After the rally, I voted at the Urbandale Public Library. |
Today, in addition to voting (go vote!) I was one of many speakers at Des Moines' Trans Rights Are Human Rights Rally.
You can find a video of the whole thing here.
If you just want a video of me, check it out here.
This is what I said:
I am Pastor Emily E. Ewing I use they/them pronouns and I am a
nonbinary pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and
currently serve as the Leadership Project Director for Downtown Disciples.
Me and two other members of Downtown Disciples after the rally. |
Today we gather on land originally inhabited by the Ioway, or Báxoj'e, and the Sauk and Meskwaki peoples. People who were systematically targeted by white settler colonialism for extermination, and along with indigenous people throughout this land, their Two Spirit people, who frequently held places of honor and responsibility, were some of the first to be targeted and killed. And so as we gather, it is important that we acknowledge this land and their history.
We are here to
decry the cruel policies, practices, and plans of this administration
and others who have and will speak are making that clear. so I'm going
to do what pastors do best and give a blessing.
To you, my fellow intersex, trans, gender expansive, gender nonconforming, and gender renegade beloveds:
You are not alone.
You
carry with you a great cloud of witnesses--those Two Spirit, Third
Gender, trans, intersex, gender renegades whose names we no longer know,
and yet are held in love by the Source of Life.
You
rest on the shoulders of the courageous ones like Marsha P. Johnson,
Silvia Rivera, and Miss Major—they threw bricks and shoes and words
decades ago, which continue to reverberate today.
In
my tradition, we also look to Joseph in Genesis, whose beautiful dress bore the
full diversity of rainbow colors and whose dreams stretched beyond their
imagining, to bring you energy and empower your resistance to what this
administration intended for harm.
We recognize
that in Acts the Ethiopian Eunuch's gender and sex helped them break down
binaries and break open the church’s barriers. May their spirit pour
over you, breaking through every barrier that keeps you from wholeness.
We
remember that in Genesis the very first of humanity—the intersex human from humus,
the earthling from the earth—was made in the Divine image. May this one
renew your connection not only to the dirt of the earth, but also to
the stardust scattered throughout the cosmos, which join together to
form you. And may the Divine One, whose image you bear, breathe new
life into you.
As a Christian I also recognize that the Word
made flesh, who transgresses boundaries between human and divine, who we
name as Jesus, was born of the woman Mary through the power of that
high femme Holy Spirit, was incarcerated and executed by the state and
yet prevailed, spurring us to action and nourishing us for the struggle
to come.
May the One who created and creates
you, who loves your whole self, who loves who you are and who you are
becoming, who loves the power you hold to transform the broken world in
which we all live—may this One wrap you in love that seeps to the
deepest core of your being.
May you know the
peace, the power, the love, the strength, and the solidarity of the one
who loves you best—the one who is love and life, justice and peace,
restoration and celebration of who you are and who you are becoming!
Amen
Amen
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