David Fishback's Blog: Temple Emanuel Brit Olam Letter to MCPS

Thursday, March 29, 2018

Temple Emanuel Brit Olam Letter to MCPS

Temple Emanuel is a participant in the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism’s Urgency of Now: Transgender Rights Campaign, the purpose of which is “to stand with transgender and gender non-conforming students to demand that welcoming and inclusive policies are in place in our schools.”https://rac.org/uontransrights

On March 26, 2018, as part of the RAC Campaign, Rabbi Warren Stone and Board of Trustees President Diane Raynes-Miller sent this letter to Montgomery County Board of Education President Michael Durso and MCPS Superintendent Jack Smith, thanking MCPS for the important steps MCPS has taken in this area.

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David S. Fishback, a retired attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, is Advocacy Chair for the Metro DC Chapter of PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). His involvement in social justice efforts began as a college student in the 1960s, when he ran a tutoring program in Washington, DC. Following a year as a VISTA volunteer at a prison in Memphis, TN, he went to Harvard Law School and worked on Democratic Party reform issues.

After graduation, he joined the Office of General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board. In 1983, David went to the Civil Division of the Department of Justice, where he litigated environmental tort matters, most notably the government's successful defense against lawsuits brought by asbestos product and Agent Orange manufacturers, who were seeking to shift their tort liability to the federal taxpayers.

In 1984, David became co-president of the PTA at a magnet integration primary school in Silver Spring, MD, beginning his efforts as an education activist in Montgomery County. He began advocating for LGBTQ youth in 2002 when he was appointed to the County Board of Education's Citizens Advisory Committee on sexuality education issues. During his time as chair of that committee and later through PFLAG, he was integrally involved in the ultimately successful effort to bring intelligent discussion of LGBTQ topics into the secondary school health curriculum and guidance offices.

A past member of the Temple Emanuel of Kensington MD Board of Trustees, David and his wife Bobbi co-founded and co-chaired (from 2002 to 2019) the Temple's Kulanu Committee for LGBTQ outreach. He is also a long-time member of the Temple's Social Action Council. In 2020, David was appointed to the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism.