"The more we learn about other people's stories, the more likely we are to find understanding."
"When I thought about what would my life be like if I came out, I didn't see anything."
"There's so much more to me than me being gay, and there is a space for me within the Orthodox community."
"I never really realized that I was different until people started telling me that there were things that were different about me."
"Just an acknowledgment of our existence would I think make a world's of difference for everyone that follows."
"The Jewish community to me is really my rock... and I'm not gonna let other people take that away from me."
"It's really hard to have every message that you're being given be that you don't exist... As a kid I really internalized that and started to question, should I exist."
"Going to weddings used to be really hard... That was probably the biggest thing for me to overcome."
"We raise kids to want to be part of this world... but you're also telling some kids at the same time - that's the best way to live and you can't be part of it."
"It took me a long time even after I came out to hear the word gay and not crawl under my skin hearing it."
"There was really no future that I could see for myself in Judaism."
"I wish there were resources that I could turn to to address being gay without having to fix it."
"I think what keeps me in the community now is just the idea that there are people that care, that are accepting, and that embrace me."
"The idea of being gay, it just wasn't a possibility... I felt like I needed help to change and not be this way."
"A lot of people's parents are like, 'We just want your life to be easy, Sweetie.' This is easier."
"The Jewish community needs to be a place where everyone is welcomed... Jewish values are being neglected by turning people away or rejecting people."
"I felt like I was carrying around a lie with me for 25 years."
"When I told my mom her immediate reply was, 'I know and I love you.' And then everything from there has just been better."
"When I realized that I was trans, it was just so painful to live my every day existence.
"I think the pain of being gay and not being able to express that was a constant, chronic pain."
"You have to get so mature so quickly to understand your feelings and then to help yourself, because no one else will."
"People would say, 'If it's so challenging and you feel so out of place, then why don't you leave?' And I think that it's really challenging to leave."