Deborah Brin was among the first 100 women to be ordained as rabbis in the United States and was among the first generation of openly lesbian rabbis. She was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1985. Brin led the first women's prayer service at the Western Wall in 1988, out of which the movement “Women of the Wall” began. She came out while serving as rabbi for Toronto’s Congregation Darchei Noam, which then renewed her contract and officially made her the first openly gay or lesbian rabbi to get a contract renewal rather than be fired. Despite their initial acceptance, however, tensions continued to rise until Brin resigned her post in 1990. She served as an associate chaplain for Grinnell College in Iowa, and is Rabbi Emerita of Congregation Nahalat Shalom in Albuquerque, New Mexico.