The Jewish Reconstructionist movement elected a new national leader this month, Rabbi Jason Klein. Rabbi Klein is the first openly gay man to head a national rabbinic association in the United States.

The Reconstructionist and Reform seminaries in the US have been ordaining openly gay rabbis for decades, but the election of Rabbi Klein stands as an encouraging witness to the progress made by LGBT Jewish leadership. Conservative Jewish seminaries began admitting openly gay rabbinical students in 2006, though Orthodox seminaries and rabbinic associations still hold their ban on LGBT leadership.  

Klein is a Hillel Rabbi at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. GLAAD encourages other religious denominations and associations to follow the visionary example of the Reconstructionist movement and give qualified LGBT candidates the opportunity to lead.