Progressive Catholic Perspectives on the U.S. Supreme Court's 2015 Marriage Equality Ruling

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It's been almost a month now since the U.S. Supreme Court's June 26, 2015 decision (Obergefell v. Hodges) that upheld the constitutional right of civil marriage for same-sex couples. As a result, same-sex couples can, through the right of civil marriage, have their love and commitment recognized and honored in every state of the Union.

In light of this landmark ruling, I offer today a compilation of quotes – along with links to articles and commentaries – whereby progressive Catholics share their thoughts on the Supreme Court's marriage equality decision.

And what do I mean by "progressive Catholics"?

Progressive Catholics are Catholics open to God's presence throughout creation (including the lives and relationships of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people). Accordingly, they are also open and responsive to the church's capacity and responsibility to grow and evolve in its understanding of gender and sexuality.

I start with my friend and fellow Catholic blogger William Lindsey's "very personal and immediate unvarnished reaction" to the news of the Supreme Court's marriage equality decision. As you'll see, in sharing his reaction, William highlights the significant rights, benefits and responsibilities that civil marriage confers on couples.

Now, I know some people who complain that marriage is simply a "bourgeois construct," a form of domestic partnership that has become a cultural norm and which enacts and expresses profoundly classist and sexist interests. I appreciate how my friend Kathleen recently responded on Facebook to a straight (and married) individual who was stridently promulgating this view.

[As a married person] why would you decry others who seek similar legal status and protections as "bourgeois" and unimportant? While I completely agree with you that marriage equality isn't the be-all and end all and that there are pressing issues of economic and racial inequality – not to mention the oppressive forces of global capitalism – that also need to be challenged, I do celebrate the winning of marriage equality for same-gender couples as a remarkable liberatory moment. I would rather not stack these against each other. I don't believe that I am less an ally in the work of racial and economic justice because I now have legal protections for my relationship. Also, my experience, unlike yours, is that most of the people I know who were most actively engaged in marriage equality work, locally and across the nation, are also very engaged in an array of other forms of justice and ally work. They see the connections, experience them, and are continuing to resist. Many of them have been throwing themselves into the fray of Black Lives Matter, among other things.

So, with all this in mind, here are 12 progressive Catholic perspectives on last month's marriage equality ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Tears as I read Justice Kennedy's statement in today's Supreme Court ruling:

As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.

Hard to keep from crying right now. I (and so many others, many of whom have gone before us and today's victory, people I loved and cherished who lived towards this day but did not see it arrive), have lived so long waiting to be recognized as full citizens of this nation, as equal in humanity to all other citizens. The stress and complications created by the inequality and injustice have caused tremendous pain and difficulty—for so many including Steve and me, right to this week, as the clock ticks to the end of the period (the end of June, that is) when I can make final choices about Medicare coverage, as the state of Arkansas continues, to its tremendous shame, to drag its feet about permitting legally married same-sex spouses of state employees to receive healthcare coverage through their spouses' healthcare plans.

For years now, we have had to make hard choices about what medical care we can afford, when we can afford it, when we need to defer it. We've still had to make those choices because of the binds that the refusal to accord us legal rights as a married couple has created in the area of healthcare coverage. I was told by a dentist two weeks ago that I need a root canal, but when I called the endodontist he recommended and heard the price of that procedure, Steve and I decided it would be best to wait and see what happened with the Supreme Court ruling, and whether I might finally have a health insurance plan that would include dental coverage (that component of my coverage under the ACA was cancelled this year). Manage the pain in the meanwhile . . .

Hearts can, for sure, be full to overflowing. There are rivers of overflowing hearts in the U.S. right now.

– William D. Lindsey
"My Personal Response to the Supreme Court Ruling on Marriage Equality:
There Are Rivers of Overflowing Hearts in the U.S. Right Now"
Bilgrimage
June 26, 2015

With this Supreme Court victory, Catholics recommit themselves to working to make sure that all LGBT people are treated equally in both church and society. While we are delighted with this victory, there is still much work to be done to ensure those goals.

Catholics have been at the forefront of working for equal marriage rights for lesbian and gay couples. The overwhelming majority of U.S. Catholics have consistently been in favor of marriage equality, and have put their support into action in legislative, judicial, and electoral campaigns.

Their Catholic faith has inspired them to make sure that their lesbian and gay family members, friends, neighbors, and co-workers receive equal treatment by society. The Supreme Court’s decision embodies the Catholic values of human dignity, respect for differences, and the strengthening of families.

While the U.S. Catholic bishops have consistently opposed marriage equality measures on all fronts, Catholic people in the pews have had a different perspective from their leaders. The lived faith of Catholic people has taught them that love, commitment, and sacrifice are the essential building blocks of marriage and family. Their daily experiences interacting with lesbian and gay couples and their families has taught them that these relationships are identical to heterosexual marriages in terms of the essential qualities needed to build a future together, establish a family, and contribute to social stability and growth.

– Francis DeBernardo
Executive Director, New Ways Ministry
Excerpted from "New Ways Ministry and U.S. Catholics Rejoice
at Supreme Court Marriage Equality Decision"
Bondings 2.0
June 26, 2015

As Catholics, we celebrate the increase in justice that this ruling ushers in. We rejoice with all of the couples and families who will be able to access the legal protections that marriage will afford them. Mostly, we are thrilled that the Supreme Court has recognized that the love and commitment of same-sex couples is absolutely equal to that of other couples.

Catholics have been in the forefront of efforts to gain marriage equality for more than a decade. Our commitment to the values of love, inclusion, family, and justice have inspired millions of Catholics—both straight and LGBT—to work for this day, even when some leaders of our Church have instructed us to fight against it. It is wonderful to see the true values of our faith and our country affirmed today.

DignityUSA prays for consideration and solidarity as this ruling is implemented. We understand that there are many in our country, and in our church, who will be disappointed by this ruling, and urge that the sincerity of their beliefs be respected. At the same time, we expect that all people, no matter what their beliefs, abide by what the Supreme Court has affirmed as the law of the land, and treat same-sex couples and their families respectfully and in full accordance with the law.

– Marianne Duddy-Burke
Executive Director, Dignity USA
"LGBT Catholics Hail Supreme Court Decision
to Make Marriage Equality the Law of the U.S."
June 26, 2015

For far too long committed LGBT partners and families have endured discrimination and marginalization. This has come from many places – but none more forceful than from some members within the Catholic hierarchy. This decision, however, reverberates God’s love of everyone and celebrates the dignity and holiness of all loving families.

The sacredness of all loving couples, together with their welcome and inclusion in all facets of faith communities, is a reality that must now be given pastoral priority. We cannot act as if the Spirit hasn’t moved us to be more loving and just.

– Jim FitzGerald
Executive Director, Call To Action
"Supreme Court Decision Reverberates Love, Challenges Catholic Hierarchy"
June 26, 2015

Fortunate Families celebrates with our LGBT children the opportunity to share in the same rights as their straight siblings. The Supreme Court decision brings legal stability to our children's lives and security to our grandchildren. We applaud this decision and continue our work in the Catholic tradition seeking social justice for all our children, and we look forward to the next hurdle, the passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act,” Deb Word, President of Fortunate Families.

– Deb Wood
President, Fortunate Families
Excerpted from "Catholics Across US Celebrate Win for Marriage Equality"
Equally Blessed
June 26, 2015

"The joys and hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the women and men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ” (Gaudium et Spes, no. 1).

With this now-famous line, the Second Vatican Council opened its “Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World” (1965). This passage immediately came to mind this morning as I heard of the U. S. Supreme Court decision (Obergefell v. Hodges) that upheld the constitutional right to same-sex marriage. My personal response was emotional in the way that the reaction of so many others has been in the wake of this landmark case. My reaction has been solidarity for a population of people who have indeed been “afflicted” and whose experience for so long, millennia perhaps, has been more “grief and anxiety” than “joy and hope.” But today, at least in the United States, things appear to be changing.

As a Christian, the “joys and hopes” of the LGBT women and men who have cried out for the recognition of their human dignity and value, these are the “joys and hopes” of me today.

. . . LGTB women and men have indeed suffered—and continue to suffer from—discrimination based on their sexual orientation. In some parts of the world this discrimination is made manifest with the threat of execution! It would appear that today’s decision could align well with this call for the church to “overcome and eradicate” such discrimination and affirm the “fundamental rights of the person.”

Similarly, we might look to Vatican II’s “Declaration on the Relation of the Church to non-Christian Religions” (Nostra Aetate) for parallel wisdom in how to approach reflecting on today’s decision. Early in the text, the Council Fathers write that there are truth and wisdom in the cultural and religious traditions, practices, and perspectives of those who do not affirm the Christian faith. We read: “[The Catholic Church] regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all [women and] men” (no. 2).

Perhaps we might look at what is affirmed in today’s decision about the inherent dignity and value of all women and men, regardless of their sexual orientation, as something to be referenced in the spirit of that which reflects a “ray of that Truth,” which is the love of God in Christ.

– Daniel P. Horan, O.F.M.
Excerpted from "How Should Christians Respond
to the Court's Decision on Marriage?"
Commonweal
June 26, 2015

Now that [marriage equality] is the law of the land, it is going to continue to provide space for people in same-sex relationships to tell their stories. In the time ahead there is a chance for us to step away from the charged political debate to a pastoral dialogue on what it means to be LGBT and Catholic.

– Arthur Fitzmaurice
Resource Director, Catholic Association for Lesbian and Gay Ministries
Excerpted from Vinnie Rotondaro's article, "Supreme Court's Decision
on Marriage Called Everything from a 'Win for Love' to a 'Tragic Error'"
National Catholic Reporter
June 26, 2015

Perhaps a good first step for Church leaders would be to applaud the Court's decision in light of its overlap with Catholic values regarding marriage. Of course, the Church may still refuse to marry lesbian and gay couples, just as it refuses to marry anyone with an un-annulled previous marriage. In time, I trust that Church teaching on sacramental marriage will evolve, too, and take note of the powerful sprit of love and commitment vivifying lesbian and gay marriages as well as straight marriages.

– Lisa Fullam
Excerpted from "SCOTUS Votes 5-4 in Favor of Human Dignity"
Commonweal
June 26, 2015

The Church teaches that the Holy Spirit speaks through the people, not just the hierarchy, so [certain] comments [of bishops in response to the Supreme Court ruling] make me wonder if the hierarchy is in touch with the people, the sense of the faithful. . . . [M]aybe we don’t have all the answers, maybe there’s more to this issue than we’ve been teaching so far.

– Ish Ruiz
Teacher at a Catholic school in San Francisco
Excerpted from Michael O'Loughlin's article,
"Catholics React to Supreme Court’s Marriage Decision"
Crux
June 26, 2015

With the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage throughout the United States, the U.S. Catholic bishops need a new strategy going forward. The bishops' fight against gay marriage has been a waste of time and money. The bishops should get a new set of priorities and a new set of lawyers.

Some opponents of gay marriage are calling for civil disobedience, telling government officials to ignore the decision and not to perform same-sex marriages. Others are calling for a constitutional amendment to overturn the decision. Many have argued that the court decision will not put the issue to rest any more than Roe v. Wade ended the abortion debate.

First, let's make clear what the decision does not do. It does not require religious ministers to perform same-sex marriages, nor does it forbid them from speaking out against gay marriage. These rights are protected by the First Amendment. The court has also made clear that a church has complete freedom in hiring and firing ministers for any reason.

The legal status of gay marriage is similar to that of remarriage after divorce. Divorce and remarriage is legal in every state of the union, but if a church is against remarriage after divorce, its ministers are not required to perform such weddings, and its preachers can continue to denounce divorce from the pulpit. If a minister gets divorced, his church can fire him or her.

The divorce analogy is apt. The bishops would do well to look at the record of their predecessors who opposed legalizing divorce but lost. These bishops eventually accepted divorce as the law of the land while not permitting remarriage without an annulment in their churches.

Today, Catholic institutions rarely fire people when they get divorced and remarried. Divorced and remarried people are employed by church institutions, and their spouses get spousal benefits. No one is scandalized by this. No one thinks that giving spousal benefits to a remarried couple is a church endorsement of their lifestyle.

If bishops in the past could eventually accept civil divorce as the law of the land, why can't the current flock of bishops do the same for gay marriage? Granted all the publicity around the church's opposition to gay marriage, no one would think they were endorsing it.

It is time for the bishops to admit defeat and move on. Gay marriage is here to stay, and it is not the end of civilization as we know it.

– Thomas Reese, SJ
Excerpted from "How the Bishops Should Respond
to the Same-Sex Marriage Decision"
National Catholic Reporter
July 2, 2015

As a faithful Catholic in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, I cannot in good conscience allow Archbishop Charles Chaput’s June 26 response to the Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality to be the final word. His message does not reflect the Catholic voice of inclusion and equality. The Church is made up of all the baptized, and the majority of Catholics in the United States support same-sex marriage.

The archbishop is right that the truth of God’s word does not change. Our understanding of it, however, has, does, and should. Our understanding of God’s word has changed on slavery, capital punishment, war, and now, on marriage. It is not in spite of my Catholicism that I support marriage equality, but because of it.

Our Church teaches a preferential treatment for the marginalized. It teaches the dignity of all human beings. It teaches the primacy of conscience — the idea that it is our obligation to prayerfully consider tradition and doctrine, as well as our experience and the experience of those around us, in discerning what is moral and just.

My conscience has been formed with the help of family, friends, teachers, clergy, theologians, and strangers. Most of all, it has been formed through my relationship with God and my Church.

. . . I hope and pray that Church leaders will hear and understand the majority who support those in loving same-sex relationships. Love is of God and adults who have formed their consciences in faith are very capable of making good decisions about how to express their love for other human beings.

– Christa Kerber
Excerpted from "Catholic Voice Speaks Out for Same-Sex Marriage
"
Philly.com
July 6, 2015

The Catholic [hierarchy], which has used some of the most severe language of major denominations in its condemnation of homosexuality, labeling those with a homosexual orientation "intrinsically disordered," is especially challenged by the ruling.

At least its leaders are, for it has become clear in recent years that when it comes to believers, Catholics are among the most accepting of homosexuality. In terms of same-sex marriage, according to recent Pew Research polling, "Among Catholics and white mainline Protestants, roughly six-in-ten now express support for same-sex marriage."

Churches certainly don't run on polling data, but the bishops should at least be informed of what the flock is thinking. And the majority of the flock is not in agreement with assertions such as those voiced by Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., who called the decision "a tragic error."

. . . In a statement following the decision, Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich urged calm and "mature" reflection. "The Church must extend support to all families, no matter their circumstances, recognizing that we are all relatives, journeying through life under the careful watch of a loving God," he said.

We suspect that for a time, at least, the air will be full of warnings about the ongoing march of a "gay agenda" and threats to everything we have previously understood about marriage. The ruling was certainly due, in part, to the activity of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and its striving for rights during the past 40 years.

But bishops and others should not underestimate the power of human experience nor the depth of insights gleaned in the short period during which parents stopped being embarrassed by their children, and gay children stopped hiding themselves and their sexual orientation.

Cupich's "take a deep breath" approach seems a far more productive way to sort out the tangle of issues that certainly will unravel in the wake of this decision. The bishops – many of whom like to compare themselves to fathers of a family – might, before they commit to a protracted fight, sit down with gay and lesbian Catholics and their families and respectfully listen to their stories.

– The Editorial Board
Excerpted from "Go Beyond a Foot-Stomping 'No'"
National Catholic Reporter
July 15, 2015

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Breaking News: U.S. Supreme Court Legalizes Marriage for Same-Sex Couples Across the Nation
• Quote of the Day – June 26, 2015
• Something to Celebrate
• Questions for Archbishop Kurtz re. the U.S. Bishops' Response to the Supreme Court's Marriage Equality Ruling
• Quote of the Day – July 13, 2015
• National LGBTQ Catholic Organization Honors Role Played by Catholics and Other Faith Groups in Securing Marriage Equality in Minnesota
• Progressive Thoughts on Recent Developments in Ireland, El Salvador and the U.S.
• More Progressive Catholic Perspectives on Ireland's Historic Gay Marriage Vote
• LGBT Catholics Respond to Synod 2014's Final Report
• Beyond the Hierarchy: The Blossoming of Liberating Catholic Insights on Sexuality

Related Off-site Links:
Bishops Must Do Some Soul-searching – Francis DeBernardo (Crux, June 26, 2015).
Some Catholic Reactions to U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on Marriage Equality – Francis DeBernardo (Bondings 2.0, June 28, 2015).
Catholics Continue to React to Supreme Court Marriage Equality Ruling – Francis DeBernard0 (Bondings 2.0, June 29, 2015).
Final Installment of Catholic Responses to Supreme Court Marriage Equality Ruling – Francis DeBernardo (Bondings 2.0, July 10, 2015).
Should Catholics Opposed to Marriage Equality Use Civil Disobedience? – Francis DeBernardo (Bondings 2.0, July 14, 2015).
The Coming Gay Rights Letdown – Samantha Allen (The Daily Beast, July 14, 2015).
Justice Kennedy Compares Gay Marriage Uproar to Flag Burning – Elliot Spagat (Associated Press viaYahoo! News, July 17, 2015).
The Global Backlash to America's Gay Rights Triumph – Lila Shapiro (The Huffington Post, July 21, 2015).
As a Gay Widower, What the Word 'Marriage' Means to Me – Keith Henry (HuffPost Gay Voices, July 21, 2015).
Ryan T. Anderson Accidentally Highlights the Weakness of the Lost Fight Against Marriage Equality – Zack Ford (Think Progress, July 24, 2015).

Unique . . . Yes, You!

There is a vitality, a life force,
an energy, a quickening,
that is translated through you into action,
and because there is only one of you in all time,
this expression is unique. And if you block it,
it will never exist through any other medium
and will be lost.

– Martha Graham

I appreciate how Julia Cameron, in her book Blessings: Prayers and Declarations for a Heartful Life, reflects on the words of acclaimed dancer and choreographer Martha Graham and helps us see how they're applicable to all our actions of body, speech and mind.

I share today the beauty and wisdom of Martha and Julia's words, along with images of dancer Thiago Soares, for all who have been told and/or made to feel – by other people or by institutions and systems of oppression – that their unique presence in the world is not important. It is!

The Breath of Spirit Breathes Through Me

I am a unique conduit for the good of the universe to flow into the world. As I listen and respond to my inner guidance, I bring to the world originality and opportunity. I have a unique healing presence which blesses those who know me. As I open my heart to being true to my own nature, I provide for others a personal and providential medicine. We do not interact by mistake. I am placed where I am and with whom I am for many important reasons. As I become more fully myself, my individual personality brings specific gifts to those who surround me. As I open myself to unfolding my inner gifts, the gifts of my nature grace others in outward and material ways. My presence in this world is important. My attitudes and actions have importance. As I choose to be a healing and creative presence, I am balm for a troubled world. The grace of Spirit touches me and through me touches all I encounter.

– Julia Cameron
Excerpted from Blessings: Prayers and Declarations
for a Heartful Life
pp. 17-18

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• The Soul of a Dancer
• The Challenge to Become Ourselves
• Celebrating Our Sanctifying Truth
• The Power of Our Stories
• Getting It Right
• Real Holiness
• The Source is Within You
• Clyde Hall: "All Gay People, in One Form or Another, Have Something to Give to This World, Something Rich and Very Wonderful"
• Remembering and Reclaiming a Wise, Spacious, and Holy Understanding of Homosexuality

Recommended Off-site Link:
Thiago Soares, Principal Dancer: Born in Brazil, Made in London – Crane.tv via YouTube (May 2, 2014).

Images: Thiago Soares (photographers unknown).

Photo of the Day

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Summer Blooms
• Photo of the Day – September 10, 2014

Image: Michael J. Bayly.

Quote of the Day

Christianity has an ugly history of promoting one human’s race, gender or sexual orientation as superior to that of another. People who have intersecting identities as Christians and as members of marginalized groups have had to learn how to occupy many spaces simultaneously in order to affirm their humanity. They’ve had to interrogate their faith, face difficult challenges to it and make decisions about how they will live freely within it. As [late Episcopalian priest] Pauli Murray summarized Major J. Jones’ Christian Ethics for Black Theology, "It is a sign of maturity when an oppressed people are no longer willing to adopt without question a religion or God who accepts the idea of inequality for any part of the human family."

People want and deserve love and acceptance because they are human. That should be enough of a reason for the church to give it. And enough of a reason to question why the church isn’t, as Rev. Candice Benbow said, "radical in its expression of love/acceptance."

– Mariam Williams
Excerpted from "Good Can Come from Christians’
Uncomfortable Confrontation with Gay Marriage Ruling"
The National Catholic Reporter
July 13, 2015

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• The Same Premise
• Compassion, Christian Community, and Homosexuality
• Celebrating and Embodying Divine Hospitality
• Trusting God's Generous Invitation

Related Off-site Links:
Why You Can't Be Pro-Black and Homophobic at the Same Time – Brandon Ellington Patterson (Mother Jones, July 2 2015).
Transgender and Catholic — Nick Stevens (The New York Times via The Progressive Catholic Voice, May 24, 2015).

Summer Blooms

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Summer Blooms (2014)
• Photo of the Day – August 26, 2014
• In Summer Light
• Photo of the Day – August 11, 2014
• Summer Blooms
• Summer Blooms II
• Summer Blooms III

Images: Michael J. Bayly.

Clyde Hall: "All Gay People, in One Form or Another, Have Something to Give to This World, Something Rich and Very Wonderful"

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The Wild Reed's 2015 Queer Appreciation series continues with excerpts from an interview with Clyde Hall, a member of the Shoshone-Métis tribe and a respected authority, writer and lecturer of Native American culture, tribal arts and folkways. This interview was first published in Mark Thompson's 1994 anthology, Gay Soul: Finding the Heart of Gay Spirit and Nature with Sixteen Writers, Healers, Teachers, and Visionaries.

I think it's especially appropriate to be sharing this post on indigenous leader and "two-spirited" elder Clyde Hall at this time given Pope Francis' recent apology for colonial-era "offenses" against the indigenous peoples of the Americas.

"Grave sins were committed against the native peoples of America in the name of God," the pope declared during a visit with indigenous groups in Bolivia. "I humbly ask forgiveness . . . for crimes committed against the native peoples during the so-called conquest of America."

I appreciate the pope's words, his asking for forgiveness for the terrible actions of the "official" church. Yet I also know that many of these actions, these "crimes" and "sins," were incurred by and directed towards people and cultures that did not share Roman Catholicism's narrow and rigid understanding of gender and sexuality. Such people and cultures had to be shown "the truth" and made to conform to it. "Grave sins were committed" indeed.

It's a pity that this aspect of the story isn't being talked about as it would lead to some interesting and important connection-making. After all, if the church's actions were sinful, were not also the underlying attitudes and thinking that prompted and "justified" these actions? They were attitudes of arrogance and superiority, and thinking that was narrow and therefore lacking in compassion and openness to God's presence. I also wonder when the pope will issue an apology to women and LGBT people. Great harm has been done to members of these groups over the centuries and throughout many cultures. And though thankfully tempered due to advances in civil society, it's a mistreatment that the Vatican continues in one form or another to this day (see, for example, here and here).

As interesting as all of this is, it's not the primary focus of this post. No, the primary focus is actually much more positive – a message of truth and beauty about non-heterosexual conforming people; a message articulated by a wise man named Clyde Hall. But before sharing this message, here is part of Mark Thompson biography of Hall from Gay Soul.

Clyde Hall was raised by his grandmother in a one-room cabin on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in southern Idaho. On long winter nights, after the fire had burned down, she would tell "coyote stories," he recalls. During the hot, dusty summer days he would roam the countryside, sometimes with a posse of other boys. They often frequented swimming holes on the reservation – "well secluded with overhanging trees and green grass on the banks" – and it was at one such spot during a late August afternoon that the eleven-year-old Clyde discovered his attraction to other men.

His best friend and he were swimming alone that day, the kind of day, says Hall, "when the air is barely moving and heavy to breathe." They dove into the cool water, one after the other, and when they surfaced the friend put his arms tight around Clyde in a passionate embrace. "I knew then that this is what I had been waiting for," Hall remembers, "and I have never looked back since."

A Native American of Shoshone-Métis descent, Hall left home some years later to travel the world, a young man in search of himself and trying to get away from a place where "everybody knows everybody's business." Part of his journey was about integrating two vital parts of his identity into a greater whole: the Native part, proud and intact even after the horrendous history of genocidal, Anglo practices against his people; and the gay part, essential yet misunderstood, no less so than among his own own tribe whose knowledge of the tubasa – or "two-spirited" one – had faded in recent times.

Restoring the long-lost traditions of the "two-spirited," those individuals more commonly known today as berdaches, has been an important aim in Hall's life. Over the past twenty years he has joined with other gay and lesbian Native Americans in giving new life to the once-honored roles that third- and fourth-gender individuals had within dozens of tribal cultures before conquest and colonization. In so doing, they have enriched mainstream gay culture's perception of what it means to be queer in America while at the same time revising Indian society's Christianized view of the gays in their midst.

According to the founders of Gay American Indians, an outreach group founded in Sam Francisco in 1975, if the wisdom of Native American tribes concerning gay people is reasserted, "all of us will benefit." Among the organization's ongoing social and political work has been the production of a landmark book, Living the Spirit (edited by Will Roscoe), a collection of essays, myths, and poems further defining the rich heritage of gay Indians as healers, artists, and providers for their people.

Hall practices the legacy of the two-spirited in his daily life. He moved back to the Fort Hall reservation [in the mid-1980s], where he serves as a magistrate and attorney. The talent to mediate differences is one quality attributed to those who bridge the worlds of male and female, the visible and the unseen; another is the ability to uphold sacred ways. Hall functions ably in this role as well, actively preserving and perpetuating the traditions and customs of his people.

. . . The way to honor oneself and others is to lead a spirit-filled life, Hall emphasizes. It's a message he carries wherever he goes, from mentoring the young people of his reservation to the many classrooms and other groups he visits around the country. In a time of increasing disharmony, Clyde Hall fulfills the spiritual role that the tubasa of his tribe always used to.

Following are excerpts from Mark Thompson's interview with Clyde Hall from Thompson's 1995 book Gay Soul. I pray for the day when the type of wise understanding and loving acceptance of LGBT people that Hall articulates and embodies is part of all communities and traditions – including the Roman Catholic faith tradition.

Mark Thompson: What do you think about the notion that gays are a socially constructed people, in other words, that there was no such thing as "homosexual" people until a hundred years ago?

Clyde Hall: Pshaw! Gay people have always been around. I mean, from the remotest indigenous tribal circles, we've always been here.


What would you say to someone who says you're making this up just because you want to feel special. What proof do you have?

Look at the history. We're the people who bring the beauty into the world and actually create the culture. How many movers and shakers were people who were either what we would consider exclusively homosexual or at least bisexual? What have they done for the world? Either pro or con? Because it can manifest either way. There has to be a special race of Spirit in order for these people to accomplish these things. It didn't just happen, you know. We're the people who make Spirit move, and the world is much richer for it. All gay people, in one form or another, have something to give to this world, something rich and very wonderful.


So you believe there's a spiritual potential to being gay?

Well, one thing I've always known is never doubt Spirit. Always trust in Spirit and in what Spirit's trying to tell you. I live a Spirit-led life, you might say, even to the point of what I'm going to wear in the morning when I get up. I've learned not to question or doubt. If you try to talk yourself out of living a life with Spirit, you get yourself into all kinds of trouble.


Is this an inner voice, or your intuition speaking, or what?

In Shoshone, we have the word poha-kant. It describes a type of person who lives a Spirit-led life, who is a conduit for Spirit. They're the kind of person who Spirit ebbs and flows through, more powerful at one time than another. That's why when New Age-type people say, "I'm a shaman," I look at them and think, Honey, do you know what you're talking about? Because to tell you the truth, most of the real shamans I run across or have done research on are gay people or at least bisexual. You have to have that.


Why do you say that?

Because you walk in both worlds. Because you are elements of both male and female – but you're neither. You don't fit in, you're a go-between. And consequently it's easier for you to transcend from the physical to the spiritual realm.


Have you found this to be the case in your own life?

Yes. And if you look at any so-called primitive or indigenous peoples – and this goes for ancient Europeans like the Druids and Celts as well – their shamans were usually two-spirited people. American Indian societies are no exception.


When did you become aware of the berdache tradition? Did you hear anything about that growing up, or did you have to find out about it later?

I really don't like the word berdache, which is French. Indian people don't put labels on themselves; they don't think of themselves as being one way or another. It's just the way you are, unconsciously – a state of life. Still, contemporary gay Indian people are re-creating the berdache tradition, which kind of makes me happy because it gives them self-pride and purpose. Now we're using the term two-spirit. . . .


Isn't it a misconception that all berdache were effeminate and cross-dressed?

It is. Some became very valorous warriors, since to have a berdache along on a war party was considered good luck. This person was in great communication with Spirit.


You mentioned that it was the berdache who went out to cut the center pole for the Sun Dance ritual. Why is that?

Because of who they were. They walked in both worlds, the physical and spiritual, and they were honored in that way. It took a person not of this world to do something like that. For instance, the best rocks to use for rattles are those dug up by the ants and never touched by human hands. The best kind of earth to use in setting up your altar is gopher dirt because it was dug up by something other than a human being. If you can get that otherworldly spiritual connection, it has a lot of power.

. . . Do you see gay men today as having a kind of tribal culture? And if not, what are the values and traditions gay men should be upholding more?

This country is all orientated toward the acquiring of possessions, power, and money. Gay people and Indian people have fallen into that trap as much as anyone else. The development of spirit has been sadly lacking. . . . We're living in a period of great change, and things are not going to get any better for some time to come.


Do you believe that gay people have some kind of mediating role to play in the world at large?

Yes, a helpful role. Gay men and women, two-spirited Native people, we have a very important part to play in the restoring of balance. I can't emphasize that enough. That's the problem with the world right now – it's gotten severely out of balance. That's why we're as crazy as we are now, and why things are happening the way they are, And until the people and the animals and the environment get themselves back into some balance in some way, things are going to continue the way they are, perhaps even gets worse. It scares me.


Let's go back to this idea of gays being the keepers and the creators of culture. Where do you think those instincts come from?

It's something that Spirit gives you when you're born. These powers and talents are an integral part of a way of being. They have to manifest one way or another because that's what we were given to do in the world. For instance, my people are masters at bead work; we are known worldwide for the stuff we do. But it was the gay men who started a trend of literally painting with beads. They've totally broken away from what you would think of as traditional Indian beadwork and have evolved this new style.


I believe that being gay in this society has created an opening of my soul, a kind of sensitivity to the world. Has this been your experience?

Most definitely. You know, you're always the outsider looking in, and you see things differently. That's why you can call bullshit, bullshit . . .


Let's talk about spiritual authenticity, particularly the difficulties in following a Spirit-led path in a dispirited society. What, in your view, is a spiritual life?

It's a way of being and living in balance. Balance has a lot to do with it. Not letting anything get heavier than the rest. Anytime you get out of balance, it's going to lead your life willy-nilly some way. A lot of living your life in balance has to do with listening to Spirit, listening really hard. If it tells you something, or leads you a certain way, intuitively trust that that's the way things are going to be. And when it tells you you're out of balance on something, try to get back. Living with Spirit and trusting in it – that's the most important thing.

________________________________

In researching this post, I discovered that Clyde Hall is one of the ceremonial leaders of the Dance for All People, which is danced for "renewal of the People and the Earth, perpetuating the vision of the Dance that people of all races and religions come together to dance under the Tree of Life." Clyde considers the Dance for All People his greatest “life work.”

To learn more about the Dance for All People, click here.

Also, Clyde Hall had a deep influence on writer Tom Spanbauer that directly led to the writing of Spanbaer's acclaimed second novel The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon.

Says Spanbauer:

Clyde Hall put my feet on the ground, and when I looked at the ground I saw that it was my mother. Clyde helped me to see the world was alive and full of mystery. He pretty much took me out of my Christian European culture head and helped me see that I wasn’t separated from nature. That by stepping into my body, I stepped into nature. ... [T]he thing I want to impress on you the most, is my life and his came together in such a way that kind of blew us both out of the water. Speaking for myself, I could never have written The Man Who Fell In Love With The Moon without Clyde, or any of the rest of my books.

NEXT: Part VI – The (Same-Love) Dance Goes On

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Remembering and Reclaiming a Wise, Spacious, and Holy Understanding of Homosexuality
• Gay People and the Spiritual Life
• In the Garden of Spirituality – Toby Johnson
• The Gifts of Homosexuality
• Same-Sex Desires: "Immanent and Essential Traits Transcending Time and Culture"
• North America: Perhaps Once the "Queerest Continent on the Planet"
• A Return to the Spirit
• Recovering the Queer Artistic Heritage
• Quote of the Day – November 12, 2011
• Buffy Sainte-Marie and That "Human-Being Magic"
• Something Special for Indigenous Peoples Day
• There Must Be Balance
• May Balance and Harmony Be Your Aim
• Memet Bilgin and the Art of Restoring Balance

For previous installments in the 2015 Wild Reed Queer Appreciation series, see:
• Vittorio Lingiardi on the Limits of the Hetero/Homo Dichotomy
• Reclaiming and Re-Queering Pride
• Standing with Jennicet Gutiérrez, "the Mother of Our Newest Stonewall Movement"
• Questions for Archbishop Kurtz re. the U.S. Bishops' Response to the Supreme Court's Marriage Equality Ruling

Opening image of Clyde Hall: Mark Thompson.

Photo of the Day

Image: Michael J. Bayly.

Quote of the Day

Some people have tried to find some underlying character flaw or theological misunderstanding in me that explains my acceptance of the fact that I’m gay, while hardly knowing anything else about me. Unfortunately, there’s just nothing for them to find. There isn’t anything more wrong with me than anyone else. I am not basing my identity in my sexual orientation as opposed to Christ just because I’ve decided not to beat myself up anymore on account of who I am, and I’m definitely not idolizing a relationship with another human being over Christ just because I believe what the Bible says about homosexuality doesn’t apply to loving same-sex relationships today.

I don’t consider myself the kind of person that gets offended easily, but it’s hard not to get offended and for it not to hurt when people start calling my faith and sincerity into question just because I’m gay; especially when they wouldn’t do those things to straight people. I couldn’t possibly fathom someone accusing a straight person of idolizing their relationships with another person over Christ, just because they’re straight. And no one would try telling a straight person that they’re basing their identity in their sexual orientation instead of Christ just because they embrace it . . .

It’s not that I’m too proud to accept any criticism or have hard conversations. It’s just that, sometimes, I have a really hard time taking people seriously when they insist on continuing to abide by double standards that make gay Christians feel like second class citizens in God’s Kingdom. Because the fact of the matter is gay Christians are not spiritually or theologically handicapped, needing to be looked after to make sure that they don’t sin or do anything wrong, just because they’re gay.

– Jonah Venegas
Excerpted from "Christians, Gay Does Not Equal Lesser"
Bedlam Magazine
May 28, 2015

Jonah Venegas identifies as a gay Christian and notes on his blog that he is trying to figure out what exactly that means and how it affects his day to day life. He is currently a linguistics student at Bethel University, an evangelical Christian higher education institution located in St. Paul, MN. After graduating, Jonah has aspirations to be an activist for Christian LGBT people, because, he says, "that is where I believe God has called me." Other dreams of his include "publishing a novel someday and moving to New York City or just outside of it." He loves tea, friends, Jesus, and writing. You can follow him on Instagram and Twitter @jonah_venegas17. He also shares his thoughts on his blog, Another Anomaly Among Many.


Related Off-site Links:
Stop Comparing Your Lust to My Sexual Orientation – Matthias Roberts (On Faith, June 29, 2015).
Three Reasons I Quit Loving the Sinner and Hating the Sin – Beth Woolsey (Five Kids is a Lot of Kids, October 23, 2013).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Message to a Young Man of Integrity
• Heartening
• The Many Forms of Courage
• What is a "Lifestyle"?
• Be Not Afraid, You Can Be Happy and Gay
• LGBT Catholics Celebrate Being "Wonderfully Made"
• Celebrating Our Sanctifying Truth
• "Catholic Teaching on Homosexuality is Complex and Nuanced"
• Remembering and Reclaiming a Wise, Spacious, and Holy Understanding of Homosexuality
• The Most Sacred and Simple Mystery of All

Image source: Jonah Venegas's Gravatar profile page.

Interiors

Images: Michael J. Bayly.

Quote of the Day

July 4 has always been a time for aggrieved progressives to remind the world that most Americans weren’t liberated on that first Independence Day. Enslaved Africans; dispossessed native Indians; women of every race; white men without property; LGBT Americans; the rights claimed in the stirring Declaration of Independence didn’t fully belong to most of us for many years.

That’s still a real, historic truth. But maybe, at least this year, we can celebrate the genuinely liberating, animating ideals of a country that came close to living up to them in a dizzying 24 hours last week.

In just one day, the country we are, the country we’ve been trying so long to become, emerged in indelible, unforgettable images. A few will always stay with me: Our first African-American president, standing before purple-robed ministers, singing the first notes of “Amazing Grace” with sorrow and defiance at a funeral for yet another black martyr. Two beaming elderly white gentlemen, Jack Evans and George Harris, becoming the first men to marry in Dallas, Texas, after the Supreme Court ruled for marriage equality.

As the sun set Friday night, the White House glowed in rainbow colors. In the dawn’s early light the next day, a black woman scrambled up a flagpole, as if to freedom, and snatched down the Confederate flag. For a day, anything seemed possible. Which reminded us that it is. We celebrated a genuine Independence Day in that 24 hours, so let’s pause to take it in on this July 4 holiday.

– Joan Walsh
Excerpted from "As Fox News Mourns, the Rest of Us
Have an Independence Day to Celebrate
Salon
July 3, 2015

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Something to Celebrate
• Standing with Jennicet Gutiérrez, "the Mother of Our Newest Stonewall Movement"
• Breaking News: U.S. Supreme Court Legalizes Marriage for Same-Sex Couples Across the Nation

Image: Michael Bayly (July 4, 2014).

Mill City

I recently completed a condo- and cat-sitting gig for friends who live in what's known as the Mill City area of Minneapolis.

Located on the edge of downtown Minneapolis and on the banks of the Mississippi River, this area is part of the Saint Anthony Falls Historic District.

According to Wikipedia:

Saint Anthony Falls, or the Falls of Saint Anthony . . . was the only natural major waterfall on the Upper Mississippi River. The natural falls were replaced by a concrete overflow spillway (also called an "apron") after it partially collapsed in 1869. Later, in the 1950s and 1960s, a series of locks and dams was constructed to extend navigation to points upstream.

Named after the Catholic saint Anthony of Padua, the falls is the birthplace of the former city of St. Anthony and to Minneapolis when the two cities joined in 1872 to fully use its economic power for milling operations. From 1880 to about 1930, Minneapolis was the "Flour Milling Capital of the World."

Today, the falls are defined by the locks and dams of the Upper Saint Anthony Falls, just downstream of the 3rd Avenue Bridge, and the Lower Saint Anthony Falls, just upstream of the I-35W Saint Anthony Falls Bridge. These locks were built as part of the Upper Mississippi River 9-Foot Navigation Project. The area around the falls is designated the St. Anthony Falls Historic District and features a 1.8-mile self-guided walking trail with signs explaining the area's past.

From the rooftop patio of the building in which I was condo- and cat-sitting, one can see the Mill City Museum and Guthrie Theater on 2nd Street (above) and the new Minnesota Vikings' stadium that's still under construction a few blocks south (below).

Above: A (zoomed-in) view of downtown Minneapolis from the roof of the condo building.

Above and below: Views of Mill City Museum from the Stone Arch Bridge.

Opened in 2003 and built in the ruins of the Washburn "A" Mill next to Mill Ruins Park, Mill City Museum focuses on the founding and growth of Minneapolis, especially flour milling and the other industries that used water power from Saint Anthony Falls. The mill complex, dating from the 1870s, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Above: The Guthrie Theater – June 26, 2015.

Along with numerous other landmarks across the nation – including the White House, San Francisco City Hall, Niagara Falls, One World Trade Center, the Disneyland Castle, the Empire State Building, and the nearby I-35W Saint Anthony Falls Bridge – the Guthrie Theatre (or at least parts of it) was lit up in rainbow colors on June 26 in celebration of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling granting civil marriage rights for same-sex couples.

Above: The historic Stone Arch Bridge – June 26, 2015.

A former railroad bridge crossing the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls, the Stone Arch Bridge is the only arched bridge made of stone on the entire length of the Mississippi River, and the second oldest next to Eads Bridge in St. Louis, Missouri.

Notes Wikipedia:

Positioned between the 3rd Avenue Bridge and the I-35W Saint Anthony Falls Bridge, the Stone Arch Bridge was built in 1883 by railroad tycoon James J. Hill for his Great Northern Railway, and accessed the former passenger station located about a mile to the west, on the west bank of the river. The structure is now used as a pedestrian and bicycle bridge. It is an Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 as a part of the Saint Anthony Falls Historic District.

Above: The afternoon light on June 26 was quite magical!

Above: Looking downstream from the Stone Arch Bridge to the I-35W Saint Anthony Falls Bridge – July 1, 2015.

The I-35W Saint Anthony Falls Bridge is a ten-lane bridge opened on September 18, 2008 as the replacement for the I-35W Mississippi River bridge which collapsed on August 1, 2007, killing 13 people and injuring 145.

Above: Moon over Mill City – July 1, 2015.

Above: My friends Joan and George on the Stone Arch Bridge – Wednesday, July 1, 2015.

Above: Looking upstream from the Stone Arch Bridge to the upper dam of St. Anthony Falls and the 3rd Street Bridge.

Did you know that at midnight on June 9, 2015, the Upper St. Anthony Falls lock (located next to the upper dam) was permanently closed by congressional order? Specifically, it was Section 2010 of “H.R.3080 - Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014,” which was signed into law by President Obama on June 10, 2014 and was required to be implemented "Not later than one year after the date of enactment." The closure is intended to stop the spread of invasive species, namely two types of Asian carp, bighead carp and silver carp.

Above: The 3rd Street Bridge at sunset, June 26, 2015.

Above: On the Stone Arch Bridge – July 1, 2015.

NEXT: Return to Mill City

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Down By the River
• Mississippi Adventure
• River Walk
• Views from a Bridge
• Tragedy in Minneapolis