Orthodox Rabbi Tells Parents To Reject LGBT Education And Kill Themselves In Protest

Fresh on the heels of my recent article about the dangers of organized religion and the role it can play in people’s emotional internal conflicts with their sexuality, comes a new repulsive tale. This time, Gavriel Krausz — an Orthodox rabbi and religious judge has delivered a most disturbing directive to his followers regarding the LGBT community.

Krausz is taking a position against the U.K. government’s decision from earlier in the year that mandates lessons be taught in “relationships, sex, and health education in all government-funded schools. The curriculum would also include learning about same-sex relationships and marriages, and LGBT equality.

In response, Krausz has directed Orthodox Jewish parents to kill themselves before complying with the school board’s initiative. Yes, you read that correctly –a well-respected Rabbi is telling parents that it is better to kill yourself rather than to educate your child and make them aware of the diversity that exists in the world around them.

What’s bizarre about that entire premise, is the Torah, which is the holiest book in Judaism, (akin to the Christian bible), minces no words in stating that suicide is arguably the most offensive violation of God’s laws. But I guess it’s ok with God if you need to check, out rather then deal with having gay kids? Is that a clause in the Torah somewhere?

Kraus went as far as creating a flier, which he circulated throughout the community to demand Orthodox citizens and parents of children in Orthodox Jewish schools accept his suicide ideology; “giving up one’s life rather than comply as our ancestors did throughout the generations.” He referred to the educational law as “shameful” and mischaracterized it as an act of hostility, implying that schools would potentially force the teaching of same-sex education through law enforcement tactics. His assessment is a blatantly homophobic scare tactic, but an alarming one considering the end game is parents killing themselves.

Fueling the false narrative that there is something explicit or inappropriate about the school board’s intention, Kraus chooses to ignore that the printed guidelines that state a simple directive, which is to teach inclusion and nondiscrimination.

I may get pushback again here as I often do when writing about such topics, but if religion is supposed to be a thing of love, I’m quite perplexed by a Rabbi trying to convince his followers to kill themselves rather than support and love their children unconditionally.