I’m an Orthodox Jew. Haaretz writers would no doubt call me “Ultra Orthodox”. I can tell you the article is (shockingly) absurd. First of all, there is no brave new world of homosexual acceptance and understanding emerging among Ultra Orthodox Jews. Jews who follow the Torah have only one opinion about it: it’s wrong. Period. Full Stop. Second, they make it sound as if the topic of homosexuality itself is some kind of scary topic that Orthodox Jews never talk about. Wrong. It is not discussed in the same way that the permissive popular/secular culture does: we don’t talk about individuals; we talk about issues. Gay marriage, like homosexuality, is wrong. Gay synagogues are wrong. Any measure of compromise with the Torah outlook on homosexuality is wrong.
Like every other aspect of human behavior, homosexuality is addressed in a candid and sober fashion in the Talmud and other works on Jewish law. There isn’t a whole lot to say about it, since the Torah perspective is fairly straightforward (pun intended).
It is also important to dispel any notion that Orthodox Jews eagerly wish gays were put to death as prescribed in the Torah. There is no judicial authority with the power to impose such a penalty and the actual procedure (like all capital cases in Jewish law) has so many protections in favor of a defendant that the penalty would almost be impossible to carry out. Moreover, the correct attitude of Orthodox Jews is that they would rather see people change their ways than suffer punishments.
Why does G-d proscribe homosexuality?
Last time I checked, the Torah has not been changed. And last time I checked, homosexuality was still an abomination according to Torah law, in any form. That includes the disgusting parody of permanent union between a man and a woman referred to as "gay marriage". The former member of the Knesset who forced his family to attend one of these disgusting parodies was putting the sensibilities of his individual family members above Torah law. WRONG! By attending that celebration of violating Torah law, he was sanctioning the violation, when he should have shunned it.
We just went through Rosh Hashana. Right there in the Rosh Hashana liturgy, it speaks of G-d, saying that He does not "wish the death one one deserving death; He awaits him; if he repents, He will accept him immediately..."
So as far as gays being put to death, that's a smear by leftist media. Both G-d Himself and His sincere followers, religious Jews, fervently hope for the return of violators---whatever the particular violation is---to the observance of Torah law, not that they be put to death.