Today is Saturday, February 25, 2023. The so-called “Day of Hate” has been countered by a “Day of Resolve” in the Jewish community today. Certain congregations this morning held services out in the open to counteract the message of hate spewed by antisemitic organizations this past week. This unified response to what was being called for today is covered in an ABC 7 New York online article titled ‘Day of Resolve’ countering ‘Day of Hate’ in Jewish community.”

Thus the response to the forecasted day of violence was met with fortified unity, as the congregation at Temple Emanu-El on the Upper East Side chose to hold Sabbath services outside its Fifth Avenue sanctuary. Rabbi Joshua Davidson says the response to those spewing irrational hate is to come out loud and proud. He says, “I believe the only way to defeat it is to stand up to it – not be intimidated by it.”

The outdoor service was held on a cold wintry morning that drew a heavy police presence – a similar sight at houses of worship across the city. This comes after neo-Nazis and white supremacist groups coined Saturday a “Day of Hate,” encouraging online followers to harass and target Jewish communities.

Rabbi Davidson added, “Sadly, it does not come as a surprise, given the vitriol and the anger of the national discourse.”

There have been at least 35 hate crimes reported to the NYPD so far this year. According to the latest numbers, about half are targeting the Jewish community.

Even Governor Hochul got into the action by making a special visit to Beit Simchat Torah this morning to show her solidarity. Mayor Adams delivered a message of hope to audiences attending the performance of Parade the other day, saying, “When we fill a theater, we send a message out there that this is not a place where hate lives.” He noted that “We have the largest Jewish population outside of Tel Aviv.” He also said that the antisemitic protest outside the theater Tuesday night “was not the New York spirit we love – this was hatred, this was bigotry.”

Leaders of other faiths talked out against the white supremacists who ruined the evening performance for those seeing the play on Tuesday, saying, it is important to display solidarity when confronted with bigotry and hate. One of those leaders, Rev. Dr. Scott Black Johnston, Senior Pastor of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, said, “I think there is power and beauty in solidarity – on a strange awful day like this, we need to be here.” A parishioner, Kari Parks, who is not even Jewish, attended Temple Emanu-El’s service today. Yarmulkes off to you, Ms. Parks. She beautifully said, “I think it’s really important that everybody who believes in human beings all having the same dignity of life can show up here and make a stand.” She, with everyone else at the service, were all praying that one day there will be peace – exactly what Shabbat stands for.

So despite the clamor made about this day, I haven’t heard if there really were any disturbances at all. It’s much better that way.

On to another front, which is that a new Gallup poll of 10,000 American adults reveals that the number of people who identify as “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something else” has more than doubled in 2022 as compared to 2012. This result is covered in an online article for The Blaze by Andrew Chapados in a piece entitled “Gallup poll: Number of Americans who identify as LGBT has doubled in the last decade, but less than 1% are transgender.”

The new poll shows that 7.2 percent of those surveyed identified as LGBT in 2022; this number equates to 720 people out of 10,000 who were asked. This represents a slight increase over 2021, increasing by just 0.1 percent.

It is also more than double the rate of those who identified as LGBT in 2012, which was 3.5 percent. The significant majority of those who are LGBT in 2022 identify as “bisexual” at a rate of 58.2 percent. The next highest category is “gay” at 20.2 percent, then “lesbian” at 13.4 percent, and “transgender” at 8.8 percent. For the transgender community, this equates to just 0.6 percent of the overall population identifying as transgender, a total of 60 respondents out of 10,000. Thus the whining and complaining by MAGA Republicans over this community would make you think that their numbers are so vast, but you see that this is just a fiction. As like with the entire repugnican party – everything is magnified piteously for no reason at all.

The numbers are quite significant within the generations, as the divide shows here. For those who do not know the nuances within the generations, here is a snapshot. Generation Z covers those born between 1997 and 2004; Millennials (my son) are those born between 1981 and 1996; Generation X are those born between 1965 and 1980; and Baby Boomers (my generation) were born between 1946 and 1964.

The difference in LGBT identification from Baby Boomers (2.7%) to Generation X (3.3%) is nearly half a percentile, but the jump from Gen X to Millennial is a whopping 7.9 percent.

With the Millennial category at 11.2 percent, the jump to the next generation is even greater. Generation Z saw an 8.5 percent increase all the way to up to 19.7 percent LGBT identification, meaning nearly one in five in Generation Zs identify as something as other than straight. This makes a lot of sense since this subset is made up of much younger people who find identifying themselves as gay or whatever much easier to do than people born much earlier.

What has increased identification in all three generations is those who identify as “bisexuals” which has seen larger jumps than the other identifications. Transgenderism is at a rate of 1.9 percent with Gen Z, up from 1 percent of Millennials. Therefore, more people surveyed identify themselves as bisexual than anything else. Don’t ask me if I truly feel that people can call themselves bisexual when, in fact, they still prefer one sex over another. So I can be called slightly skeptical about this identification. But what do I know. Maybe people are being candid now calling themselves bisexual when they are truly attracted to both sexes. In the past, I believe people used this label as a cover to shield their true feelings of homosexuality from friends and loved ones.

Anyway, that’s enough for me. We have to get up early tomorrow to meet Elliot’s daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter for breakfast in Valley Stream at 10:30 a.m.

Have a good Sunday.

Stay safe and be well.