I was homelessfor being gay as a teen.My home was takenfor being Jewish in Iraq.Now I tell my story andbring people together.

I was born in Los Angeles in 1990. By thirteen, I was already in UCLA classrooms. My life had accelerated before I knew how to name it.

• Los Angeles Times, 2002 archive
• Los Angeles Times, 1997 archive

At 14, I was kicked out of my home for being gay. I spent part of my teens without stable housing. Those years were about survival, finding stability, and building a life of my own.

I returned to school in Los Angeles. In 2010, at nineteen, I first visited Iraqi Kurdistan. I graduated from UCLA in 2013. In 2014, I moved to Erbil.

Iraqi Kurdistan became the center of my life. I lived in Erbil, bought a home, worked as a software engineer, and built Museum of Ours. I organized public programs around Jewish history and the region's many communities. In 2022, authorities expelled me.

• In Iraqi Kurdistan, a one-man museum celebrates the region's Jewish history and ethnic diversity
• Founder of Jewish museum expelled from Iraqi Kurdistan
• The Jews of Kurdistan: A Land of Jewish Heritage, and Potential Reconciliation
• Breakfast Club – Levi Meir Clancy from Museum of Ours

After Iraq, I began building my life around Judaism. Across the Bay Area and Israel, I photograph Jewish life, organize programs and exhibitions, help fund events, and join coalitions. I write about the places I know and build software, including Etza Analytics and This Jewish Day. I study Jewish nonprofit management at Hebrew Union College.

• J. Bay Area Leading Light mention
• Havda-Ooh-La-La / Nice Jewish Boys SF exhibition
• The LUNAR Collective team page
• This Jewish Day on the App Store
• Etza
• Unsplash profile
• Levi Meir Clancy at Times of Israel: The Blogs