OK, so in the 90s, three things happened that might or might not be on the radar of a Jewish teen growing up gay in Oxford.
1: R' Steve Greenberg, an out, gay Orthodox rabbi was doing the research and activism which eventually led up to this 2001 film Trembling before G-d. By the time the film was actually released, everybody who had any connection with the Queer community knew about it; whether Joel would have known about R' Greenberg's stuff before that depends how plugged in he was. This was on the international scene, but it had pretty big repercussions in terms of starting discussions in the UK.
2. My teacher R' Sheila Shulman founded Beit Klal Yisrael, a gay synagogue in London. It was a funny institution in the 90s, the community leaders were mostly lesbians who were pretty radical and disaffected with the community, the members were mostly gay men who were fairly middle-of-the-road and only didn't fit in to the mainstream because of their sexuality. Some time towards the end of the 90s BKY affiliated to the Liberal movement rather than being completely independent; by 1998 most people would have been aware of it.
3. A bunch of religiously committed people were more or less pushed out of Orthodox Judaism because they were gay, and ended up training as rabbis in the Reform and Liberal movements. Mostly men. They kind of influenced the progressive movements to be more liturgically traditional but also more open-minded about Queer stuff. There were some Queer women as well, but fewer, and they tended not to be disaffected ex-Orthodox people, more like coming from the far left of the movement. There was just starting to be a conversation about same-sex marriage; it didn't have popular support in the 90s, but it was being talked about.
In the late 90s through mid-2000s, there was a bit of a Liberal-Reform divide on Queer issues specifically (otherwise the two denominations are pretty close and tend to work together on most things). The Liberal movement started to be pro same-sex marriage, and became increasingly positive about Queer issues and Queer people. The Reform movement faffed about and sort of didn't want to commit and was in principle supportive of individuals but dragging their feet over institutional change and not wanting to offend the more conservative members. A couple of synagogues and a couple of rabbis changed affiliation because of this issue.
Orthodox Judaism was anti-gay but not in a very big way, it wasn't the major defining thing it's started to creep towards now that there is a debate about same-sex marriage in general secular society. Although some gay men left the Orthodox movement over this (and some became Reform or Liberal rabbis, in fact), lots stayed, and it was a bit don't-ask-don't-tell-ish rather than outright prejudice. Depended on the community, of course.
Queer / Jewish in the 90s
1: R' Steve Greenberg, an out, gay Orthodox rabbi was doing the research and activism which eventually led up to this 2001 film Trembling before G-d. By the time the film was actually released, everybody who had any connection with the Queer community knew about it; whether Joel would have known about R' Greenberg's stuff before that depends how plugged in he was. This was on the international scene, but it had pretty big repercussions in terms of starting discussions in the UK.
2. My teacher R' Sheila Shulman founded Beit Klal Yisrael, a gay synagogue in London. It was a funny institution in the 90s, the community leaders were mostly lesbians who were pretty radical and disaffected with the community, the members were mostly gay men who were fairly middle-of-the-road and only didn't fit in to the mainstream because of their sexuality. Some time towards the end of the 90s BKY affiliated to the Liberal movement rather than being completely independent; by 1998 most people would have been aware of it.
3. A bunch of religiously committed people were more or less pushed out of Orthodox Judaism because they were gay, and ended up training as rabbis in the Reform and Liberal movements. Mostly men. They kind of influenced the progressive movements to be more liturgically traditional but also more open-minded about Queer stuff. There were some Queer women as well, but fewer, and they tended not to be disaffected ex-Orthodox people, more like coming from the far left of the movement. There was just starting to be a conversation about same-sex marriage; it didn't have popular support in the 90s, but it was being talked about.
In the late 90s through mid-2000s, there was a bit of a Liberal-Reform divide on Queer issues specifically (otherwise the two denominations are pretty close and tend to work together on most things). The Liberal movement started to be pro same-sex marriage, and became increasingly positive about Queer issues and Queer people. The Reform movement faffed about and sort of didn't want to commit and was in principle supportive of individuals but dragging their feet over institutional change and not wanting to offend the more conservative members. A couple of synagogues and a couple of rabbis changed affiliation because of this issue.
Orthodox Judaism was anti-gay but not in a very big way, it wasn't the major defining thing it's started to creep towards now that there is a debate about same-sex marriage in general secular society. Although some gay men left the Orthodox movement over this (and some became Reform or Liberal rabbis, in fact), lots stayed, and it was a bit don't-ask-don't-tell-ish rather than outright prejudice. Depended on the community, of course.