I came upon this post a few days ago discussing the actual color of the universe.  It isn’t black as you might think upon casual observance.  It’s actually a whitish color.  While thinking about this, my mind drifted into the spiritual realm as it often does.  This can’t just be a scientific observation. It must mean something!  Or at least I can wrench some sort of metaphor out of it, and I did.

In our lives, we experience so much suffering and so much pain.  Throughout history, we have tried to explain this, sometimes more successfully than others.  Well here is a new metaphor for our scientific age.  Because of our limited senses we do not see light that has shifted out of our visible spectrum.  It is still light, but our experience of it is not.  Perhaps, we can think of our life experiences in such a manner.  All experiences contribute to who we are and are thus light, even if we cannot figure out how.  I know for certain that if I didn’t have a certain “darkness” in my life, I would never have met one of my good friends of today.  Think about how this image can help you out in your life.

This past weekend was one that gave me great hope, great courage, great knowledge, and great people.  Where was I that this happened?  At Community Mennonite Church of Lancaster for the Institute for Welcoming Resources‘ training “Building an Inclusive Church.”  Led by Anita Bradshaw of IWR and by Carol Wise of the Brethren Mennonite Council, I was among 15 people of Mennonite, Brethren, Baptist, Catholic, and UCC background, learning what we as individuals and as congregations could do to make our congregations and our denominations welcoming and affirming for queer-folk.  Amongst the participants, we had a wide spectrum of where our home congregations are on this matter. So a few things I learned, or was reminded of, perhaps?

*There are times when silence has the loudest voice

We have a tendency to not articulate exactly what we are talking about.  When you are talking about welcoming queer-folk, say that this is what you are talking about.  Don’t cushion it in language the obscures the fact that we are among you.  This is just another form of denial and silencing the voice of the queer.  If we can’t use the words, how are we supposed to really be welcomed?

*This is for the Church

For obvious reasons, the discussion around queer inclusion is often about those we are trying to include.  But that is only part of the story.  Ultimately, these discussions are about giving the Church a chance to be the Church.  Are we truly extending the Gospel message to all?  Even those that society has told us are not worthy?  And will the Church accept the gifts that the Spirit has given to queer-folk?  Denying them is risky business for if God has declared them clean, who is the Church to say otherwise?

*It’s not just queer-folk who are looking for welcoming church

In fact, you may never have any LGBT people walk through your door, even if you’ve been very public about your welcome.  For one thing, we will always be cautious in dealing with a religious group.  We have experienced too much pain not to.  But even if you don’t get the queer to come, you will get the young.  Recent studies show that there is a definite generational divide in regards to acceptance of queer-folk, both in society and the Church.  And 90% of young people see the Church as a homophobic institution.  Young people do not want to be a part of a Body that denies their friends the inherent worth that is due to them.  Stories at the training showed that it is not the queer people that will mention the church’s publicly affirming stance when asked why they came to the church, it is our heterosexual allies.  The welcoming churches are actually the fastest growing churches in their denominations.

*Twenty percent is the number of change

We are always defending ourselves from the attacks of the far fringe, those people who will never change their minds.  The thing is these people are only 16% of the population.  It is not them that we need to convince, especially because we really only need to convince 20%.  This is the number that has been found to be the tipping point.  Seem low?  It did to me.  But with any social change, this is apparently what they have found.  Once we’ve gotten to this point, we don’t need to worry anymore.  The change is a done deal.  And this is what gives me so much hope.  We’ve already achieved this!

My Call to Action

So what will I do this new energy?  The fire burns within me, and I will not be silent.  My prayers for the queer will be heard in the congregation.  It will be known that I have resources, and that they are available for use by everybody.  And the congregation will know about my recent application to the 2010 Equality Ride.  One of the Mennonite women at the training, I discovered is actually the mother of the director for this year’s Equality Ride.  I have pondering for a few months about applying to be a part of this, and when she heard about this she strongly encouraged me to apply.  And then she told her daughter how fabulous I was(?)  But anyway the encouragement from the weekend was apparently just what I needed to get over my little hump, and I got my application submitted within an hour of the deadline.  Participating in this would be an enormous step for me.  And since we have a congregational meeting on Friday, I plan on making an announcement/prayer request regarding it.  Obviously, I don’t know yet whether I’ll be accepted, but the voices of the People of God need to be sent in petition regarding this.  And also, the congregation needs to be aware because a gay Mennonite from Rochester might bring attention to them.  Since the congregation has not gone through an affirmation dialogue, it needs to be prepared for potential attention, and potential backlash.  I’m not doing this to force the discussion, but perhaps that is what the congregation needs for this to happen.

So this weekend was huge for me.  It might even have been one of those turning point moments in my life.  But whatever happens, I pray that the Divine Peace remains in mind in all that I do.

This morning in our service and education hour, the story of Esther was discussed in relation to how we relate to Empire. But in our discussions got a little into how Queen Vashti is depicted in the book as a villain, but how her actions are actually pretty virtuous to us as modern feminist Mennonites. So I’d love to do some reading on this, but have no idea where to find the resources. If you know of anything regarding this let me know.

For lyrics, go here.

In my Sex and Gender class, someone brought up the recent incident in South Africa over an intersex runner competing in the women’s competitions.  One of my classmates then basically said that there is no place for the intersexed in athletics.  I beg to differ, and this is how I responded.  Any additional comments?

On the surface this does seem to be an unsolveable problem.  But the only thing that this means is that we need to figure out a new way to hold athletic competition.  Just because you don’t fit into society’s acceptable sexes doesn’t mean that you are not capable in athletics.  So let’s queeer our thought and come up with a solution.  In the discussions about women in the military, we see a suggestion that sex not put up as a barrier, due to the fact that there is a general physical “advantage” by the males of our species.  I’d like to suggest that the same thought should be applied here.  Let all people regardless of their sex (female, male, or other) compete against each other.  Some will say, but then the women have no way to win.  So then establish a tiered system based on ability, not on sex.  We already have distinctions between ability and disability, ie. Special Olympics. Why not expand the tiers throughout the system, so that people such as Ms. Semanya can continue to do what she loves.

In light of this module’s readings, please discuss the statement “Anatomy is Destiny.” Do you agree or disagree? why? Be sure to define and explain your position as either essentialist or constructivist. Is there any way to transcend this divide?

Whether or not I agree with the statement that “anatomy is destiny” depends on how one defines those terms, I suppose. If we’re talking about whether someone has a certain type of genitalia, then anatomy is not destiny. If by destiny we mean that there is a restricting force telling us how we must live, then anatomy is not destiny. However, I do not feel that a face value reading of this statement does it justice. In brief (if that can be done), we all have a sexual nature unique to each of us and that gives us a starting point. Our society then attempts to define and reconstruct these natures in ways to make them more understandable and conformable. So through society, we end up with categories such as male, female, intersex, gay, and transgender. Therefore, these words and the identities attached are all constructed by society, but behind them are a sexual essence in each individual. If not identical, this viewpoint is at least very similar to the theories of Elizabeth Grosz that Fausto-Sterling describes, “thus while their bodies provided the raw materials, without a social setting, the clay could not be molded into recognizable psychic form.” (20) In the end, while I embrace the idea of a mobius strip concept here, if I must take on a label it would be that of constructivist.

My first writing assignment for my Sex and Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspectives class was to write a short reflection on why I’m actually taking the class. You could probably say this actually a reflection on what my life goals are, not just my class goals. So here it is.

Academically, my reasons for taking this course deal with my desire to understand how society’s power structures use different categories to control various populations. My queer identity gives me a personal experience to understand that sex and gender are definitely one of these “othering” categories. And because of this identity there is a deeper level of reasoning for me. Having grown up in an environment where feminism was a dirty word, I need a new foundation to justify the paradigm shift that I have forced upon myself in the last few years. I hope to replace what I was taught growing up with a better understanding of topics in gender and sexuality based in reality. Also, I’d like to better understand what these topics personally mean to me, as I deal with a blossoming of my own sexuality as a young gay man. For example, I’d like to learn how I might be able to merge my essentialist concept of sexuality with my constructivist concept of gender. Ultimately, if I can fit everybody’s experiences into my conceptions, it is then that I can help others to achieve the same thing so that our society may be a place of more diversity and justice.

I just discovered a really good site today. Called World Prayers, its aim is to collect prayers from all the world’s traditions and non-traditions.  Whether Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, or Pagan, the many prayers found here are words that inspire and direct mind and spirit outward and upward.  I will definitely be using this resource and have posted a link in the sidebar of this site for easy access.  An example below for your inspiration:

I arise today
Through a mighty strength:

God’s power to guide me,
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s eyes to watch over me;
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to give me speech,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to shelter me,
God’s host to secure me.

irish – first millenium – bridgid of gael

Of course, I’m already convinced that I shouldn’t have to do what this young man did.