Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/804156
14 March 30 • 2017 jn Meet Sam Dubin, chair of NEXTGen Detroit Pride. S am Dubin attended the Jewish Federations of North America's Annual General Assembly (aka the GA). The theme of this year's three- day conference in Washington, D.C., was "Jewish Journeys." So fitting, because the road Sam is paving on his journey, for himself and for others, isn't just impressive; it's necessary. As the chair of NEXTGen Detroit Pride, a new initia- tive launched by the Jewish Federation of Metro Detroit's young adult division, Sam has become an advocate for inclu- sivity. The goal of NEXTGen Detroit Pride is to serve as a welcoming gateway into the Jewish community for LGBTQ young adults, and thus far the response has been outstanding. It's clear now that the LGBTQ community within the greater Detroit Jewish community has been underserved. But hind- sight is 20/20. It took someone to step back, see something was missing and have the ambition to fill the void. That someone was Sam Dubin. ON CREATING NEXTGEN DETROIT PRIDE SD: Hardly any of my gay friends live in Detroit. I think one of the reasons why we don't have a larger Jewish gay popu- lation here is because LGBTQ people don't necessarily feel welcome. When I came out in May 2015, I thought. "OK, I'm gay, but I will go on living my life like I was before." I was, and still am, of the mindset that being gay doesn't define me. It's a part of me, but it doesn't define me. Once I came out, I saw a void in the Jewish com- munity, and I knew I wanted to do something. But what that something was, I had no idea. I met my fellow NEXTGen Detroit Board member Jonathan Schwartz a couple months after I came out. We were talking at a Federation event, and he was very pas- sionate about the inclusion of interfaith couples in the Jewish community. We shared this vision of inclusivity for both the LGBTQ community and the interfaith couples' commu- nity. It was directly in line with what I already was thinking. I thought, "Wow, this is bashert; the timing is perfect." Jonathan and I set up a meet- ing and decided to pitch an idea to NEXTGen Detroit. I don't want to say that I'm sur- prised at how supportive the Federation has been, but they really wanted this to happen and worked with us to take our vision and make it something real and applicable for this community. I started by consulting with Federation folks from Chicago who had created a young adult LGBTQ chapter a few years ago. Their biggest advice to me was to start making connections. So I set up a ton of meetings with local leaders, rabbis and anyone who I thought would be interested in this project, both in and out of the LGBTQ com- munity. The next step was getting a focus group together to hear what the Jewish LGBTQ Advocate For Inclusivity BECKY HURVITZ SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS Director of sales and marketing and fourth- generation Dubin at Dubin Cleaners & Laundry in Farmington Hills, NEXTGen Detroit Board member, former Central Michigan Hillel president, veteran volunteer and lay leader extraordinaire, most recently and notably, chair of NEXTGen Detroit Pride and a member of the inaugural class of the JN and The Well's 36 Under 36. jews d in the PHOTOS BY JON HARDWICK continued on page 16