User:DGJacobson

“Equal Vows: Same-sex Ketubot in Washington State” was an art exhibition held at the Linda Hodges Gallery in Seattle, Washington, on Oct. 4, 2012. Organized and curated by David Jacobson, the exhibit was the first exhibition nationwide of same-sex ketubot, or decorated Jewish marriage contracts. It was intended to raise awareness about the realities of same-sex marriage, ahead of the November 2012 general election when Washington state voters were to decide whether to approve Referendum 74, a state law enabling same-sex marriage.

According to Sharon Liberman-Mintz, curator of Jewish art at the Jewish Theological Seminary, many exhibitions of heterosexual ketubot have been held at Jewish institutions and museums, but there had been no such exhibitions of same-sex ketubot until “Equal Vows.”

A ketubah (plural ketubot) is signed by at least two witnesses and read publicly during a Jewish marriage ceremony. A tradition dating back at least 2000 years, the ketubah has evolved into a highly-decorated art form practiced in Jewish communities worldwide, and during the last decades has spread to same-sex couples.

The exhibit consisted of 13 same-sex ketubot, as well as several from opposite-sex couples. Each ketubah was presented along with photos and stories from the marriage of each couple. A slideshow containing each of the ketubot displayed as well as the didactic displays is archived permanently at slideshare.net.

"Equal Vows: Same-sex Ketubot in Washington State" was dedicated to the memory of Faygele ben Miriam (aka John Singer), the Jewish civil rights activist who in 1971 petitioned the Washington state government to grant him the right to marry his partner, becoming one of the first to seek a same-sex marriage nationwide.

Following the exhibition, Referendum 74 was approved by Washington state voters by a margin of 7.4%, putting Washington among the first three states whose voters approved gay marriage. The other two were Maryland and Maine.

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