Prayer and Politics

Yesterday, the blogosphere (or, at least the bits of it I see regularly) was alive with the joyful reports that Proposition 8 was overturned in California. This is, of course, the proposition that was voted on by 52% of the voting population in November of 2008 to remove the ability of gay and lesbian couples to get married, after this right was granted to them by the California State Supreme Court. The majority of financial backing for this fund came from conservative Christian organizations, including huge contributions (both individually and organizationally) from Mormons.

On the homepage of the Ekklesía Antínoou Yahoo!Group, the last line of our group description says “Proudly Supporting (and Performing!) Same-Gender Marriages since 123 C.E.!” Of course, that’s a total tongue-in-cheek overstatement–there was no Ekklesía Antínoou in 123 C.E. There wouldn’t have needed to be one…and, in any case, Antinous was still alive, so the need for there to be a religion or practice dedicated to him didn’t even exist yet. And yet, though, that was the year that he probably met Hadrian, and so it is a reference to that.

Not unlike many (but, note, not all) modern pagan groups, the Ekklesía Antínoou is affirming and accepting of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities. But, we go further than that. We are probably one of the only spiritual traditions in the entire history of the world that owes its origin to the fact of queer love–that two men in a homoerotic relationship loved one another enough that when one was desolated by the other’s death, he made it a religious activity to honor his memory. Yes, there are many other mythological and legendary homoerotic relationships that came before this, and the all-too-common lament for the death of a lover exists in countless homoerotic myths, but none were quite as successful in making a new cult out of the entire event. (The closest attempt would have been Alexander the Great’s effort to heroize Hephaistion, which was not approved by the oracle of Zeus-Ammon.) But, despite the hyperbolae and the jocularity of the statement, we are serious in our upholding of the sacredness of homoerotic love and partnerships, and are very happy to support and conduct same-sex marriages as a result. (We have yet to do so, but one day…!)

At PantheaCon ’09 and ’10, prayers were said during the “Antinoan Petition” for the success of the legal challenges to Proposition 8, since PantheaCon takes place in San Jose, CA, and therefore this issue was of particularly important local relevance. And, it is of even greater relevance now, because if the appeal on the decision goes to the Supreme Court of the United States, the potential for the decision to overturn it could have implications throughout the U.S. Imagine if the laws that have been revived in certain states against “sodomy” were still in effect, and yet the legal guarantee for non-discrimination in marriage rights was a requirement!

However, I wanted to mention something else in relation to this. In the “Antinoan Petition,” a long litany of most of the epithets and syncretisms applied to Antinous in the ancient cultus–plus a few new ones and a few collective groups of gods and deified mortals–are called upon before expressing the prayer Dona nobis pacem (“Give us peace!”) in relation to a variety of ongoing issues. What are those issues? Hate crimes and the slaying of LGBTQ people, queer suicide (particularly LGBTQ youth suicide), drug and alcohol addiction, sexually-transmitted diseases, and the general inability of people to be free and open about their sexuality, their gender identity, and who they love and how they live their lives.

As of this moment, queer people cannot serve openly in the U.S. military (despite repeated promises of the current administration to rescind “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”). A transgender woman in a hospital in Indiana was refused treatment and was actively derided and disrespected last week because of her gender identity. A disproportionate number of homeless youth in our country are LGBTQ youth because they are fleeing from abuse and lack of acceptance of their gender or sexual identities. A book to educate on queer youth issues was removed from libraries in New Jersey without proper procedure being followed in doing so simply because of the biases of library officials. Fred Phelps is planning where next to stage a “God Hates Fags” rally. Who knows how many jobs are being lost because of these issues, how many insults and assaults are being hurled at people because of their identities, and how much hatred and purposeful misunderstanding of LGBTQ people is being promulgated right this moment by certain members of society in this country.

And overseas, in some countries in the Middle East and in parts of Africa, being gay is still punishable by death BY LAW.

I don’t think it takes Sherlock Holmes to parse out why all of these things are taking place. It is because certain religions not only tolerate these negative opinions of LGBTQ people, they propagate them; they enshrine them in their sacred texts (even though some of those texts can be interpreted in other ways); they preach them from their pulpits.

The first section of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution says that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” People are free in this country to be a member of whatever religion they choose–or none at all; but, more importantly, Congress is not supposed to make any laws which establish any particular religion’s doctrines as the legal norm for the country. EVERY law which discriminates against LGBTQ people is a law based in the religious views of only two possible religions operating in the world today. There are people within those religions that do not conclude these same things of LGBTQ people based on those textual precedents; there are people who are members of other religions who do not agree with those conclusions; there are people who are not a part of any religion who do not support those conclusions. And yet, our freedom of (and from) religion is being disrespected by the continued existence of statutes like the ones which discriminate against LGBTQ people on the basis that doing so demonstrates an objection to their “immorality.” All of these arguments hinge upon a very narrow conservative religious interpretation, and all of them fall when that religious element is removed from the equation. What is left is either no objection at all, or the naked hatred and abject fear that most of the people who advocate against LGBTQ people and their rights bear, for whatever reason, and which they’ve looked to religion to justify.

So, I’m hopeful that overturning Proposition 8 will make things easier for people in the future, and that it will lead to greater rights for LGBTQ people in this country. But, while a steady supply of vitriol continues to pour from certain religions, there will still be lack of acceptance, hatred, and violence perpetrated on LGBTQ people. I look forward to a day when the Ekklesía Antínoou doesn’t have to pray for these peace about these things any longer…but until then, I’ll keep praying, I’ll keep working, and I’ll keep looking to Antinous for the strength to fight these battles and support these causes wherever they still have to exist.