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Protecting Trans Kids
Several UUs responded this week to the administration’s rolling back of protections for trans kids in schools.
For the Rev. Jude Geiger, it’s as simple as this:
I’m against child abuse. Not allowing a kid to use the bathroom that conforms to their gender is a form of child abuse. #ProtectTransKids (Facebook, February 23)
The Rev. Amanda Poppei reaches out with these words:
Transgender and genderqueer beloveds, all who do not fit in the stifling boxes we create: I see you. I love you. I will fight with you. (Facebook, February 22)
The Rev. Jake Morrill points out that the administration’s actions are un-Christian.
If Trump and Sessions want to target the least of these, again and again, for their perverse cruelty, that’s consistent with how they have lived. But nobody gets to call what they’re doing anything even close to Christian. (Facebook, February 22)
Living in Trumplandia
The Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern is outraged that the administration has targeted vulnerable groups in the name of protecting children, including her daughter.
How dare you suggest that you are protecting her from trans* people? She doesn’t need to be protected from the fabulous camp counselor who led her in making snow forts and going cross-country skiing. The kid in her scouting group, whether they’re using the bathroom or learning how to make a fire in the wilderness: not a threat. The family friend who visited her in the hospital less than 24 hours after her birth, bringing love and a ritual of welcome from our faith: not scary. If you think these beloved people are her enemies, if you would harm them in her name, you reveal yourself to be the threat. (Mookie’s Mama, February 23)
The Rev. Robin Bartlett and her family recently had a profound experience of connection.
My family just had the most profound experience. We got to visit with a Syrian refugee family in Worcester with translators through our friends from the Worcester Islamic Center, and we gave them our reverse offering money from First Church. We told them that we had a family meeting and decided we wanted to help a refugee family. . . . I left committed to do whatever I can to help Syrian refugees, furious that my once hospitable and brave country has become a home of hatred and fear because of its leadership. (Facebook, February 18)
The Rev. Chris Buice and his congregation have been singing about building bridges—and that led to questions about the trolls under the bridges.
According to mythology and folklore bridges often serve as shelter for trolls. Add to this that we live in an age that has turned the word troll into a verb so that it is common to hear people talk about trolling or being trolled. So it seems irresponsible to talk about building bridges unless we are willing to confront the reality of trolls. (The Tao of Tennessee, February 22)
Doug Muder looks past the daily barrage of threats and outrage to discover the real “peril of Potemkin democracy.”
The threat, then, isn’t that some Reichstag-fire incident will set off a well-planned takeover that overnight makes America unrecognizable. On the contrary, America in 2020 will be very recognizable, as long as you don’t look too deeply. (The Weekly Sift, February 20)
Despite what seems like an excellent time for swearing, the Rev. James Ford has taken the opposite course, and is trying to stop saying the f-word.
I’ve felt a coarseness overtaking our public discourse. It’s been coming on for a while now. And, I’m not actually just talking about one word, or, even two. And, in fact, profanity is not the real problem. Although, I believe asking why a culture picks particular words and phrases to be their obscenities is worth digging into. That acknowledged the coarsening I’m referring to, at least as I began this experiment, is the casual use of invective and our particular language’s choice for obscenities. I felt, I feel our casual use of these insults represents a cheapening of our relationships with each other. (Monkey Mind, February 20)