by WUUC | Sep 23, 2016 | Minister Blog
It is time for white people to take the killing of Black men personally. To make the dominoes of deaths about us. Because it is about those of us who are white. It is about those of us who are privileged by and benefit from every cultural and societal institution and system. Institutions and systems that protect and ensure the sanctity of white lives and the denigration of Black lives. Just as history is always written by the victors or conquerors, societies and all their institutions are created by the same victors and conquerors. And so it is that those of us who are white, are the architects of racism.
by WUUC | Jun 13, 2016 | Minister Blog
In 1979, the first March on Washington for Gay Rights was held. I was in my first year of seminary and deeply closeted. Though as with so many queer folk, I would later learn that my closet was made of glass walls. Those who identified as queer saw me even when I would not see myself or acknowledge what could be so obviously seen by them. I wasn’t fooling anyone. But I was terrified. These were the years when gay and lesbian ministerial aspirants faced two unholy choices: lie about who we were to be hired only to be fired when who we were was discovered; or tell the truth about who we were and never get hired. Remember, this was only 10 years after Stonewall and the breakout of Gay Liberation.
I cannot remember the first Pride March I walked in but I know it was in Portland, Oregon and I know it was in the early 1980’s. Even though I walked, I was afraid. These were the years when there were no corporate sponsorship or contingents. These were the years when the “Christians” lined the streets to taunt and yell and hold huge signs assuring us of our place in hell. Though it was liberating for so many of us, it was not safe.
I went to the second March on Washington in 1987 with a contingent from Oregon. It was the year the NAMES Memorial Quilt that memorialized those who had died of HIV/AIDS was unfurled. The space in front of the stage was filled with men in wheelchairs in various degrees of wasting and disease from HIV/AIDS. The feel was a mix of grief, shock, and anger as well as tentative courage and hope. As we marched by the White House we raised our fists and yelled, “Shame, shame, shame.” For our government had remained silent in the issue of HIV/AIDS. I still remember the brave contingent from Idaho that marched behind the Oregon contingent- all 8 or 12 of them. They wore jeans and flannel shirts and were shouting out the spelling of Idaho that spelled out “Idahomos.” I have never been able to call Idaho anything other than Idahomo ever since.
In 1993, I went to the 3rd March on Washington for Gay and Lesbian Rights. Because there had been so many years of antigay legislation proposed by the religious right and passed by voters in so many of our states, the contingents from states like Oregon and Colorado who had been at the forefront of the fight for GBL rights were huge. We weren’t fooling around anymore. We had learned to be political for our own survival. The restaurants in DuPont Circle, the gay neighborhood, ran out of food. As folks came up from the Metro to the street level at that stop, people who were lining the sidewalks cheered for them. It actually felt odd to see a heterosexual couple on the Metro. We were no longer timid or apologizing. As the chant went, “We’re here, we’re queer, and we’re not shopping!”
Each year, Pride marches grew in numbers as well as in a sense of empowerment. There was less fear. Our civil rights movement was gaining momentum. The media weren’t just interviewing the most outrageously outfitted Pride goers. Now they wanted political commentary from those they interviewed.
I had not been to a Pride march for years when Referendum 74 that granted marriage equality in this state, was passed into law. Lori and I had gotten married on the first day it was legal to be married in Washington at City Hall: December 9, 2012. We decided it was time to walk in a Pride Parade again. I was shocked by how dramatically things had changed since the first time I had marched. It seemed as if every major corporation had some sort of float or contingent. Attending Pride was now a “thing” to do almost like a tourist attraction. It seemed as if Pride had become a party thrown by the queer community for the non-queer community. There was nothing courageous about it any more. Lost was the recognition that there were folks who had marched for their lives. I told Lori that that was the last time I needed to go to Pride.
But the massacre of 50 people and the wounding of 53 others in the gay nightclub, Pulse, in Orlando, in the early morning hours of Sunday, has changed all that for me. Many in the queer community had been lulled into complacency about our place at the table, about our assimilation into the mainstream culture. We thought some battles were over. The fight in the queer community had seemed to be shifting to transgender rights and affirmation. The phrase, “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance,” has been attributed to many political personages from Jefferson to Lincoln. The events in Orlando are a wake up call for all of us to embrace the phrase today.
This morning I called my colleague in Kirkland, Marian Stewart, who used to be a graphic designer, and asked her to create a sign for our wayside pulpit. It will say, “Thou shalt not murder.” Because the biblical mandate is not that thou shalt not kill but that thou shalt not murder. I asked her to then put a rainbow triangle in the sign with the words “Orlando” in the middle of it. And underneath I asked her to put in, “Standing on the Side of Love.” I would love for members and friends of WUUC to attend pride as a contingent, and carry signs with those words and that image on it.
To those of you who are allies of the queer community and are outraged, appalled, and grieving the events in Orlando, know that this is a raw time for the queer community. And when any of us is raw, we are not always at our best. Expect anger alongside of the pain. Expect confusion and bewilderment. Expect shock and disorientation. Perhaps even fear. Respect the need for queer folk to gather separately as a community to process Orlando.
May there be healing….
Peace, Shalom, Salaam,
Rev. Lo
by WUUC | May 13, 2016 | Minister Blog
For years I used to speak college classes about being lesbian and about some of the realities of being a minority without equal protection. I always emphasized the role that Christianity played in this country when it came to ensuring that GBLTQI persons were not afforded equal rights. Without fail, someone would raise their hand and say, “I’m a Christian and I don’t discriminate.” I would respond, “Then the burden is on you to speak up and not let right wing conservative Christians define or claim what it means to be a Christian.”
I find myself wanting to utter a similar sentiment to progressives and Democrats and Independents during the presidential primary and election campaign: “Don’t like the candidates and what they espouse or stand for? Then speak up and do something.” Let’s not just sit around in disbelief or horror and wonder how we got to this point. We’re here and it is up to us to act.
No church may endorse or sponsor a political candidate without putting its tax status in jeopardy. (We are allowed to take a position on any ballot measure or referendum or voter initiative.) That said, as Unitarian Universalists whose principles endorse the democratic process, I suggest we get busy. Get busy ensuring that Americans engage in the democratic process, educate themselves, and vote. If we do not and those who are traditionally marginalized by society do not, and if those who make up the vast swaying middle of sentiment do not, we will have no one to blame but ourselves come November 8, 2016.
This is no time to withdraw from a system from a lack of belief or trust in it or to make a statement. Others will rush in to fill the participation vacuum, skewing election outcomes. This is the year to make our system be accountable by engaging with it. The depth of what is at stake this election season is tremendous, far reaching, and long lasting.
Engage, educate, get out the vote, and vote.
Peace, Shalom, Salaam,
Rev.Lo
by WUUC | May 3, 2016 | Minister Blog
Years ago, I had the privilege of hearing author and activist, Leslie Feinberg, speak about transgender issues and politics. What really made an impact on me was when Feinberg talked about the fact that transgender persons have to make a decision every time they need to use a public restroom: attend to an urgent, normal, bodily function or put one’s life in potential danger. As someone who is cisgender (meaning that my “self-identity conforms with the gender that corresponds to my biological sex”) I am never faced with that decision. No one should be. But that is just what the coalition, “Just Want Privacy” wants to make the law in Washington.
Initiative 1515 would declare “null and void” the 2006 Human Rights Commission’s rule that guarantees bathroom access for transgender people. But the initiative goes even further by banning the commission from ever “adopting rules related to gender identity in sex-segregated facilities.” It prohibits transgender students from using “sex segregated” bathroom in schools, allowing them to use only “single stall or unisex bathrooms “or controlled use of faculty bathrooms, locker rooms, or shower rooms.” The initiative also allows students to sue schools for $2500 each time they encounter a person of the opposite sex when accessing sex segregated restrooms, locker and shower rooms.
Based on the fear and distortion of truth tactics used by the Just Want Privacy coalition, I have no doubt that they will gather the required number of signatures by July so that the initiative will come before Washington voters. Having lost the battle in the courts to discriminate against gays and lesbians, groups like Just Want Privacy and conservative legislators are now turning their discriminatory sights on transgender persons. Last Thursday, the group Washington Won’t Discriminate, kicked off its campaign to challenge and defeat Initiative 1515. The byline for this campaign is, “Discrimination is not a Washington value.”
This initiative needs to be named for what it is: discrimination. And it needs to be defeated. All of us need to educate ourselves and others on the facts of the initiative and the Human Rights Commission rule of 2006. We also need to educate ourselves and others about the facts and truths of transgender lives. One book that I have found very helpful recently is Trans/Portraits: Voices from Transgender Communities. And we are lucky to have an annual conference held each August in Seattle: Gender Odyssey which is for professionals and laity, as well as families, transgender folks, and allies. But we don’t have to become experts to understand that discrimination is not a UU value. I ask you to join me and others to defeat Initiative 1515 and any other future proposed transgender discriminatory legislation.
Peace, Shalom, Salaam,
Rev.Lo
by WUUC | Apr 25, 2016 | Minister Blog
As I pulled into the driveway to church on Sunday, I noticed that our “Black Lives Matter” sign was missing from the wayside pulpit. Upon closer inspection, it was clear that the sign had been ripped down as I found the clips used to hold it in place on the ground. It was the third act of vandalism at the church in 3 days.
After the service, we held the annual Town Hall meeting where folks go over the proposed budget and other items that will be voted on at the congregational meeting in May. It is the time to ask questions or raised concerns.
In September, I had preached a sermon on why “Black Lives Matters” and no that is not a typo. In it, I stated that I had put the BLM sign up and it was up to the congregation to decide if it is to stay up or come down. After the service around 50 folks sat at tables and talked about BLM. I offered a 9-week course using the book Witnessing Whiteness and out of that an ongoing group is meeting once a month. The Rev. Meg Riley preached movingly about her and her child’s involvement and support of BLM.
At the last Board meeting, I asked that the issue of the sign staying up or coming down come before the congregation for a vote. For me it is about honoring my commitment to the congregation to have them make a choice. At the Town Hall, the question was asked, “How long will the sign stay up?” I wish I could have answered saying that racism will end or that racial justice in this country has been served. But neither of those things has been realized. Frankly, I doubt they ever will. But what that means for me, as a person of faith is that I will continue insisting that the lives of people of color matter- sign or no sign.
Image credit Flickr user scottlum
The reminder that Black Lives don’t seem to matter was brought home Monday morning when Grace Simons texted me asking if we were going to respond to the acts of vandalism committed over the weekend at the Curry Temple Christian Methodist Episcopal (a traditionally Black church) in the central district of Seattle. The vandals spray painted “Go back to Africa,” swastikas and “N.” They also ransacked the church office. Someone has already started a “Go Fund Me” account with the goal of $5000 toward repairs (donate here). A rally will be held at the church this weekend and there are numerous offers to come help and paint posted on the church’s Facebook page.
Seeing pictures of some of the elders sitting in the church sanctuary with the graffiti in the background was profoundly disturbing. For centuries, the Black church in this country has been the only place that granted Black men authority, dignity, and respect in their role as pastor. In fact, it was nearly the only leadership role that whites allowed Black men. And the Black church has historically been the place not only of refuge and safety but of sustenance, inspiration, and liberation. To vandalize Black churches is to vandalize the hearts and spirits of Black congregants.
I wrote on the church’s Facebook page that such an act of vandalism to one community is an affront to all communities of faith. We may or may not be asked to come armed with paint and paintbrushes. Or to come with our hearts open to stand with and alongside as witnesses not just to injustice but to love. May we all respond.
Black Lives Matter.
Peace, Shalom, Salaam,
Rev.Lo
