queer as in lineages of resistance,
courages actions,
possibilities for otherwise ways of making life together
blooming in and through our lives –
not inherently, but because we choose to make it so
to be ‘queer’ can mean a little or a lot, depending on how much we let it shape not merely our individual senses of self, but how that ‘self’ is situated in the larger whole. are we celebrating ourselves or each other, protecting ourselves or each other, seeking flourishing for ourselves or for each other? And who is ‘each other?’ Does our queerness call us toward a different ‘each other’ than dominance otherwise dictates?
As Jesus asks in Matthew – who is my mother? who is my sibling? who is my brother? It is the one(s) who pursues the stuff of god, which is justice, which is truth, which is flourishing. which means no pride in genocide. which means no white gods. which means no worshipping money. which means abolishing prisons. which means divesting as much as we can from domination in all its forms. because love.
queer people are so much more than the flat, narrow, and shallow projections cast by white supremacy and patriarchy seeking to assimilate a selection of us, pit us against each other, and keep the bulk of us striving for belonging that betrays us.
we celebrate a collective queerness that doesn’t fit in. that doesn’t know how to play the games. that doesn’t succeed under capitalism. that cherishes the fringes. that delights in gender wonders and strange loves. that mobilizes with and for each other.
queer as in
And some have always known it our power
And claimed it as such:
Taking pride in the possibilities our odd makes possible
Taking care to practice living and loving differently
Taking risks and taking blows
It’s a serious matter, living in friction with dominances
Life and lives are made and lost
But we know, ‘normal’ is no lasting refuge
And the whole world is groaning for change
So let us all get weirder on purpose
Strange-ing what it means to be white or men or cis
Strange-ing relationships to resources and habits
Strange-ing faith, and power, and the dreams we dream
A movement of peculiar people living in ways that stand out
from the terrors of everyday evil
Sacred and Strange, may we be so
We unveil the lies of a ‘natural’ heterosexual, two-gender domination system,
contrived to protect white, male, colonial power.
We remember the violence done to two-spirit kin the name of the gender binary of the white Christian God.
We practice a different kind of divinity.
We honor a multiplicity of genders, ancient and emerging,
and sexualities that flow and change with freedom.
We find common causes for solidarity under white supremacist domination.
We learn the power we bear to tell a more freeing story.
We choose with whom and with what to cast our loyalty.
We resist ongoing colonial projects near and far.
We claim our genders and sexualities as one of earth’s many queer expressions.
And we protect the planet the makes us, tend it with love, and advocate for its rematriation.