Photo of JTS Courtyard in Snow Storm by John Leys, used with perission.After its two-day meeting in New York, the Conservative movement's Committee of Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly voted to endorse three conflicting teshuvot, or halachic responsa, regarding proposed changes to that movement's policies—two upholding the longstanding ban on homosexuality and one permitting ordination of gay and lesbian rabbis and same-sex commitment ceremonies.

Today, Dr. Carl Sheingold, JRF's Executive Vice President, Rabbi Dan Ehrenkrantz, President of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and Rabbi Richard Hirsh, Executive Director of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, released a joint statement acknowledging the vote and providing background on the Reconstructionist movement's longstanding history of inclusion of gays and lesbians. Read the full statement.