Do Orthodox Jewish lesbian couples practice "family purity"?

"If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; there blood is upon them."

So technically (and strict orthodoxs tend to be big on technicalities) there is nothing wrong with a Orthodox Jewish Lesbian. So in this case following the letter of the law (that it would only apply to men with men) makes for a more permissive law then reading deeper into the rule form which you could generalize to both types of same sex couples. Granted is possible that a lesbian couple would risk violating one of the many other rules on sexual behavior, but lesbianism itself would not be the problem. (One possible problem is that a lesbian couple would not create children directly from their union.)

What makes practical homosexuality impossible for men are the above-mentioned prohibition on spilling the seed, as well as the age long taboo on sodomy.

As for women, well, it's not strictly speaking a mortal sin (there's no mortal sin in Judaism, kids, I'm being annoyingly ironic) for two women to snog each other, but there are mentions (in texts later than the OT) of the undesirability of oral contact with the vagina, or mutual masturbation. Since It's Not In The Bible, however, I suppose you could get around that one.

As for the original question about marital purity laws - why would two women observe them, anyway? They only apply to male/female contact - there's no problem with women touching women during menstruation, after all. Come to think about it, there's no problem with women touching men, either - it's the other way around. I'd say Deborah909's friends were being overzealous.

The Talmud quite clearly lays out what the guidelines for sexual intimacy are, and the fact that it is not between a man and a women quite clearly places it in the realm of forbidden acts. It is listed specifically as a sin that receives Makkos, or Lashes. This places it in the same category (in terms of punishment as intimacy before marriage (such as kissing a member of the opposite sex) or plowing in a graveyard (planting crops over bodies is discouraged.) Obviously these are not "top-tier" sins, but they are not negligible either.

The most important idea in Judaism pertaining to this issue is the concept (that Christianity stole intact) of hating the sin, but loving the sinner. Obviously, everybody sins, and it is ridiculous to say that Lesbians should be stigmatized any more than teenagers that are caught making out somewhere, but unfortunately, people are jerks, and societal mores have influenced the degree of stigmatization that a particular sin has.

Of course, it seems just as ridiculous to say that anybody who did a sin shouild publically identify themselves as such. No normal person would stand up in a crowd and say "I plowed up a graveyard, and I feel that it is OK, because I observe the rest of the Jewish laws really well." But it seems that Orthodox Jewish Lesbians do just this! If you want to acknowledge the philosophy of Orthodox Judaism, which includes the ideal of living byu the laws that Jews have observed for at least the last 2000 years, you cannot be honest with yourself and still say that "just this sin is ok," because you can't always get what you want, and accepting a philosophy is not a piece by piece propostion.

I personally am ashamed if I ever yell at someone, or talk gossip about them, because I acknowledge that it is wrong. I'm not self-hating, or inconsistent because I commit sins, but I'm not marching in a "I'm not so good at keeping commandments" parade. PS. I would nevver condemn a person's choices in this regard. There is however, a choice. Gays don't attend Jerry Falwell's services with a pride T-shirt on, and it seems silly for someone to be inconsistant in a matter as important as their religious beliefs.