My Big Gay Jewish Conversion

Simon Atkins is on a personal journey for BBC Three exploring different religious attitudes to being gay. He wants to find out if Judaism is more tolerant of his sexuality than his Catholic faith, but is it a case of better the devil you know?

Simon is a Roman Catholic, but became disillusioned when he realised that being gay he could not marry in the eyes of God. His religion didn’t seem to impact his lifestyle until he met his Jewish boyfriend Matthew, whose synagogue allows same-sex marriage.

In this one-off documentary Simon goes on a personal mission to discover if, as a gay man, he could convert to Judaism and whether it is worth sacrificing his Catholic upbringing. Simon starts by talking to a variety of people, including other gay Jewish men and a Rabbi, before travelling to the birthplace of Judaism, Israel.

He visits Tel Aviv, where Gay Pride has been celebrated since 1979, but as he delves deeper he is hit with big doubts when in Jerusalem he is faced with more conservative and hostile views. Finally Simon visits one of the holiest sites in Christianity, where Jesus Christ was believed to have been resurrected and meets a trainee Catholic Priest to question his own faith.

If he becomes Jewish he will have to give up the Catholic core belief that Jesus Christ is the son of God - can he do that?

Watch...

My Big Gay Jewish Conversion from MonkeyPuzzleMedia on Vimeo.