rockofaces

[rockofaces]

From Wikipedia:

Nuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte (Spanish for Our Lady of Holy Death), often shortened to Santa Muerte, is a female deity or folk saint in Mexican and Mexican-American folk Catholicism. A personification of death, she is associated with healing, protection, and safe delivery to the afterlife by her devotees. Despite condemnation by the Catholic Church, her cult has become increasingly prominent since the 2000s.

The worship of Santa Muerte is condemned by the Catholic Church in Mexico as invalid, but it is increasingly firmly entrenched in Mexican culture.

Santa Muerte is also seen as a protector of homosexual, bisexual, and transgender communities in Mexico, since many are considered to be outcast from society. Many LGBT people ask her for protection from violence, hatred, disease, and to help them in their search for love.

Her intercession is commonly invoked in same-sex marriage ceremonies performed in Mexico. The Iglesia Católica Tradicional México-Estados Unidos, also known as the Church of Santa Muerte, recognizes gay marriage and performs religious wedding ceremonies for homosexual couples.

Man how did I not know about this magical gay skeleton queen until today?

[rockofaces]

(this is rebloggable, and I’d appreciate it if you would)

I really wanted to write this today. I wanted to be extremely frank about how the dynamic of transmisogyny undergirds so much of gay and trans spaces.I want to explore how trans women are gated from community and forming social relationships, and ultimately gated from having a full sense of personhood.

Transmisogyny is a system of abuse that aims to fully decentralize a trans woman’s sense of self and personhood. A trans woman exists in a space where they’re simultaneously fetishized and repulsive. We’re oddly glorified in gay and trans spaces, yet are also the first to blame whenever something goes wrong. The point of creating a person to be as paradoxical as trans women is to make them impossible, and therefore intangible. It is to make them like Frankenstein’s monster. It’s to make them unbelievable and vilified for being so incomprehensible. Yet, much like Frankenstein’s monster, we want to be understood and to be loved. We describe our experiences, but are denied and called liars. We are viewed with medical and social intrigue, only to be shortly discounted as unimportant and, again, impossible.

To be a trans woman is to experience an alienation so extreme that it is an entire world apart from what is often projected out there as the “trans experience” by people who aren’t trans women.

Some out there recognize this superficially, where they’ll say “yeah it’s trans women who get a lot of shit in the community and the world!” And really, we gotta dig deeper than that. When the impossibility of a trans woman is internalized by others, we are seen not as a full person, but as an object. That’s when trans women are raped, abused, get the shit kicked out of’em, and die.

This extremely vulnerable state trans women exist in becomes the catalyst where we seek community, where we’re desperate for people to be with, to be loved and cared for, or even just seen. Demagogues in community recognize this, and will quickly bring her to their side, introduce them to people, and get her involved. It’s likely overwhelming for her. She’s probably touch starved. She’s afraid to touch people because she’s internalized that she’s inherently predatory. She probably hasn’t been shown much kindness in her life. Her social skills might be fettered by the years of cruelty and uncertainty.

Yet suddenly she sees herself as possible. She begins to gain her sense of self. She’s more confident, more willing to put herself out there, she has fun. She goes out, she dances, she’s having the time of her life. But… then she stands up for herself. To the wrong person.

That’s not… what she was brought into this community for. That’s not convenient. That’s not compliant. Suddenly she’s so possible that it’s infuriating. The demagogue realizes they can’t keep her around now. She won’t let herself be a token. They can no longer use her in the sense of “I’m not a transmisogynist, I hang out with this tranny!” How, then, does the demagogue maintain their social position? Hearsay and rumors and gossip.

“She’s just kind of problematic,” and then never specifying what she did. Never talking to her about it. It’s not about her learning, it’s about grooming people’s social peripheries.

“I know I shouldn’t say it, but she is male socialized.”

“She’s kinda manly.”

“She’s not all that femme, so what does she know?”

“She hasn’t unpacked her toxic masculinity.”

“She’s creepy.”

This is to package her as damaging to community. She’s more easily disposable now. It’s to isolate her. Cut her off from community and the relationships she formed. People invite her out less. She’s not asked to help organize. She’s forced to be a homebody. It’s a slow and painful severing from community.

She’s all alone again. She’s so lonely, she gets depressed. It becomes harder for her to manage her symptoms. She’s messing up a little at work, which she shortly finds out is enough to get her fired. She can’t crowdfund for rent because no one will share the post, because her support system is gone. She starts to wonder if it’s worth going on. It’s winter, and she’s terrified of being homeless (again).

She opts out of living.

Or, we play the part they want. We agree to be their token. We’re quiet and agreeable. We say ‘yes’ often. We shrink ourselves. We starve ourselves. We diminish our sense of self for the “sake of the community.” We learn as we go along that we don’t matter to them. We know it but continue on. We hear our friends espouse politics and theory that are predicated on our annihilation. Or more simply, we hear them espouse generally harmful transmisogyny. We rationalize that we’re only sacrificing a little bit of our dignity so we can maintain that support system. And slowly we lose our sense of self. We exist for others. We become the compliant object they want us to be. At least we’ve got a support system, right?

The process is the same regardless. We either disappear from the world entirely through death, or we sacrifice our dignity and sense of self and aren’t really even people anymore. In both cases, we are no longer a fully-formed person with agency. We exist at the whim of others.

I often wonder, whenever I enter into a community, which poor trans woman am I replacing? Who was here before me? Why am I being let in so quickly? What was the girl before like? Did they kick her out (yet)? Does she have friends? Do the people here care about her? How soon will it be until I’m no longer convenient? When will people stop talking to me?

And so I sit in that caution and vigilance, because I’ve been here before. I am one of the people who’s let herself sacrifice a bit of her dignity to maintain social relationships. I will admit that full-stop. I’ve started doing it ever since the trans lesbians who lived in my state all moved. The reason they moved? “Minnesota has an enormous transmisogyny problem. The ‘radical’ queer community hates trans women so much.”

I know this. I continue on. I quietly prioritize other trans women whenever I see them. I praise them when they do well. I congratulate them on accomplishments. I show up for them. I see them. I help them. I love them. They will always be my priority.

I have no answers for you, except the hope that you show up in ways that matter for trans women. Nobody should ever have to go through this.

[rockofaces]

“In my own journey, one of the wonderful aspects of transition was a strong sense of God’s presence each and every moment. One of the things that I’ve learned through this process is that the more comfortable I become with my own presence on this earth, the more I am able to be aware of resting comfortably within God’s embrace. God was no less there when I felt a sense of incongruity and discomfort within myself; in fact, I would suspect that the opposite is true. But the more whole I feel, the freer I am to look around me and discover the Holy in the world. …The greater my sense of congruity within me, the more I am able to be in the world with a sense of God’s abiding peace.” (133-134)”

— Justin Tanis, Transgender: Theology, Ministry, and Communities of Faith

[rockofaces]

Originally posted on January 4, 2019

Three wise kings bringing three nice things.

My comics on Tumblr are almost caught up to Facebook and Twitter, which means we’ll be moving back to weekly uploads very soon!  Be prepared!!!

[rockofaces]

“We [trans people] are not an irrelevant, ‘outside’ problem: we are already here inside the church. We are currently filling the pews, the choir lofts, the Sunday school classes, and even the pulpits. Many of us serve nobly and well on various church boards and committees. We are your teachers, musicians, deacons, elders, ushers, choir members, superintendents, pastors, and family members. We sit next to you or stand before you in practically every congregation on Sunday mornings. You’re probably not aware that we’re transgender because most of us have been forced by socioreligious oppression and fear of reprisal to hide our gender-variant orientation; but just because you don’t know about us doesn’t mean we don’t exist and aren’t a part of your life.

…We have always been in the church, we are here now, and we will be in the church for as long as the church exists.

…The Christian church must simply get used to dealing with us. We’re here, we’re not going away, and as more of us begin to come out publicly we will also increasingly insist upon taking our rightful role as open, active lay and ordained persons, and as equal participants in the central life of the church. God’s justice requires nothing less, so the church had better get ready.”

– Virginia Ramey Mollenkott and Vanessa Sheridan, Transgender Journeys

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Some people think that because Jesus accomplished everything on the cross, we don’t have to do anything at all. But if that’s true, why did Jesus teach us to pray, “Deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13)? Why did Paul say to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17)? Yes, the victory over evil was accomplished on the cross, but the enemy is still here. He is a defeated enemy, but he is still waging the war. We don’t want him winning any battles on our watch, especially as long as we can be part of the force God has called to stop him. We must have the whole armor of God protecting us at all times so we can stand successfully against the enemy’s plans for not only our life, but also the lives of others.

Stormie Omartian (via in-the-key-of-f-major)

I always think of the Battle of New Orleans after the surrender. The war is won and God has gifted us with cotton bales for protection, but evil is still here fighting like it hasn’t received the message!

[rockofaces]

this #TransphobiaIsASin campaign, by the co-editor’s of #BlackTransPrayerBook (@jmaseiii and @ladydanefe of @awqwardtalent), is to reframe the conversation(s) about #TransPeople in #faithspaces #TransphobiaIsHaram #TransPeopleExistBecauseOurAncestorsExisted #BlackTransBoiJoy #TPOC #trans #transgender https://www.instagram.com/p/BsreDUHBzC_/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=rtw62pbtdotm

[rockofaces]

Hey all! There’s a resource called the Black Trans Prayer Book that J Mase III and Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi are creating, which they describe as “an interfaith, multi-dimensional, artistic and theological work that collects the stories, poems, prayers, meditation, spells, and incantations of Black TGNC contributors” (x)

Today (January 15), they’re encouraging people to do the following (message from J Mase III’s facebook):

The Co-Editors of the #BlackTransPrayerBook (@jmaseiii & @ladydanefe) are launching a social media campaign to reframe the conversation about trans people in faith spaces on Tuesday Jan 15th and we want your help!

1. Take a photo of yourself with a sign saying one of the following lines: “Transphobia is a Sin”, “Transphobia is Haram”, “Trans People are Divine”, “Trans People Exist Because Our Ancestors Existed”

2. Use the hashtag #TransphobiaIsASin

3. Post on social media Jan 15th

I’ll be keeping an eye on the #transphobiaisasin tag today and reblogging any posts that don’t say “don’t reblog” on them. 

Trans people of faith exist, and we are beloved by God! 

[rockofaces]

As a follow-up to the “what’s the point” question: you recently posted about it being antisemitic to “save” a Jewish person or convert them to Christianity. If you say that being a Christian is about living a full life with all God intended, aren’t you doing a disservice by saying it’s wrong to share that with people of other religions? Obv. aggressively pressuring anyone to change their beliefs is wrong but to imply that any attempt at it is antisemitic/islamophobic/etc seems... backwards

Hi there! I’m going to answer this way more simplistically than the topic deserves; I invite Jewish persons or people of any non-Christian faith, or atheists, to offer more comment if they desire. 

To begin with, my post on why I am a Christian was purposefully worded to describe why I, personally, am a Christian – I believe many other Christians likely can relate to what I wrote, but I have no desire to impose my feelings around the matter on others of any faith. I believe that other faiths offer other persons and groups access to a full, abundant life and to the Divine – I do not personally hold that Christianity is the “Only Way,” even while I admit that my personal suppositions regarding divinity as well as life after death are through a Christian lens. 

It is a complicated balancing act to hold one’s own natural beliefs that their faith hold something special or unique (that’s why we choose the faith we do, whatever that is!) while respecting other faiths, particularly when we find ourselves a part of a culture’s privileged religion – as Christianity is in my country. I talk about that balancing act a little bit in my Youtube video with Leah. 

So I personally do not advocate for trying to “convert” persons of just about any faith to Christianity, unless the person approaches me first (i.e., they seem interested, they have questions they’d like me to answer, they’d like my advice and support, etc.). The attempted conversion of Jewish persons in particular is highly problematic in the worst way. 

For starters, Jewish persons already have a faith that offers them a beautiful relationship with God, with humanity, and with all Creation. It is a great disrespect to their faith to try to “save” them and “bring them to God” when they already have God. I am not going to try to force them into my faith when Christians doing that to Jewish persons has caused horrific harm and attempted genocide over the past two millennia. 

It is antisemitic to try to convert Jewish people to Christianity because two thousand years of attempts have born terrible fruit. For a small example: as a hospital chaplain last fall I was taught to approach Jewish patients with the ultimate sensitivity due to the fact that many of them are extremely wary of Christian chaplains because we used to try to baptize them sneakily, without their consent!!! while they were in the hospital, a very vulnerable place!!!! not too many decades back!!! For a larger example: in many cultures across Christian history, Jewish persons were forced to choose between conversion and either execution or expulsion. I commend to you this wikipedia article and the links therein for more on that history. 

I take my cue regarding this topic from Christian denominations as varied as PC(USA) and the Methodist Church and the Roman Catholic Church. These denominations have all “entered into dialog with American Jews, while discontinuing any efforts to convert them. They have gone beyond rejecting anti-semitism, and beyond simple tolerance. They now value Judaism as a “sister” religion with whom they have much in common, and from which they have much to learn. The dialog is conducted between the two religions as equals in a spirit of honest seeking” (source).

The Catholic Church also issued a document several years back called “The Gifts and Calling of God are Irrevocable” solidifying the post-Vatican II decision that "the Catholic Church neither conducts nor supports any specific institutional mission work directed towards Jews” (source). 

I wrote a post on more of my thoughts around evangelism a couple years ago. 

I also appreciate this article on Christian privilege that states that one can follow Jesus’ Great Commission without trying to assimilate the whole world to Christianity:

Not only do we as Christians benefit from Christian privilege, we’re actually proud of it. We tout it as a victory. The more that culture becomes “Christianized” the more we’ve accomplished our mission.

What’s stunning is that this is the furthest thing from what Jesus taught, hoped for, or embodied.

Jesus never called for his disciples to Christianize culture. To make every aspect of culture about Christianity, and to marginalize and minimize those who were not Christian.

He didn’t even call us to convert everyone to a new religion called Christianity - that’s not what the Great Commission is all about.

No, Jesus called us to go into the world and proclaim good news - news of liberating love for everyone - and to make disciples, or in other words, invite people to follow in the example of Jesus. To emulate the life Jesus lived and work to create the world he dreamed of.

And did you know that you can do that without ever making someone a Christian? In fact, did you realize that when Jesus told his disciples to go into the world and preach the gospel, there was no such thing as Christianity - it didn’t exist. He wasn’t telling them to make people Christian.

…He wasn’t asking them to ask anyone to convert from their religion, or their culture, or their social setting. Rather, he invited everyone in every culture and context to embrace a path of self-sacrificial love for the good of their friends, neighbors and enemies.

People of all faiths, as well as atheists and agnostics and “the nones,” can and do live into this Good News we are called to share, regardless of where they see it as coming from. Liberation and love, justice and peace, are for everyone, not only those who identify as Christian. 

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I’m upset because I want to change the world but the world is too big and people are too mean

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How can you be both atheist and religious? How can one pray to God when he doesn't believe in him?

When your love for God is more powerful than your desire for affirmation of God’s existence. 

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The RCMP are setting up exclusion zones and closed roads to the public and media as officers get set to dismantle two camps on unceded Wet’suwet’en territory.

“During the police enforcement operation, temporary exclusion zones and road closures will be established for police and public safety reasons,” said the news release sent out Monday morning that confirmed the RCMP will enforce a court order requested by a pipeline company trying to build a pipeline through Wet’suwet’en territory.

“Those areas will be clearly marked and media/public are welcome to stand at the perimeter, but no one will be allowed to enter the exclusion zones. These zones will only be maintained as long as necessary.”

See full statement here: What to expect during the police enforcement of court ordered injunction in Houston, BC

The raids have been highly anticipated after a B.C. judge granted an interim injunction in December against two check points leading to the construction site for the LNG Coastal GasLink pipeline.

Continue Reading.

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Me: *thinking about Christian memes* What if Jesus had come in 2017 instead of back during Roman times? Would He, instead of using parables, have spoken in memes? Roommate: I hate you. You aren’t allowed to have any more thoughts about Jesus. Me: It’s not like its heresy! It isn’t insulting! Roommate: Yes, it is! Memes are inherently sin, a sign of the Devil’s influence on this fallen world!

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John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher who became famous enough for the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem to take notice and send priests to find and listen to him. He was a celebrity. So when the priests asked “Who are you?“ John demonstrated profound humility and integrity when he replied that he was not the Christ, Elijah, or the Prophet, but simply a voice crying in the desert. John could have easily claimed the mantle of any of these very important persons and thereby increase his own celebrity among the people. Can you imagine the flocks of would-be followers if he said (or even obliquely suggested) that he was Elijah or the Messiah? Perhaps that might have been a fleeting temptation for him. But John chose to remain faithful to his own identity and to speak his own truth as he understood it.    I think John’s example to us, particularly for LGBT folks and those who advocate for them, is “I am my own person, with my own truth to proclaim in this world. My story may be quite different from others, but it is mine, and I must live it with integrity.”

Francis DeBernardo (via lovethyqueers)

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“I charge theological bankruptcy to a Christianity that is silent when unarmed black people are murdered by the state and their killers shielded from punishment. I charge theological bankruptcy to a Christianity that is silent when black grandmothers are beaten unconscious by law enforcement officers as they seek shelter across a busy highway. I charge theological bankruptcy to a Christianity that is silent when black teenagers are gunned down like animals, but rushes to promote campaigns against “indecent” music. I charge theological bankruptcy to a Christianity that is silent about black pain and suffering, but wants to rally to boycott a fictional television show. I charge theological bankruptcy to a Christianity that is silent when pregnant black women are placed in chokeholds by police, but campaigns outside of abortion clinics to “protect” life. I charge theological bankruptcy to a Christianity that is silent in the face of urban violence, poverty, and joblessness, but wants to figure out how to plant an urban church from a suburban bubble. I charge theological bankruptcy to a Christianity that is silent about racial disparities, but keeps singing hymns in which one has to be washed “white as snow.” I charge theological bankruptcy to a Christianity that is silent about racism, white privilege, and white supremacy, but wants to have conferences about doing “multicultural” ministry.”

—

James Cone in God of the Oppressed 1975 (via companion-to-owls)

Sadly always relevant.

(via kiriamaya)

[rockofaces]

“We [trans people] are not an irrelevant, ‘outside’ problem: we are already here inside the church. We are currently filling the pews, the choir lofts, the Sunday school classes, and even the pulpits. Many of us serve nobly and well on various church boards and committees. We are your teachers, musicians, deacons, elders, ushers, choir members, superintendents, pastors, and family members. We sit next to you or stand before you in practically every congregation on Sunday mornings. You’re probably not aware that we’re transgender because most of us have been forced by socioreligious oppression and fear of reprisal to hide our gender-variant orientation; but just because you don’t know about us doesn’t mean we don’t exist and aren’t a part of your life.

…We have always been in the church, we are here now, and we will be in the church for as long as the church exists.

…The Christian church must simply get used to dealing with us. We’re here, we’re not going away, and as more of us begin to come out publicly we will also increasingly insist upon taking our rightful role as open, active lay and ordained persons, and as equal participants in the central life of the church. God’s justice requires nothing less, so the church had better get ready.”

– Virginia Ramey Mollenkott and Vanessa Sheridan, Transgender Journeys

[rockofaces]

A transgender asylum-seeker who fell sick and died while being held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement may have been beaten while in federal custody, according to an independent autopsy report released this week.

The body of 33-year-old trans woman Roxsana Hernández Rodriguez was marked by “deep bruises” and “contusions” consistent with “blows and/or kicks and possible strikes with a blunt object,” The Washington Post reported on Monday, citing the autopsy commissioned by Hernández’s family. Her wrists showed signs of extensive hemorrhaging, which the report said was “typical of handcuff injuries.”

The autopsy shows Hernández “endured physical assault and abuse while in custody,” said the California-based Transgender Law Center, which, along with other activist groups, plans to file a wrongful death lawsuit against ICE and other federal immigration agencies on behalf of Hernández’s family. The report also shows that Hernández, who was HIV-positive, died from “severe complications of dehydration” exacerbated by HIV infection.

“People need to know that she died of dehydration,” Lynly Egyes, director of litigation for the Transgender Law Center, told the San Diego Union-Tribune.  “People need to know that her death was preventable.”