Writer ponders her dual identity

When Irena Klepfisz told her mother she was a lesbian, her mother replied, "You don't need this, too." Her mother meant she did not need the extra "burden" of being a lesbian in addition to being a Jewish immigrant from Poland. But almost 20 years later, Klepfisz, now a successful writer, has incorporated her two identities, as a Jew and a lesbian, into her writings, including Dreams of an Insomniac: Jewish Feminist Essays and A Few Words in the Mother Tongue: Poems Selected and New (1971-1990). Klepfisz, this year's artist in residence at Hillel, spoke yesterday afternoon in Houston Hall during the second day of events in this year's Bisexual Gay and Lesbian Awareness Days. She discussed her difficulties and successes in combining her Jewish heritage with her sexual orientation. "I came out in my early thirties," Klepfisz said before the discussion session yesterday. "I had always thought I was heterosexual. But I became involved with someone [of the same sex] and then spent some time sitting around trying to figure out what it meant." Klepfisz added that the Jewish community was not accepting of her sexual orientation, partly because, she said, the gay movement was "just starting." For a time, Klepfisz said she did not feel completely accepted within either group. "The whole Jewish community was pretty uncomfortable with it," she said. "But I think the lesbian community wasn't too keen on me being Jewish, either -- that wasn't their particular interest." Klepfisz said she eventually found other women in the same situation. She added that she and these other Jewish lesbians formed a group which dealt with both identities. One of the major problems she sees today, she said, is the future of gay rights in the United States. "Gay men have been killed in the military. There's been legislation that has been written against [gays and lesbians]," she said. "It's very scary." Klepfisz added that "right wing" groups are capitalizing on homophobia to persuade both mainstream and minority groups to discriminate against gays and lesbians. "I think one of the things that's happening [is that] these groups begin to use anti-gays as a front," she said. "What people don't necessarily realize is that when they hook into an anti-gay group, they are hooking into a whole hate campaign." She added that the only "safe bigotry" is homophobia and by engaging in gay bashing and discrimination, people prolong all forms of bigotry, including racism and sexism. "When I see African-American groups or Jewish groups or Asian groups being shy about gay issues, my response to them is, 'It's all part of the package,' " she said. "You can bet that [anti-gay people] are also racist, anti-Semite and sexist." Klepfisz added she thinks homophobia is based on today's repressive sexual society. "I think it's sex at the base [of homophobia]," she said. "It's always sex. Sex is like food, everyone has their own taboos on food and sex." She added that heterosexuals must overcome their fears about homosexuality and join the gay rights movement in order to end gay discrimination and make a real difference. "Every culture changes," she said. "And those that don't usually die."