American President Joe Biden has been taking heat from the political and religious right for acknowledging Trans Day of Visibility, which was yesterday. This is a crowd that would prefer transgender people are neither seen nor heard and to do so on Easter Sunday was considered offensive. I imagine the word abomination was trotted out. It was pointed out that Trans Day of Visibility, first celebrated in 2009, is consistently on March 31st while Easter is a moveable feast, roaming around in pursuit of the Spring full moon. I have no doubt that this was a "don't confuse me with the facts, my mind is made up" opportunity for outrage.
There are transgender persons in our congregation and while there wasn't any specific recognition of Trans Day of Visibility during worship our trans members were literally seen and heard as part of the service. Ours is an largely older Christian community yet folk are welcoming and caring in word and deed. While some who have different outlooks might be convinced that we're going to hell in an Easter basket we see inclusion as part of our Easter faith from Sunday to Sunday and on the days in between.
Anti-trans backlash is happening in Canada as well, including suspect legislation in Alberta. Yesterday an open letter signed by 400+ members of Canada's artistic community challenging that legislation was published.
As followers of the Risen Christ we can celebrate rolling away the stone of prejudice and exclusion every day.
I'm worried about the seemingly growing shift to the right in society. It appears more and more likely we'll have a Poilievre federal government, which worries me, and of course the Ford government is more interested in building more jails than trying to deal with issues like mental health and substance abuse. In fact, it seems likely we'll have the trifecta: Trump will also likely win the upcoming election.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what's going on these days, but in my opinion it's not good. Just think: there will be three governments that really don't give a darn about climate change, health care(I include follow-up treatment for those with mental health issues) or substance abuse. God help us all.
Roger is right - scary times ahead !
ReplyDeleteWell said Roger, even though I wish this wasn't true.
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