Trans Spirituality – PRIDE and JUNETEENTH Special Edition

It is really quite by coincidence that we celebrate Pride and Juneteenth together. Yet their concurrence is really quite significant. While the mainstream media paints a picture of white cis-gay men as the prime actors at the Stonewall riots, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Compton’s Riot

In fact, three years prior to the Stonewall Riots were the Gene Compton’s Cafeteria Riots. Drag Queens and other trans women, mostly BIPOC, were tired of being rousted by San Francisco police, and in August of 1966, they had enough, and they went to town with a riot. Trans historian Susan Stryker records the history of Compton’s in the movie Screaming Queens, which is a must see. The saddest part is that despite all of Stryker’s research, we have no recorded names of the heroes of Compton’s.

Silvia Rivera

We know much more about the Stonewall Riots, however, which took place in late June, 1969. Sylvia Rivera, Miss Major, Marsha P. Johnson, Stormé DeLarverie, and Zazu Nova “Zazu”, all QTBIPOC women, were present and active in different ways at the riots. It is reported that Zazu was the one who threw the first brick that started things off. Anyone who claims differently is practicing revisionist history.

And this is happening at about the same time as we observe Juneteenth, one of the precious days in the Black community in the USA. This notes the arrival of Federal troops in Galveston, two full years after emancipation, notifying former slaves, that they were, in fact, FREE! So, we have two liberation festivals of oppressed peoples happening concurrently.

But this is a column about spirituality, you are saying!

Those of you who follow my column have read about my interpretation of the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, and how it shows that God created us in God’s image. That means that we were created with infinite possibility of sex and gender. This also means infinite possibility of sexuality. Therefore, gay, straight, bi, pan, poly – it’s all kosher.

So how do we make sense of everyone’s favorite verse, Leviticus 18:22: “You shall not lie with a man, as a woman, it is an abomination”?

First off, I am a rabbinic Bible scholar. That means that I access the original Hebrew text, along with all the associated rabbinic commentaries, to determine what the text means. And when I do my full workup on this verse, it becomes immediately clear that it isn’t talking about private sex between two people in the privacy of their room. I don’t have room to get into all of it, but a quick read on my website, www.RabbahRona.us will give you more insight.

If you look at the New Testament, there are three Pauline books that include references to gay sex. But they don’t directly address it the way Leviticus does. Rather, it becomes very clear that Paul was an ascetic – that is he didn’t approve of ANY sex of any kind. He wanted people to be celibate — a model for the Catholic Church!

But we cannot be fruitful and multiply — one of the first God given commandments to humans, if we are celibate. And in Jewish tradition, sex is celebrated. The Hasidic and Kabbalistic masters even celebrate the union of God’s “male” part with the Shekhina, God’s female part, on Sabbath eve. And since we are created in God’s image, well. . .

So be holy, and have sex, but do it in a safer way, with the consent of all participants.

Happy Pride and Happy Juneteenth — Let Freedom Ring…

Peace out,

Rona

Tags: featured, History, spirituality, Transgender

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