There’s a wonderful article at Thought Catalog about a woman who not only self-identifies as same-sex, but, grew up Chassidic, in Crown Heights. Some great lines:
We come to the subject of Jewish learning. I admit that I’ve contemplated seeking out a Torah study group. Yes, yes, she says, join my group. I meet with girls just like you.
Just like me, I think, but not like me at all.
You should know, I tell Esther, a sense of hope roiling in my gut, that things might be different this time, I live with my girlfriend.
She blinks once, twice.
I’m gay. Again, no recognition. I’m a homosexual.
She inches away, ever so slightly, and closes the siddur in her lap. Could I not be that way, she wonders out of the side of her mouth. But it’s impossible to not be any other way for me.
Read more here.