Barack Obama has defeated John McCain, and George W. Bush's last, lame-duck weeks in office begin. Without the legally-required environmental reviews, Bush's Bureau of Land Management rushes out 116 leases on public land. This last-minute fire-sale of our shared natural resources is an...

This weekend, the New York State Senate prepares for its final scheduled day of the current legislative session, unsure if a compromise can be reached between its Republican leader and Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo on the issue of same-sex marriage. There is, however, hope for a compromise -- one...

Dear Senator Ball --

You, my state senator, are now among the last holdouts prohibiting me from legally marrying my fiancee at our religious Jewish ceremony in September. If this bill fails to pass, the State will be restricting my religious freedom. I know you may not have heard the...

Today, more than 300 religious leaders are gathering in Washington under the auspices of the Human Rights Campaign, a leading advocacy organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. I will be among them, and I want to tell you why.

I grew up believing that being gay was...

There is, in a sense, no such thing as boredom. Boredom is only another name for a certain species of frustration. -- Susan Sontag

As I've traveled to foreign countries, sat for weeks in silence, pored over ancient mystical texts, and dabbled in indigenous shamanic practices, I've sometimes had the...

Most people don't think of Passover as incomplete. Usually, it's quite the contrary. After eight days of (matzo) brei and balls, Chag Hamatzot (the Holiday of Matzo) often feels like it's overstayed its welcome. Bring on the leaven.

But Passover is actually incomplete, technically speaking. Its time is extended by...

The news from the Radical Right this week is that "gay" is out -- and "sodomy" is back in. Yep, a conference at Liberty University this past week has decided that "gay" is too happy, too political and illusory. "'Gay' is a left-wing socio-political construct designed to create...

Often in yoga classes, or in what's sometimes called "New Age spirituality," people talk about how "all is one." Maybe you've heard this a thousand times and have not given it much thought. Or, who knows, maybe each time you chant "om" you're inspired anew by it. Either way, this...

Anyone who's been in the spiritual world long enough knows that just about everything can be packaged as the latest, greatest way to get enlightened. Surrender everything, "manifest" everything, celebrate the body, abandon the body -- you name it, and both it and its opposite are the one sure-fire way...

It's a well-known urban legend that suicide rates spike during the holiday season. Though this myth turns out to be false, there has always been a mean-spiritedness at the heart of the good-spiritedness of Christmas, one in abundant supply in -- of all places -- the holiday episode...

The Tea Party rode to victory on a wave of economic suffering and vintage populist rhetoric about big government. Now, we will see if they are serious about libertarianism, or whether it was all just electioneering. A good place to start would be airport security.

I'd like one of our...

In the 1980s, wealthy conservatives realized that they could use social issues to persuade lower and middle income Americans to vote against their economic interests, and for a party which consistently favored the ultra-rich. As described in Thomas Frank's What's the Matter with Kansas and many other studies, this is...

Here's what we've learned about gay teen suicides: it takes a village to make them happen, and also to make them stop. Yes, those kids who recently took their lives in cities across the country were particularly targeted by particular bullies. But both the bullies and their victims were caught...