A new dating site for gay and lesbian Orthodox Jews seeks to enable them to meet, have children, and raise them together in a “traditional” setting. Thus far, nearly 50 users have signed up, hoping to enter into a halachic Jewish marriage with a person of the opposite sex, despite their sexual orientation to the contrary.

At the time of this article’s writing, 37 men and 7 women have joined. They are ultra-Orthodox, Orthodox, and Conservative (and even one man who wrote that he is “secular but believing”), most of them are in their twenties and thirties, and a portion of them are closeted. They are seeking a relationship based on friendship, mutual respect, the desire to start a family and even love—but not sexual contact.