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I fought for Gay Pride - today we need to fight for Jewish Pride

Amid a stark rise in anti-Jewish racism, Jews should stand upright and be proud of who they are

December 18, 2023 10:34
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LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 28: Stephen Fry speaks during The Fayre of St. James's in support of The Quintessentially Foundation & The Firefly Project at St James's Church on November 28, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Shane Anthony Sinclair/Getty Images)
3 min read

As a child I was almost unbearably excited by Christmas stockings, games, chocolates and presents. To this day the aroma of mince pies triggers me into gulping fits of sentimental ecstasy. But as I grew out of childhood, realising I was gay, I saw a long, lonely line of Christmases ahead of me. Exclusion, exile, and disgrace had been and surely always would be the fate of the homosexual. But look! In my short lifetime (well I think of it as short) Britain has moved towards an understanding and acceptance of gay love.

Alright, it’s not perfect of course, but what an improvement over the grim culture in which I grew up.

One truth about myself, however, that I never thought for one single second would ever be an issue about which I had any cause to worry in this country, was that I’m a Jew. Yes, I am a Jew. That may surprise some people. It surprises me really. I don’t think of myself as especially Jewish. Indeed sometimes people rather embarrassingly refer to me as “quintessentially English” whatever that means. I suppose it’s because I love cricket and Shakespeare and The Archers on Radio 4 and my vocal chords appear to be made of tweed. But if you take a swab of my spittle — as I did with one of those genetic services - up comes 52% Ashkenazy Jew. More than half, which was a bit of a surprise. My mother’s Jewish family came over from Central Europe in the 1930s, but my father died without knowing that he was a fraction Jewish.

Does it matter? I mean, I don’t really “identify as Jewish” any more than I “identify as English” or British. Then again, I know, because I’ve been warned, that I’ve been on lists of British Jews that some ultra-right wing newspapers and sites have published over the years. And I’m frankly damned if I’ll let antisemites be the ones who define me, and take ownership of the word Jew, injecting it with their own spiteful venom.