Where are the 500 LGBTQIA+ TOI bloggers and their 3,000 natural Allies?

Before we go into the numbers, let’s first clarify the names.

Alphabet Soup

The present letter mix indicating Gay Oppression may have some golden nuggets to discover for many a bewildered reader. So, let’s explain.

L = Lesbian sexual orientation, identity, sex choices, romantic, lifestyle
G = Gay sexual orientation, identity, sex choices, romantic, lifestyle
B = Bisexual sexual orientation, identity, sex choices, Bi-gender identity
T = Trans-gender identity, hormonal/exterior sex choices
Q = Queer (mixed/flexible gender role) lifestyle, Questioning (don’t know)
I = Intersex
A = Asexual, A-gender, Cis-Straight Allies (to everyone here mentioned)
+ = No Label, Pansexual, Genderqueer, Polyamorous, Cross-dressing, etc.

The word Gay is frequently used for all of the above (except the Allies).

The Hater and the Liars

First, some good news. In the last year or so, we have seen a steep decline in self-righteous self-described pious men spewing hatred and lies about Gay people without any shame. It is tiring to continuously rehearse the same old bigotry. And they possibly realized how unbecoming that all is.

Even when Rabbi Lau announced his belated ideas that Gay people are fully human and need to be regarded and treated that way, hardly any opposition was heard. Even when he published them in English.

Unfortunately, the Orthodox-rabbinic self-declared defenders of Gays also stayed silent. All of them?! Why? I don’t know; it is beyond me.

Numbers of Gays and Allies

By conservative estimation, of all groups, some 5% is LGB+. This is known.

Less known is how many people have a first-degree LGB+ family member.

Let’s say (do you agree?) that most people have at least: themselves and one partner, 2 parents, 2 siblings, and 2 kids, together eight people. Each of them has a chance of at least 5% to being LGB+. The chance that at least one of these eight is LGB+ is then 0.95 times 0.95 times 0.95 times 0.95 times 0.95 times 0.95 times 0.95 times 0.95 = 33.6%. In words that means: on average, 1 in every 3 people has a first-degree LGB+ relative.

In a group like the Times of Israel bloggers of 10,000, that means that one can expect that 500 of them are LGB+. No, it is not a good idea to out anyone unless they are advocating anti-Gay measures and you know they are Gay themselves. This is the golden standard in the Gay community.

In a group of 10,000 people, one may then also expect that 3,300 of them have a first-degree LGB+ relative.

One cannot expect that each of them will write about LGBTQIA+ issues every time they blog. But at least, one should expect them to write about this once every ten posts, no? That would mean that 10% times 33% = more than 3% of the time, one may expect that a TOI blog post at least touches on LGBTQIA+ issues. That’s a couple of times a week, a dozen times a month. That’s not what we see. Why? I don’t know.

A Call to Action

We could say that things are getting better and a lack of public discourse doesn’t hurt. But that is not true. Young Gays commit suicide in staggering numbers still. You have a chance of 33% to have it happen to you, Heaven forbid. Gays who manage, suffer no less homophobia than Jews suffer antisemitism but only the latter make noise. There are still so many countries and communities where Gays cannot safely live their lives and choices. Gay rights are human rights. As we saw with #metoo and BLM, things don’t get cleaned up really until there is a mass movement against all of it. Do you want to be written about you: s/he secured a comfortable life? Indeed, no one should expose themselves to victimhood or martyrdom. But there should be many more people who can safely take a risk to speak out. And many more who can safely band together with others and take a stance for total equality of LGBTQIA+ people. Today still.

We don’t have to create news or write personal (sob or success) stories. Simply reporting and commenting on LGBTQ+ news is great already. Like these recent items: The IDF approves an LGBTQ Pre-Military Academy! And a Populist Rabbi says that the corona vaccine is made to turn people Gay. He has not proof, of course, and there are more indications that being Straight can make you stupid and cruel (I’m kidding, but only slightly so). So many news outlets are so slow or unwilling to bring LGBTQ+ news.

About the Author

MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, an almost daily blog contributor to the Times of Israel, and previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. He often makes his readers laugh, mad, or assume he's nuts—close to perfect blogging. He's proud that his analytical short comments are removed both from left-wing and right-wing news sites. None of his content is (partly) generated by AI. * As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. He doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit about what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and education contribute to his visions. * If you don't know the Dutch, get an American peek behind the scenes here: https://youtu.be/QMPp6h6r72M * To find less-recent posts on subject XXX among his 2000 archived ones, go to the right-top corner of a Times of Israel page, click on the search icon and search "zuiden, XXX". One can find a second, wilder blog, to which one may subscribe, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/. * Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. Yet, if you think those are his absolute top priorities, you might end up disappointed. His first loyalty is to the truth. He will try to stay within the limits of democratic and Jewish law, but he won't lie to support opinions or people who don't deserve that. He admits that he sometimes exaggerates to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quite a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. * Sometimes he's misunderstood because his wide and diverse field of vision seldomly fits any specialist's box. But that's exactly what some love about him. He has written a lot about Psychology (including Sexuality and Abuse), Medicine (including physical immortality), Science (including basic statistics), Politics (Israel, the US, and the Netherlands, Activism), Oppression and Liberation (intersectionally, for young people, the elderly, non-Whites, women, workers, Jews, LGBTQIA+, foreigners and anyone else who's dehumanized or exploited), Integrity, Philosophy, Jews (Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust, and Jewish Liberation), the Climate Crisis, Ecology and Veganism, Affairs from the news, or the Torah Portion of the Week, or new insights that suddenly befell him. * His most influential teachers (chronologically) are his parents, Nico (natan) van Zuiden and Betty (beisye) Nieweg, Wim Kan, Mozart, Harvey Jackins, Marshal Rosenberg, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, and, lehavdil bein chayim lechayim, Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo, Rav Zev Leff, and Rav Meir Lubin. * One of his rabbis calls him Mr. Innovation [Ish haChidushim]. Yet, his originalities seem to root deeply in traditional Judaism, though they may grow in unexpected directions. In fact, he claims he's modernizing nothing. Rather, mainly basing himself on the basic Hebrew Torah text, he tries to rediscover classical Jewish thought almost lost in thousands of years of stifling Gentile domination and Jewish assimilation. (He pleads for a close reading of the Torah instead of going by rough assumptions of what it would probably mean and before fleeing to Commentaries.) This, in all aspects of life, but prominently in the areas of Free Will, Activism, Homosexuality for men, and Redemption. * He hopes that his words will inspire and inform, and disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. He aims to bring a fresh perspective rather than harp on the obvious and familiar. He loves to write encyclopedic overviews. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds should be disputed. In short, his main political positions are among others: anti-Trumpism, anti-elitism, anti-bigotry and supremacy, for Zionism, Intersectionality, and non-violence, anti those who abuse democratic liberties, anti the fake ME peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, pro-Science, pro-Free Will, anti-blaming-the-victim, and for down-to-earth, classical optimism, and happiness. * He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to parents who were Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork. He grew up a humble listener. It took him decades to become a speaker too. Bullies and con artists almost instantaneously envy and hate him. * He holds a BA in medicine (University of Amsterdam) – is half a doctor. He practices Re-evaluation Co-counseling since 1977, is not an official teacher anymore, and became a friendly, empowering therapist. He became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids non-violently. For a couple of years, he was active in hasbara to the Dutch-speaking public. He wrote an unpublished tome about Jewish Free Will. He's being a strict vegan since 2008. He's an Orthodox Jew but not a rabbi. He lives with his library in Jerusalem. Feel free to contact him. * His writing has been made possible by a (second-generation) Holocaust survivors' allowance from the Netherlands. It has been his dream since he was 38 to try to make a difference by teaching through writing. He had three times 9-out-of-10 for Dutch at his high school finals but is spending his days communicating in English and Hebrew - how ironic. G-d must have a fine sense of humor. In case you wonder - yes, he is a bit dyslectic. If you're a native English speaker and wonder why you should read from people whose English is only their second language, consider the advantage of having an original peek outside of your cultural bubble. * To send any personal reaction to him, scroll to the top of the blog post and click Contact Me. * His newest books you may find here: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AMoshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&s=relevancerank&text=Moshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1