May 11, 2017 | Eshel in the News
Originally posted on the Baltimore Jewish Times Sometimes, parents know their child is gay even before their child does. That was not at all the experience of Mindy Sager Dickler, whose family is modern Orthodox. Her son, Elie, coming out five-and-a-half years ago took her completely by surprise. Though Dickler and the rest of the [more]
May 11, 2017 | Eshel in the News
Originally posted on The Times of Israel Eshel was formed when relatives of LGBT kids in conservative communities needed a safe space in a homophobic storm. NEW YORK — Mindy Sager Dickler was speechless when her youngest child Ely came out as gay. “I couldn’t speak. My husband told him ‘We love you, you’re our [more]
May 11, 2017 | Eshel in the News
Originally posted on The Jewish Link It is perhaps inarguable that for most Orthodox Jewish parents, the path for their children is to get an education, meet the “right” person, get married, settle down and start a family. That’s at least what Mindy Dickler, a Baltimore mother of three and a member of the Orthodox [more]
Apr 4, 2017 | Eshel in the News
Originally posted on JMoreLiving “When a child comes out of the closet, a parent goes in,” says Mindy Dickler. A retired teacher, mother of three and member of the local Orthodox community, Dickler never considered what it might be like to have a gay child until 2011 when her son, Elie, came out to [more]
Mar 16, 2017 | Eshel in the News
'It's not so simple when Moshe becomes Marsha' In the last few years, the battle over transgender rights has roiled school districts, courtrooms, statehouses, and the national political stage, most recently via a Trump administration directive rolling back protections for transgender students in schools. But in the Orthodox Jewish community, where gender roles are starkly [more]
Feb 22, 2017 | Eshel in the News
My reality as I knew it ended in early November 2015. Even though I was assigned male at birth, I came to terms with things I started to realize in middle school, if not elementary school: I’m a woman. Accepting all of this wasn’t easy and when you live in a very small Orthodox community [more]