Queer-Related News...

Of course, this being Pride season and all, there’s a lot of LGBTQ (but mostly G & L) related news stories of various sorts abroad in the world, particularly in the U.S. However, here’s two that I think are really important to note in the present context.

In Portland, Texas, Mollie Judith Olgin and her girlfriend Mary Christine (Kristene) Chapa were shot, and while Chapa is recovering in the hospital at present, Olgin was killed. While this is horrific and shocking news, and I am not ever glad to add to the ranks of the Sanctae due to homophobic or transphobic violence, I’m amazed at how complacent I’ve become in recent months about things like this. While I know that things aren’t good for LGBTQ people in the world at present–especially in some places outside the U.S.–the problem of youth suicide has been so much more prevalent lately that the likelihood of anti-gay/lesbian violence has been under-attended to, I think. (I wish the same could be said about anti-trans violence, but we’re far from that position at present, alas.)

I hope that Kristene makes a full recovery soon (insofar as it will be possible for her to do so psychologically under the circumstances), and I wish the families and friends of both her and Mollie all of the strength and peace that the gods can muster for them. And for Mollie in particular, Ignis Corporis Infirmat, Ignis sed Animae Perstat.

And, in some interesting news from Pagan Spirit Gathering, it seems that under Selena Fox’s good influence, Dianics, while still excluding transgender women from their rites, are at least talking to them respectfully. This represents a major step forward, as Ruth Barrett’s contribution to the anthology Gender and Transgender in Modern Paganism was, as I mentioned earlier this year, not very respectful at all. So, there’s some really excellent progress being made here–that hope is what makes this kind of advocacy work possible, in my view, so well done everyone for participating in this process! Melissa Murray will be one to watch for in the future, certainly, and I’d like to support her work in every way possible, whether at PSG from a distance, or in other ways.

That’s all for now…I may have more later on other matters, or possibly tomorrow…