PHOTO BY SIMON FULLER Enlarge Image

Ken Ure (left) and Arthur Blankstein tied the knot on Jan. 21 at Shaarey Zedek Synagogue.

A local synagogue has performed what is believed to be the first same-sex marriage in a conservative synagogue in Canada.

Interior designer Arthur Blankstein, 68, and registered nurse Ken Ure, 58, tied the knot at Shaarey Zedek synagogue on Wellington Crescent on Jan. 21 — eight years after taking their vows in a civil ceremony.

"I’m not totally sure, but I’ve had contact with other synagogues across Canada and we’re the first that we’ve ever heard of," said Shaarey Zedek executive director Ian Staniloff.

Staniloff, who lives in River Heights, said the synagogue has slowly moved towards an all-inclusive policy because "on the radar, we knew there were members of the GLBT community in the congregation."

"The first step was to allow couples to buy a joint burial plot. Then, gay couples were allowed to join the synagogue with family membership, assuming they were Jewish. Then, we began performing commitment ceremonies. But then we said, ‘What does that mean?’ " he said.

After contacting the Rainbow Resource Centre, the synagogue held staff workshops and seminars to become sensitized to the needs of GLBT congregation members — which defined a shift from the more traditional conservatism.

"We want a better understanding of the GLBT community. We want people to know and understand we are a welcoming, affirming, accepting environment."

Blankstein said the synagogue’s all-inclusive mindset has gone "hand-in-hand with a cultural shift."

"When I was in school, being gay was almost a ticket to being ostracized," said Blankstein, noting how the process set in motion by the Supreme Court of Canada’s 2003 decision to legalize same-sex marriages "blew it all open."

"If you take the current scenario, things have changed quite phenomenally. Straight kids are now going to gay bars because the music is better."

Blankstein said the St. Boniface-based couple is proud to "lay the groundwork for others to follow" in the Jewish community — "from the synagogue’s standpoint, we are poster children" — but said growing up a gay Jewish man might have been harder than if he was born into another faith.

"We are a religion that tends to protect itself. People stick together and family is a very strong unit. From my father’s generation down, you were expected to get married and produce and that’s the pressure I always felt — that you got married and had children," Blankstein said.

"When I was younger, people in Winnipeg that were gay tended to move to cities like Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver where they had no family and could blend in."

Ure — who converted to Judaism from an Anglican background last year — said while the couple is trailblazing in some respects, getting married seemed like the natural evolution of their relationship.

"We’re out to a lot of people, so it was always a natural progression," Ure said, noting a few technical changes were needed before they could legally tie the knot.

"The marriage contract had to be modified and all references to brides removed," he said, noting approximately 75 friends and family were at the Jan. 21 ceremony, performed by Rabbi Lawrence Pinsker, which was "very moving."

Ure said if society continues to shift towards an all-inclusive mentality, the newlyweds won’t be seen as so groundbreaking in a decade.

"I’m hoping, in 10 years, people will look back and this is laughable," Ure said.

"Remember when it was illegal to vote or marry someone from another race? In the history of the world, that wasn’t that long ago."  

simon.fuller@canstarnews.com