Rising Together- June 2022

Next Session: June 4th 4-5:30 ET

Hello June! Hello lazy hazy crazy days of summer! June celebrates and commemorates so much I can't believe how much happens in just one month. We have the summer solstice, Juneteenth, Indigenous People's Day, and of course, Pride month! This month for our session we will be sharing a few stories about legendary queer BIPOC people from history and reflecting on the importance and revolutionary aspects of queer theology and how it can help shape our own intentions and interactions with faith.

May Recap!

Last month we gathered and engaged in one of my favorite activities, the plant ally meditation. We used this time to quiet our souls and listen to our inner guides as we explored the garden of our minds. For more information on last session, check out this post on the @yayasofcanada instagram page!

Every year for Pride month I am shocked at how few people know the history of Pride and the story of the sacrifices that were made in that initial riot so many years ago.
It is a reminder of how white washed our histories are when the lives of Black and brown people are erased and forgotten from the very narratives they created and that we now celebrate and even profit from.
The first Pride was a riot.
In a time and place where being LGBTQ+ was an actively shunned lifestyle and prosecuted crime queer folks were under constant harassment by the police. In New York City it was illegal for bars and restaurants to serve alcohol to queer people until 1966 and establishments were regularly shut down for such actions. In 1966 thanks to the hard work of many queer activists, this ruling was overturned and while being LGBTQ+ was still a crime, gay bars and clubs were becoming more active community spaces. One such space was the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village. Even though these spaces were now legal for drinking and gathering, they were still heavily policed and frequently bombarded and shut down by police authorities.
In 1969 three years after these bar spaces were legalized, they were still under heavy scrutiny and regularly raided. On June 28th police authorities raided the Stonewall Inn and thanks to the bravery and resilience of Marsha P. Johnson (a Black trans woman) who threw the first brick and Storme DeLarverie (a Black lesbian) who threw the first punch this police raid turned into a massive 6 day riot to counter police brutality and the systematic oppression faced by LGBTQ+ people in the United States.
Over the years the legacy of that initial riot has turned into a pride celebration celebrated each June in the USA and is now also celebrated throughout the summer months around the world.
It is with thanks to these Black queer women that we have the luxuries we have today. Though I understand it is sometimes hard to think of ourselves as having any luxuries at all since we are still living under systematic oppression and the crushing weight of the heteronormative cis-patriarchy, trust me when I tell you we have come a long way and it is thanks to the strength, courage, and love of Black women that we are able to celebrate being our queer selves at all.
This month, I hope you celebrate- I hope you commemorate- I hope you are filled in equal measure with love and rage as you honor the legacy of queer BIPOC people in the work to make a better, more just and equitable world for the future. Hold your loved ones closely and take no shit from oppressive authoritative forces.