DC rabbi tells congregation ‘I am a gay man’

WASHINGTON (AP) — The rabbi of a prominent synagogue in Washington D.C. is telling his congregants that he’s gay, and that he and his wife of 20 years are divorcing.

The Washington Post reports that Rabbi Gil Steinlauf sent an email Monday to the 1,400 households of Adas Israel Congregation, saying he could no longer deny his homosexuality. He wrote that the dissonance between his inside and outside became intolerable.

Steinlauf says he and his wife, who is also a rabbi, spent three years trying to hold on to their marriage. The father of three teenagers concluded that he’s gay, and that it isn’t going to change.

Steinlauf has led Conservative Judaism in embracing same-sex couples. He made news in 2012 when he officiated at the synagogue’s first same-sex wedding.

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