Rabbi Jack Moline, Executive Director of
Interfaith Alliance talks about
an inspirational campaign recently launched by Interfaith Alliance
called the “Everyone Only” project with Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™. The concept is to place “We Serve
Everyone Only” signs in businesses across the country to demonstrate
that no matter what legal rights we may have these businesses will
remain open to all. The signs have already been displayed in stores from
Oklahoma to Washington, D.C. and will shortly be sent to more than
20,000 supporters across the country. Recently Mitchell Gold + Bob
Williams became the first national chain to hang these signs in more
than 30 stores across the country. Mitchell Gold stated, “I grew up in
the 1960’s and remember all too well the signs that said ‘we serve
whites only’ and the other visible signs of discrimination against
African-Americans, minority religious groups and more. This sign is a
signal to our customers and employees that we embrace serving everyone.
If a gay or straight couple, or individual, walks in our store to make
their house a home, we stand ready to serve them…equally!” We talked to
Rabbi Moline about what he hopes to accomplish with the “Everyone Only”
project and his spin on out LGBT issues.
When asked what his personal commitment is to LGBT civil rights Rabbi
Moline stated, “I am a deep believer in the inalienable rights in the
Declaration of Independence: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness
but I’m 62 years old and I was not raised in an enlightened era when it
came to LGBT issues. My family was a loving family and I thought
relatively unprejudiced but I know what my attitudes were coming out of
that family and it really took my kids who are now in their twenties and
thirties to open my eyes to intellectually what I knew, but in my heart
I don’t think it had penetrated yet. Once I thought it through and came
to understand the organic nature of sexual orientation and gender
identity I realized that these civil rights and the equality of all
people are not different for civil rights of Jews or Blacks or Latinos
or any other group and when rights are denied to a class of people in
society it makes for a mandate to focus on especially rectifying that
discrimination. So with that long explanation if I had to put myself on a
scale of one to ten I probably started out somewhere around six or
seven but I’m a solid ten by now.”
Rabbi Jack Moline has advised and written for many public figures
including President Bill Clinton for whom he provided advice on
international affairs as well as the
President’s personal challenges. He was also invited to offer a blessing
to the Obama and Biden families before the 2013 presidential
inauguration. Besides being Executive Director of Interfaith Alliance
he’s the Rabbi Emeritus of Agudas Achim Congregation in Alexandria,
Virginia and serves as an adjunct faculty member of the Jewish
Theological Seminary and Virginia Theological Seminary.
Rabbi Moline lives in Alexandria, VA with his wife Ann of 37 years and
is the father of three grown children.
For More Info & Download Sign: everyone-only.org
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