Where Is It Written?
Independence Day 1993 found us on the eve of President
Clinton's "honorable compromise" to his original promise to lift
the ban of same gender oriented personnel in the American armed
forces. With the pledge of allegiance that I'd said so many
times as a child on the forefront of my mind, I considered the
numerous reactive comments from fundamentalist Christians, citing
homosexuals as examples of the trend within Christendom to reject
the inerrancy of the Word of God. They always refer back to
biblical passages describing homosexual behavior as "detestable"
and "an abomination to be turned from." Speaking from the Word
of God written on my heart, the heart of a woman identified
woman, I am grateful for the liberties which I do hold.
This emphasis on biblical authority represents a trend in
Christendom as old as the canonization of those writings deemed
by so many as the "Word of God." The type of idolatry that the great I Am is reputed to have warned against may indeed have been
the fact of people often tending to look for answers outside
themselves. Luther saw through the idolatry of papal authority<
in his day, standing firm amidst inevitable condemnation for
heresy. Many today see how "biblical authority" represents a
similar trend toward our own culture's idolatry. The
Reformation's exposure of papal idolatry must find its equivalent
in our time with biblical idolatry. I believe that gay, lesbian,
bisexual, and all transgenderal phenomena of the human species
contribute most significantly to that Reformation in our time. A
part of our task is to expose the biblical idolatry that holds so
many Christian fundamentalists and other upholders of America's
institutions tightly within its grip and threatens war on
America's children in the streets of America, in the name of God,
no less.
Theological study has enhanced my understanding of the
"Bible" of Christendom, shedding rays of light which caution us
against biblical idolatry. Historical criticism, that is the
study of the Bible with emphasis upon how culture affected the
meanings, has enlightened my appreciation for these works within
the context of the "Word of God." I am grateful for the
additional light it shed and recommend it to any serious student
of the Bible, Christianity, religion, or even social justice, in
general. A careful examination of these from within the context
of the culture of its creation allowed me to focus on the issue
of more importance, that of Christianity, as a spiritual faith
with a message to me, in the midst of the modern world.
The faith of Christ, in himself as a child of God,
differentiates itself from the laws of Judaism in favor of
fulfilling not the letter, but the spirit of the law. In this he
embodies an ethic which takes full responsibility for oneself in
relationship to God, self, and everyone else. Do unto others as
you would have them do unto you. Part of the healing capacity
within Christianity is perhaps bringing Jesus (the Child of God)
to the full stature of his differentiation of self from the
background of the Jewish panorama into which he was born. In
other words, growing beyond the tendency to idolize some other.
In this case Judaism, the law, the Bible, a Male Only God, Jesus
Himself, and finally Christianity. The combined writings of the
Hebraic documents of the Old Testament, the Greek texts of the
New Testament, and our own intellect allow us to examine a
possibly codependent relationship between Judaism and
Christianity that often blinds us from messages that I believe
were inherent in, but not limited to, both of these religions of
the world.
If Jesus' intent were to merely bring us another to idolize,
even himself, then his messianic promise may be of no relevance
either to you or to me. Perhaps we should then shelve the
Christian account of his life and his relationship to the God of
Judaism with 20th century literature on codependency. But if in
fact there is meaning in that life, even to us, it may be the
Word of God -- that Abiding Presence Within each of us. And it
may be far beyond the pages of a document of selected writings
that any church fathers of a specific place and time determined
as orthodoxy.
I am ever more thankful for That Still Small Voice of My
Soul now and as a child, both within and beyond the church of my
childhood. For it was the wellspring of my self esteem on the
path of my own womyn oriented self. The male oriented words of
patriarchal prophets offered me nothing but justification for the
inhumanities I suffer moment to moment in the modern day macho
world into which I was born, and continue to live, move, and have
my being. The doors of the temple slammed in the face of any
full participation in the church in my adult life, simply because
I share a womyn oriented home with another womyn. The church
doors of my childhood -- closed forever to my adulthood claim to
a life of my own. Being a reflection of the image of God,
however, enlightens my womynhood in a way that the heterosexist,
male oriented culture could never. The Still Small Voice of the
Soul Within Me, the glorious body of a womyn of rural, earthy,
"pagan" roots, voices a spirituality rooted in the heart of
Mother Nature. This Presence Within recognizes the misogyny of
the male mass mentality whose Male Only God cursed woman and
referred to a menstruating woman as an "abomination," the same
word also used to describe what most modern interpretations call
"homosexual behavior."
The biases of the church fathers, along with those of the
writers of the "Bible" as well as too many of its subsequent
interpreters, support certain assumptions taken for granted:
that woman was about the last thing anyone would want to be (that
is on the surface, we will leave the subject of "womb envy" to
another chapter), and as evidenced by one of the daily Hebrew
prayers, "Thank God I am not a woman." There is a very real
cultural redemption in pregnancy amongst a people threatened with
genocide, and it is understandable that the state of pregnant
womanhood might become the major cultural focus. In keeping with
the fact that the pregnant woman is considered to be the ultimate
state of womanhood, and certainly the only redeeming one in such
a context, the menstruating woman is referred to, by contrast, as
an "abomination" in the original scriptural works which define
womanhood as a curse. That the term used to describe "homosexual
behavior" is also referred to as an "abomination" is no accident.
Implicitly inherent in the "homosexual behavior" of the biblical
world was the generally accepted assumption that to be equated
with a woman was a despicable fate to suffer.
I was born woman into a world in which men either perceived
themselves as God's gift to women or the woman as possessing
penis envy (wanting to be a man, or like men). I embarked on my
own healing journey of the self and a celebration of the
Uncompromised Feminine which has been a core part of that
necessary journey, as a direct result. I am not opposed to men
or relationships with them, but the natural course of my life is
one focused upon feminine rather than phallic reality. In fact,
some of my best friends are men! But the womyn oriented home
that I share with the womyn of my choice celebrates that which
was never honored in the world of men who define power as power
over others, especially women. From the time of puberty, young
girls typically begin a life of relying upon their relation to
males, and its consequent privilege rather than their own self
esteem, in preparation for their second class citizenship of
being female in a man's world. I, however, cannot afford to
compromise my gift of being female for greater status in
structures that deny the very vital essence of life in their lack
of honor for that which is of woman, beyond the context of
childbearing. Being a womyn oriented womyn is most natural for
me, although I recognize that exclusion from the halls of male
privilege is part of the price I pay. I do not accept the
traditional assumptions that negate my value as a womyn, and a
womyn oriented womyn, nor do I align myself with the political
powers that be, either patriarchal religious orthodoxy, or the
cultural status quo. To do so would be to compromise my
integrity.
The Christian Bible, including the laws of Judaism, consists
of books understood by many to be the word of God, although they
did not actually come to us as one document delivered and signed
by God. Instead, they are a variety of writings selected by
church fathers for whom they represented a certain orthodoxy or
party line. Frequently, these writings are used today as
justification for prejudices against persons with a same-gender
orientation to life, just as they have been used as justification
for prejudice against persons of various races, hopefully in the
past. Modern interpretations have journeyed a long way from the
original Hebrew and Greek writings, for which there was no actual
word for a homosexual orientation. The references, examined in
the language and cultural context of the time of their being
written, seem rather to refer to abusive practices such as gang
rape, male prostitution and sexual slavery in the context of
religious hierarchy, and pederasty (sex between an adult and
youth).
These practices which have nothing to do with a same-gender
orientation to life, are neither compatible with common decency
and respect for others, and certainly not with the universal
ethic of "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
That the biblical story of the sins of Sodom got misunderstood,
mistranslated, and generalized to a homosexual orientation to
life, of homosexuality, in general, or even homosexual practices,
or behavior -- is a product of a serious psycho-sociological
phenomenon, called homophobia, which affects all people gay and
straight. I believe at the core of homophobia, lies a basic
mistrust of oneself, which manifests itself in ways which
diminish our capacity for intimacy with God, with ourselves, and
with others, regardless of whether we are what you would call
"queer" or not. In other words, the fear which calls into
question our potential intimacy with another, calls into question
our most basic sense of trust for self, or our relationship with
our Core Self, or if you will, God.
The massive shadow of that fear, homophobia, is a great
human tragedy, that has contributed so much unnecessary pain and
tribulation to numerous gay and lesbian people throughout
history, not to mention the price that "society" pays for its
banishment of the talents and gifts of some of its gentlest human
creatures, simply because it cannot get its mind off what other
people do in their bedrooms, or what they think other people do
in their bedrooms.
The continuing tragedy is that one so-called "sin of Sodom"
has become encoded in laws continuing to exist in contemporary
times, usually serving merely to justify official oppression and
discrimination of same-gender oriented persons. None of the
other sins of Sodom begin to get equal time in the contemporary
drama. That sin of Sodom, which has immortalized the name,
centers upon the evil intent of its men to subjugate strangers by
forcibly raping them. Rape was a common occurrence in the
ancient world and continues in modern day times, both as a sign
of military conquest and as a sign of humiliation, a way of
impressing defeat, of attempting to break the spirits of the
conquered. The later commentaries attributed mostly to Paul in
the Christian New Testament letters to the Corinthians, Romans
and Timothy are in the context of prostitution and the practice
of pederasty, the slavery of young boys for the sexual purposes
of adult men. The writers of the ancient world who explored the
compatibility of such practices with the Jewish and Christian
perspectives saw the inhumanity thrust upon man by one anotherand especially as these were sometimes practices within the
context of religion itself. It is commendable that the Hebrew
writer, and later Paul, in his observations of the Roman culture,
exposed such inhumanities, involving the exploitations of man
to man. But the exploitation of females was taken for granted
then as an unquestionable part of life, and has mostly continued
to do so somewhat through the modern day.
As a woman, I take even further insult by the fact of Lot,
righteous citizen of Sodom, offering his daughters as sexual
sport for the men. And the fact of his display of moral
compromise that is considered a fatherly (?) gesture of gracious
(?) host behavior toward his guests--is despicable. The fact
that sexual exploitation of women is taken for granted in the
world of men both in times of Sodom and today, does not make it
any easier to accept, or any more justifiable, and had I been
one of those daughters, the story would hopefully have come out
very different, and been told with a slightly varying view, from
no less than a woman's opinion.
In questions involving lifting the ban on same gender
oriented military personnel in 1993 America, the Chiefs kept the
argument within the framework of the guys horsing around in the
shower. Never once did they consult the wise council of maids
and matrons, and always the women were typically more or less
invisible. Totally overlooked in the discussions is every
woman's vulnerability to being subjected to male harassment,
sometimes subtle-sometimes not subtle exploitation of her, and
rape and sexual assault. "Lesbian baiting" is often her "just"
reward for refusing the sexual attentions of some male officer,
whose eventual retaliation could prove most deadly to her career,
her livelihood, and her future. After all, the prototype of the
lesbian is about the same as the prototype of the finest female
soldier: an assertive and decisive hard worker who doesn't
sleep around with a bunch of men. We heard much furor and worry
over the threat of naked men in the shower with one another, and
the fear that a straight man would just as soon shoot the queer
in the foxhole next to him, rather than the enemy with a gun
aimed at him, who truly did pose a very real threat. Always
denied in the discussions were the realities of the average gay
or lesbian soldier, who often find themselves caught up in an
official witch hunt at tax payer's expense, usually based upon
someone's mere rumor that he or she was a "queer."
The contradictions inherent in the institutions of religion
and government have in my time exhibited a most flagrant
assault upon my being as a womyn identified womyn created in the
image of God, and I defy their right to maintain jurisdiction
over my body or my soul. The Sacred WombSource of Life shows
her most beauteous reflections in the variations of Life Itself.
And the insistence that my life will be a celebration of at least
one of those Reflections is the essence of my being.
From the Abiding Presence of God within me, the message
which is a part of my identity and that which my life has to
offer, says to you: get over it. We are here and we are queer!
We are sexual beings, like everyone else. However, we are more
than the sexual beings which become the focus of your
imagination. Making us the object of your preoccupation prevents
you from dealing with the fears inside yourselves. Facing your
fears is about becoming more comfortable with whoever you are.
Dealing with those fears will not make you queer, unless it is
your own natural predisposition to be so. And even then, simply
being queer does not necessarily result in some kind of
uncontrollable behavior, or journey into a degenerate lifestyle.
Whether our same gender orientation is a consequence of
nature, nurture, or both, we want no special privileges, but we
want our equality recognized. We want careers and livelihoods
which will reward rather than punish our talents. We want you to
realize your oneness with us, rather than try to separate us
out into second-class citizens. We want our right to pursue
happiness in this "one nation, under God, indivisible." And we
want that pursuit recognized for what it is, rather than labeled
perversion, morally inferior, or whatever current rationale upon
which you choose to draw in order to support your prejudices. We
simply want to be that which we are -- creative, honest, hard
working human beings, rather than the dirty pictures of your
runaway imaginations. Institutionalized suppression of our truth
will not make us go away. And there is truth within us that
deserves to see the light of day. I hope and I pray, and I pay
my taxes -- for defense of that honor, not of any precious few
at the expense of anyone else, but rather, for each of us. With
liberty and justice FOR ALL!