FRIDAY, APRIL 21, 2023 - SPIRITUAL THOUGHTS - SPEAKING UP

 FRIDAY, APRIL 21, 2023 - SPIRITUAL THOUGHTS

First, they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out - Because I am not a Communist - Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Transgender people—and there was no one left to speak for me.

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From Paula Stone Williams:

The evangelical bubble makes me chuckle until I realize how much damage is being done to our nation because of evangelical perspectives on gender. It is not as bad as the horrible misogyny of fundamentalist Muslims in Afghanistan, nor as bad as a fictional America in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, but it's bad enough.

Currently, there are more than 900 anti-LGBTQ+ bills pending in legislative bodies across the United States, 407 of them in state legislatures, and 196 of them trans-specific. Pretty much all of those laws are driven by evangelical Christian men. As long as evangelical skirmishes remained contained within their own ranks, I viewed them as a tempest in a teapot. I could shake my head and dismiss them as a dying breed. Not anymore.

Because of the abilities of state legislatures to gerrymander districts, and because of our forefathers' accommodation to rural states giving them outsize power in the US Senate and Electoral College, we now have a nation of minority rule. That minority is made up of white, evangelical Christians, and they believe it is their God-given responsibility to enforce their moral code on the entire nation.

Evangelical men have mounted a campaign to take away my civil rights and declare me a non-person. They want to eradicate me from the face of the earth. As I wrote a few weeks ago, one of the leading organizations rallying people against trans rights is the American Principles Project. Terry Schilling, president of the organization, was asked if their opposition will stop with bans on medical care for adolescents. He answered, "I want transition care to be thought of as horrific medical practices that happened in the past." The end game is clear. These Christians will fight tooth and nail to eradicate all transgender rights. Barring trans kids from scholastic sports is just the beginning.

<end of Paula’s comments>

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I have been banned from using the women’s restroom at my Catholic parish.  I will find a bush in the yard if I have to - rather than use the men’s restroom.  (I was told I could use a single unisex toilet in the back of a meeting room.). If that becomes a reality;  if I can’t play Granny Basketball; and if I have to legally revert to my previous life, I may very well do something inappropriate.  

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I will write a more definite statement next week.  I’ve been working on next week's blogs since I will be camping part of the time.

LOVE WINS

LOVE TRANSFORMS

KAREN ANNE WHITE, ©, APRIL 21, 2023