Joys and Sorrows

As with any lead-in period to a holiday, it seems that time speeds up, and there's no chance to slow down and do such important things as post on one's blog! :-)

Yesterday was definitely one of those whirlwind days.   Fortunately for me, my schedule was totally clear which meant I could go here, there, and everywhere, without much trouble.  My day started with the morning realization that our new state legislature would be sworn in that morning.  Normally, I would thank God for deliverance from having to be there as a reporter.  But this day was different.  Because, on this day, Florida would finally have two openly-gay state representatives seated in the House chamber.   I got out my some of my best clothes, and trudged up the hill to the state Capitol building, quietly humming an antiphon we sing at Easter:

"On this day, the Lord has acted.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it."

And I was!  I was smiling.  I was laughing.  And I was enjoying myself in a way that I never have in all the years that I have entered that ugly structure where sausage is made at the expense of real lives.  On the way in, I met the parents of a newly-elected legislator who unseated one of the rising stars of the Tea Party-infused state Republican party. 

"Oh, thank you for having a son, and congratulations!" I said.  They laughed.

There are advantages to having once been a member of the Fourth Estate.  Namely, nobody questioned me when I fell in with the reporter pack to gain access to the House floor.  I found one of our two new gay boys, State Representative Joe Saunders and his partner Donald, and snapped a quick picture of them.  I gave Joe a big, long hug, and promised him that the community was there to help him however he needed it.

Such an amazing accomplishment as having out-and-proud members of the Florida House is a sign that "the times they-are-a-changin'."  

In stark contrast, the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance is the reminder that we have not fully realized equality here in the United States or certainly around the world.   After stopping in briefly at a church function happening at the home of our associate rector, I headed out to the local LGBT community center to listen to speakers and bear witness to the candle lighting ceremony.  With each votive candle, we heard the names, ages, and circumstances surrounding the death of a trans individual, killed in the past year.  There were 38 names in all, and those are just of the ones we know.  Many of the people had been mutilated in some way, almost as if the killers were so appalled by the person's outward appearance that they felt the need to destroy it.  As people placed their candles around the heart, I repeated in silence my own private prayers for each of these souls snuffed out by transphobia violence.   I thought about the resurgence of the "kill the gays" bill in Uganda.  I thought of trans friends I have made in Tallahassee, and the educational Voices of Witness documentary, "Out of the Box" about the transgender people of faith in the Episcopal Church.  And I thought how much further we still need to go if we are going to live into the vows of our baptismal covenant to "strive for justice and peace and respect the dignity of every human being."

So many have died and, are still dying, for the right to live and love in peace.  As we celebrate the accomplishment of LGBT people finding a place at the table of state politics, we must also continue our commitment to raise up all people and refuse to make peace with attempts to put us in an early grave.  We must stay on the battlefield, and we must have the voices of others joining us in this race after God's promise that all will be included in the kingdom and have eternal life.

Black, Gay and Christian: Another Trinity

PFLAG-Tallahassee group with playwright and actor James Webb in the black T-shrit.

 I had a great time Saturday night returning to the FAMU  campus to bring along some of the PFLAG group to see, "The Contract" by James Webb.  I had seen and written about the play this winter, (see "The Contract Raises Questions") and so I was very excited that it was back, and I could get a group together to see it.

Unlike my previous experience, when the play was done in the black box theater, the audience at this last performance were engaged, and not enraged.  Moments in the play, and different statements coming from the characters, made some people shake their heads or mumble out loud, "Don't do it!" or "Girl??" or whatever.  But nobody, at least that I could see or hear, stormed out of the theater or worried at intermission about their own souls for witnessing this play.

There has been a lot of difference in the world between the first time I saw this performance at the end of January and this past weekend.  And I think some of that also gave the play a slightly different feel for me.  Since President Obama's endorsement of marriage equality on national TV, there has been a tremendous public shift in the dialogue, especially coming from the pulpit of black churches.  On YouTube, there are more examples of black preachers endorsing the President.  Polls are showing that the attitudes of black voters on the question of marriage equality are softening from the hard-line stance that it is an abomination to a more "live and let live" attitude.  Even on my own Facebook page, I am watching with interest as black community leaders go toe-to-toe with those who are reeling from this announcement from the President and reminding their brothers and sisters that it wasn't that long ago that the majority of Americans didn't think blacks should have equal rights or be allowed to marry the person they loved.

And the media has discovered that there is this other trinity that exists in the world:  Black, Gay and Christian.  National Public Radio has done reports about the presence among us of such Christians, and the New York Times this past weekend ran an article about a black gay church in Harlem.  Is this really anything new?  No, it isn't.  But since the President has made it OK to talk about it, lips are opening.and tongues are speaking.  And plays, such as "The Contract", are cracking open the doors of the churches and allowing more light to enter.

I have felt pain for my gay brothers and sisters in the black church.  I have heard them talk about their difficulties and fears about coming out in an environment that has been so openly hostile.  Many of them have given up attending church, figuring it is better to just have whatever relationship they're going to have with God without the grief of being amongst the hateful ones on a Sunday morning.   And still many more have internalized the hatred they've heard from the pulpit and believed the b.s. that God doesn't like "their kind."  In turn, they have brushed off God, so they can enjoy being gay.   Those same scenarios exist for whites raised in the church as well.

I will say it again, and again, and again:  God is Love, and Love does not reject love, same-sex or opposite-sex.   When two people share a mutuality of love for one another that is not forced or coerced, then it is a human expression of the love God has toward all of creation.  

May that love continue to spread, and may the churches, both black and white, grow up further into Christ and the understanding that we are all part of this vibrant, diverse, and beautiful body.

Yom HaShoah

Today we remember all those who were victims or were killed in the Holocaust in Europe during the reign of Adolf Hitler.  I encourage you to follow THIS LINK to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and watch the video, "Why We Remember the Holocaust."  

I say we remember the victims because the type of mass murder carried out by the Nazis has left permanent scars on the psyches of millions.  It makes the Biblical admonitions about the sins of one generation affecting those after a very real truth.  Even though we are now a few generations removed from Hitler's rule in Germany, the suffering he inflicted on Jews and non-Jews who were viewed as "others" to be exterminated (gypsies, gays, disabled, communists, even Free Masons...), not to mention the bombings of other countries, has touched the lives of those who were not yet born during those years.   I will never forget the first full-blown conversation I had with my German exchange student as we sat next to each other in the back seat of my parents car.  She asked me if I knew who Adolf Hitler was.

"Ja, natürlich,"  I said.

"Not all Germans are like that," she told me.  The fact that she felt the need to explain this made me realize the devastation that had been done to more than Jewish people, but to the generations of Germans since the end of World War II.

As the video notes, we still as a species struggle with prejudice that has led to horrific crimes against humanity.  Bosnia. Rwanda.  Dafur.  And those are the ones that the media has exposed.

We must never make peace with oppression.   We must never look away from how we contribute to the degradation of others through our silence.  This Day of Remembrance must be a day where we again commit ourselves to never allow fear and hatred of the "other" to destroy and disrupt humanity.