Chai Pride: Using LGBTQIA+ Jewish Identities to Understand Intersectionality in Public Administration

• Published date: 01 September 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00953997231182998
• Author: Seth J. Meyer,Jodi Benenson
• Date: 01 September 2023
• Subject Matter: Perspectives

https://doi.org/10.1177/00953997231182998

Administration & Society

2023, Vol. 55(8) 1623 –1646

© The Author(s) 2023

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DOI: 10.1177/00953997231182998

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Perspectives

Chai Pride: Using

LGBTQIA+ Jewish

Identities to Understand

Intersectionality in Public

Administration

Seth J. Meyer1 and Jodi Benenson2

Abstract

Research on intersectionality in public administration reveals the diversity

of marginalized groups and provides greater understanding of the ways

intersecting identities influence inter- and intra-communal relationships.

This article highlights the nuances that exist at the intersection of

LGBTQIA+ and Jewish identities and how intersectionality can inform

public service and engagement with minoritized populations in public and

nonprofit organizations. The authors use LGBTQIA+ Jewish communities

to construct four tenets of intersectionality—multiple and mutually

constitutive identities, dynamic processes in managing multiple identities,

discrimination within identities, and intersectional organizations—and

discuss their relevance to public administration.

Keywords

intersectionality, Jewish, LGBTQIA+, public administration

1Bridgewater State University, MA, USA

2University of Nebraska Omaha, USA

Corresponding Author:

Seth J. Meyer, Bridgewater State University, Clifford House, Room 102, 180 Summer Street,

Bridgewater, MA 02325, USA.

Email: s2meyer@bridgew.edu

1182998AAS0010.1177/00953997231182998Administration & SocietyMeyer and Benenson

research-article2023

1624 Administration & Society 55(8)

Introduction

Intersectionality is an analytic framework used in public administration that

explores the way multiple identity categorizations interact within individuals

and groups, as well as the intersections of categorizations, systems, and insti-

tutions that produce oppression in public and nonprofit contexts (Blessett,

2020; Crenshaw, 1989, 1991). Through an intersectional perspective, it is

possible to view identities as overlapping rather than competing systems of

inequality. Without intersectional perspectives, public and nonprofit organi-

zations cannot adequately provide supports and services to diverse groups,

such as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual +

(LGBTQIA+)1 and Jewish2 communities. Scholars and practitioners in the

field of public administration can be better stewards of supports and services

by using an intersectional lens to understand the complexities of diverse

communities.

Like other groups with multiple and intersecting identities, LGBTQIA+

Jewish individuals in the U.S. are not a monolithic group, but often “share a

distinct sensibility” and experience themselves and their relationships as

“doubly other” because of the twin threats of negative attitudes towards

LGBTQIA+ individuals and antisemitism (Balka & Rose, 1989). While pub-

lic administration scholarship has begun to examine the issues and implica-

tions of public and nonprofit policies, programs, and practices that broadly

connect to LGBTQIA+ and Jewish identities and experiences, this research

rarely takes an intersectional approach to LGBTQIA+ and Jewish identities.

In this article, we use the case study of LGBTQIA+ Jewish people to high-

light the nuances that exist at the intersection of LGBTQIA+ and Jewish

identities and how intersectionality can help the field of public administration

understand how to better serve and engage diversity within communities.

Research examining LGBTQIA+ individuals in public administration has

predominantly focused on the effects of homophobia (e.g., Lewis & Pitts,

2017; Meyer, 2023; Ng et al., 2012), the impact of pro-LGBTQIA+ services

and policies (N. Elias & Colvin, 2020; Shrader, 2016; Swan, 2014), employ-

ment and economic discrimination (Badgett, 1995; Klawitter, 2011, 2014),

LGBTQIA+ identities and expression (Colvin, 2020; Federman & Rishel

Elias, 2017), youth homelessness (Johnson, 2018; McCandless, 2018), and

sexual orientation and governance (Stanisevski, 2013). Public administration

research around Jewish communities tends to focus on Jewish associational

life (Kabalo, 2009a, 2009b), philanthropy (Shaul Bar Nissim, 2019;

Wertheimer, 2018), public service employment (Schnall, 1997), and antisem-

itism (Levine Daniel et al., 2020). Much of this research to date has focused

on the individual aspects of LGBTQIA+ and Jewish identities and