The largest group of US rabbis has become the first major religious denomination to sanction officially same-gender unions, offering the protection of Reform Judaism to clergy who decide to officiate at such ceremonies, the Washington Post has reported.
In an overwhelming voice vote on Wednesday, about 500 members of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) approved a resolution backing any rabbi's decision to preside over a gay union through "appropriate Jewish ritual", the paper reported.
But in a compromise reflecting the issue's sensitivity, the rabbis added that they would "recognise the diversity of opinion within our ranks" and support the decision of those who chose not to officiate at such ceremonies.
The group, which represents 1,800 Reform rabbis, hopes others will eventually follow its lead, the Post said.
"These are people who are subjected to signals, subtle and not so subtle, that they are abnormal, sinful, less than whole", Rabbi Paul Menitoff, executive vice-president of the CCAR, told the paper. "Can you imagine the impact on them to finally hear a confirming message after so many negative messages from all those religious groups?"
The CCAR resolution lends the group's imprimatur to an already commonplace practice in the Reform movement, Judaism's most progressive and largest wing, with 1.5 million US members.
The rabbis made clear that the resolution does not suggest such ceremonies are marriages and does not explicitly encourage rabbis to perform them.
In 1990, the movement agreed to ordain openly gay rabbis, endorsing the view that "all Jews are religiously equal, regardless of sexual orientation".