A Crow and The Dead
A member of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence displaying their Pride in full garb. Photo from Pexels.
This month I’ve been thinking on what most members of the LGBTQIA+ community have been thinking on – how bad it still is out there. It’s time to fly the Pride flag upside down, we are a community in distress. So, to that end, I thought I’d share a few things you can do this month in support.
Call or write to your congress person and representatives
Many states still strongly oppose LGBTQIA+ equality. According to the Human Rights Campaign “2021 (is) slated to become (the) worst year for LGBTQ state legislative attacks as (an) unprecedented number of states (are) poised to enact (a) record-shattering number of Anti-LGBTQ measures into law.” It’s important that we take a stand to let those in power know that we won’t stand by quietly while hate becomes law.
Support the Equality Act
According to the HRC, “Despite significant steps forward, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) Americans lack basic legal protections in states across the country. The patchwork nature of state non-discrimination laws and the lack of permanent, comprehensive federal non-discrimination laws leaves millions of people subject to uncertainty and potential discrimination that impacts their safety, their families, and their day-to-day lives.” If you’d like to show your support you can do so by adding your name as a community co-sponsor, calling your senator and letting them know your position, and by emailing members of congress.
A Pride month “must read”
I’d love to encourage you to pick up a copy of Outside The Charmed Circle by Misha Magdalene, a personal favorite book and something that belongs on the bookshelf of anyone who calls themselves an ally. From the publisher:
“The intention of Outside the Charmed Circle is to help readers live as the truest expression of their gendered, sexual, spiritual self. It is designed to support you as you awaken to who you are, deepen your magical practice, and walk through the Pagan world. Author Misha Magdalene provides hands-on meditations, prompts, and magical workings to help you explore your identity as it intersects with your spiritual practice. With thoughtful insights on embodiment, consent, and Eros, as well as explorations of self-esteem, ability, disability, and your feelings about your body, this book helps those in the LGBTQIA+ community and their allies engage with a wide range of identities in a magical setting.”
What can the Pagan community do?
Look for businesses and entities that openly support the LGBTQIA+ community, and ensure that your dollars are making a meaningful impact. Here in the Pagan community, that can mean looking for shops owned and operated by members of the LGBTQIA+ community, supporting LGBTQIA+ authors, and asking covens/groves/kindred in your area what their stance is on inclusivity, and encouraging them to consider an inclusivity statement on their listings/websites/etc. But also:
Boycott problematic authors, teachers, shop owners, and businesses
We deserve better. It isn’t enough that we are all standing under this big Pagan umbrella anymore, we deserve a space where those within it are safe, protected, equal – welcome. We cannot tolerate a world in which some are othered among the other, where those who choose love, are less. In Charles Lelands “The Gospel of Aradia,” the goddess herself demanded nothing less than protest “until The last of your oppressors shall be dead,” and protest we shall.
Never forget that Pride was a riot.
Find Mortellus on Instagram, Twitter, and their Facebook Page, as well as our thriving death positive group, A Crow and The Dead. Mortellus hopes to never be monetizing through things like Patreon, but if you’d like to show your support you can do so by donating, purchasing goods from their website, signing up for a workshop, and as always, through your likes, shares, and follows.
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