Despite the recent difficulty that many gay people have had finding acceptance in religion, Larry Francer has proven that homosexuality is not a problem in all religions.
In a speech Tuesday night at the L.A. Pittenger Student Center, Francer discussed life as a gay Jew, along with his childhood and acting career.
Though he grew up as a conservative Jew in a time when being gay was not accepted, Francer said he never struggled with his sexual orientation. His friends and family immediately accepted his decision, he said.
Francer first realized he was gay when he took a year off from college to pursue acting in New York City. Though he did not have much trouble with this realization, he said there were many hardships attached to being gay back then.
Because of society's growing acceptance of being gay, it is much easier to come out now, he said.
"We have it so much easier now than they did back then," sophomore Clinton Gruettert said in agreement with Francer. There isn't so much of a stigma attached to homosexuality now, he said.
Increased acceptance of being gay in society and in the Jewish religion has allowed Francer to become a leader at his temple.
He is a cantor at the Temple Beth El in Muncie and said his job involved leading the congregation in song and helping educate children. This is a role he might have been restricted from in a more conservative temple, but because Beth El is part of the Reform Movement, it is more open to gays as leaders.
Francer acknowledges that, as a gay man, he is not capable of fostering children, but he is happy with his ability to take part in the growth of children through his current position.
"The one who teaches a child Torah is the one who gave birth to the child," he said in reference to a Jewish tradition.
Since he moved to the Muncie area with his partner Jerome, Francer's sense of pride in his status as a gay Jew has increased.
"I am so proud to be a gay Reform Jew that I have to say it aloud," he said.
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