Ming and I visited a small mission, inland from San Diego in southern California. In the church we saw some propaganda right by the door, about how Ming and I are not ok in the eyes of God. It hurt, and I prayed this prayer for Catholics. Please pray along with me.
Prayer for Catholics and All Who Find Me and My Spouse Reprehensible
Holy mother, Mother of God,
please bless the Catholics
who believe that “transgenderism”
is wrong
and contraception is sinful.
Please bless everyone in power
who uses their power to preach things
like that same-sex marriage is wrong.
Bless the people
who are fighting pornography
and fighting queerness such as my own.
Please bless the people who glorify war
and glorify killing.
And please bless the people
who want to take away my rights
to have freedom over my own body
and these different forms
of health care and contraception.
Touch the hearts of the people
who spread hate,
and please help them learn
that their choice of spreading hate
is harming the world.
Please help them stop harming
and find love in their hearts.
Thank you for another chance
to see the art,
the beautiful art of different cultures,
and to use the art for the power of good,
rather than the power of creating fear
and creating injustice.
Please bless us to do the work of love
and to be strong even in the face of the pain that we feel,
when we enter spaces
that think we are not valid and not ok.
Thank you for your help.
In Jesus’ holy name, amen.
contraception
Contraception is how I can have the life that I have now. I’ve been preyed upon, used, and raped by multiple men, over the course of my life, starting from a young age. If any of those relationships or events had resulted in a kid, I would not be who I am today.
If you look at me and see a person who’s articulate, creative, mostly happy, full of ideas, and doing good for the world, that’s only because I’ve been free to choose. Truly, if any of the men who preyed upon me, used, or raped me had remained connected to me through co-parenting, it would have been a shitshow, with more violence and so much pain.
I need all the resources I can get, to care for my disabled self and inter-depend with Ming. Bringing a kid into the world would not have worked. I wish we had a world where parents are abundantly supported– financially, emotionally, logistically, and in every way. Unfortunately, we haven’t created that world yet.
Please create that world of love, support, and realistic care for all parents. Once you’ve created it, then you might begin to think about telling me what to do and not do with my uterus, or criminalizing the basic freedom that keeps me functional.
queerness
As for queerness and transness–get a life. What’s it to you, who I have sex with or what gender I am or Ming is?
Seeing the nasty propaganda in this place of worship that’s supposed to be about God’s love, I wanted to come out as trans on the spot.
Ming is a shining star of love and help for the world. If you think he’s bad or wrong for being nonbinary gender, you need to shake up your mind like an etch-a-sketch. Try again–start over. God is love.
happy
I’m happy to move toward religion, even though it’s been so hurtful to me and the people I most love. Spirituality, spirit, God, mysticism, ecstatic experiences, Mystery, and the unexplained all nourish me and point toward the life I want to live.
I’m proud of myself, that the bad experiences haven’t driven me away. I’m here to engage the truth, and thank you for doing that with me.
