queertheology:

I want you to know that I see you.

I see you sitting in the pew, with your parents, as your pastor talks about what an abomination those transgender people are. I see your face burn with the recognition that he’s talking about you. I see you slink down in your seat and hope to disappear. I see you.

I see you facing the dread of back to school shopping. Longing to wear dresses and colors and instead being forced to wear the drab slacks and button downs. Because no one knows who you really are and you can’t tell them yet. But I see you and I know you.

I see you the first time you tighten that tie around your neck and breathe deeply gathering up the courage to walk out the front door. I see you when you have the courage to leave. And I see you when you take the tie off and go watch TV instead.

I see you struggling to find words (and clothes) to match the gender you are because your gender doesn’t fit in a world that separates everything out and quantifies it in categories. I see you defying those categories and I see you worry because of it.

I see you google “dating a transgender person” and reading article after article about how hard it is to love someone like you. I see you close the browser and delete your dating profile.

I see you working three jobs and starting a GoFundMe to help pay for your transition. I see you hustling to have enough money to eat. I see you feeling beaten down by everything.

I see you when you face violence. All types of violence: physical, emotional, spiritual.

I also see you when you claim your identity. I see you for your first shot, as you’re coming out of gender confirming surgery, as you buy clothing that fits you for the first time.

I see you as you march, holding the transgender flag. I see you as you fight, fist up, for your right to exist.

I see you getting up out of that pew and leaving that unaffirming church never to return. I see you finding a new community that welcomes you with open arms.

I see you asserting your identity by insisting that people use your name and pronouns.

I see you finding someone who loves you for who you are and who realizes what a gift you are in their lives.

I see you existing. And surviving. And thriving.

I want you to know that you are seen and loved just as you are. I want you to know that you are not a disruption, a burden, or a too-expensive-cost, no matter what the president says. No matter what your pastor says. No matter what your parent says. No matter what your ex-partner says. These things are not true.

What is true is this:

God loves you not in spite of your transness but because of it. God has gifted you with your unique and beautiful identity. And God loves you because of your identity.

You are fearfully and wonderfully made. Whether you choose to medically transition or don’t. Whether you are binary identified or nonbinary. Whether you “pass” or not.

You are beautiful just as you are. In all of your various identities.

You are needed. You are celebrated. You are a gift.

You are lovable and worthy and strong.

You are amazing. You are seen.

You are loved.

– Fr. Shay

If you’re a cisgender supporter of transgender people, a couple things to note: you can support by sharing this post, by donating to the Queer Theology summer fundraising campaign, and by staying tuned tomorrow for an article about how to actually really truly be an ally to transgender people in the church and in the world.

phoenyxoftheashes:

I pray to Brighid, Airmed, and Miach: heal those affected by white nationalism, racism, and anti-Semitism

I pray to Lugh, the Dagda, and Ogma: give us the skills to fight Nazis, and defeat them and their hatred

I pray to Manannan Mac Lir: cloak and protect everyone affected by white nationalism, racism, and anti-Semitism

I pray to Flidais: provide encouragement to those who counter-protest and fight back against the hatred produced by Nazis

I pray to Nuada: lead us in battle against the Nazis taking over our country.

I pray to Na Morrigna, the sisters of war: provide us with the strength to endure these horrifying times. Provide us with strength to fight back.

robotmango:

i had a discussion today with a friend who was genuinely trying to understand why people are working so hard to ID the charlottesville nazis and contact their employers. “but won’t that just make them more desperate and violent?” they asked. “if they get fired from their jobs or kicked out of school? if they think they have nothing to lose?”

and i said, “i don’t know. maybe. but right now, these motherfuckers think they can be nazis on the weekend.”

like, i somewhat understood my friend’s hesitance re: doxxing, because doxxing is so often a tool of evil. but these motherfuckers think they can show up to a white supremacist rally on saturday where people got fucking murdered by white supremacists, and then on monday they can go back to the IT desk and log into outlook and answer their fucking office phone. they think they can show up to a rally on saturday with a shield and a helmet and beat black teenagers with fucking sticks in a parking garage, and on monday they can be back on campus, taking notes in accounting. these putrid pieces of human garbage think they can be nazis all weekend, and then on thursday they can go to the professional development workshop with the department and enjoy those brownies that diane brought in.

no. no, they fucking cannot.

if you want to be a goddamned weekend nazi, you have to be a nazi every goddamned day. you want to be a weekend nazi? then you face the fucking music on monday, you cowardly piece of shit. you go ahead and live in a world where your hatred of other people means nobody wants to hire you, work with you, live with you, break bread with you; you hateful fuck. you get to suffer the natural consequences of your belief in the lesser humanity of others. you get to live the outcome of your violence, your acts of bigotry. you get to live your ugly truth, alone.

matzolesbian:

matzolesbian:

i see all of you writing the former over the latter in your posts and comments and so does every other jewish person on this website.

please reblog this, especially if you’re not jewish.