Religious disaffiliation has been found to occur at higher rates in LGBTQ+ individuals than in heterosexual individuals and in the general population. In this brief report, we explore whether LGBTQ+ people who disaffiliated from Orthodox Judaism attributed sexual identity and/or Orthodox Judaism’s lack of acceptance of homosexuality to their disaffiliation. This analysis focuses on 117 individuals who identified as LGBTQ+ who were drawn from a larger study that included 387 participants across all sexual orientations who disaffiliated from Orthodox Judaism. Unexpectedly, only 18 of the respondents reported that their sexual identity and/or religious views on homosexuality were causes for their disaffiliation. A lack of education and language around LGBTQ+ concepts in ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities may have contributed to this finding. We suggest that additional research be conducted to explore the complex relationship between LGBTQ+ identity and disaffiliation from Orthodox Judaism.

Religious disaffiliation from Orthodox Judaism is becoming more prevalent and of interest to researchers. In Orthodox Judaism, though gender norms dictate everyday life, research on the role of gender in disaffiliation is scarce. This study analyzed data from a parent study describing the personal experiences of men and women raised as Orthodox Jews who either disaffiliated from the practice (N_women = 153, N_men = 153) or continued practicing (N_women = 168, N_men = 146), examined through the lens of gender. Gender differences had a divergent pattern: disaffiliated women reported adverse social/emotional experiences at a significantly higher rate than disaffiliated men and all affiliates, while all men reported adverse education experiences at a significantly higher rate than women. These patterns may, in part, be due to community norms and differential willingness to report outcomes by disaffiliated and affiliated individuals. Our findings highlight the influence of gender on the experiences within the religious community and the complex process of disaffiliation.

Studies investigating disaffiliation from Orthodox Judaism typically utilize samples composed of disaffiliated individuals, without a comparison group of affiliated individuals for reference. This research investigation measured 21 social, psychological, and intellectual experiences in disaffiliated and affiliated Orthodox Jewish individuals primarily in the United States to determine which factors were predictive of disaffiliation, a type of religious change. Experiences were measured with Yes/No questions and a Likert rating scale to indicate the extent to which respondents believed each factor contributed to their disaffiliation. Participants were 730 individuals who grew up practicing Orthodox Judaism and had either stopped or continued practicing (disaffiliated N = 387; affiliated N = 343). Based on regression analysis, factors predictive of disaffiliation were: (1) emotional abuse, (2) feelings that Orthodoxy is restrictive, (3) diagnosis of/treatment for a psychological disorder, (4) poor secular education in school, and (5) intellectual conflicts regarding Orthodox Judaism or questioning God. When rating each factor’s contribution to their disaffiliation, exiters most frequently reported moral or social conflicts with Orthodox Judaism, intellectual conflicts regarding Orthodox Judaism or questioning God, and feelings that Orthodoxy is restrictive. These findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of religious exiting and draw out the factors uniquely predictive of disaffiliation in this population.