Holy Innocents Day: Queer genocide?

Massacre of the Innocents by Giotto from Wikimedia Commons

Today is Holy Innocents Day, honoring the baby boys killed by King Herod in order to avoid losing his throne to the newborn Jesus, the king foretold by the Magi. Some see the Massacre of the Innocents continuing today in the form of female infanticide, the search for a “gay gene” and other attempts to enable the selective abortion of unborn LGBT people.

The Biblical story of the slaughter of the innocents (Matthew 2:16-18) has a silver lining: Jesus escapes. His parents got him out of Bethlehem before the massacre. People may try to systematically destroy groups through infanticide and genocide, but it’s not 100 percent effective. Someone always escapes.

The genocide of queer people is also explored in our previous post, “Ex-Gay movement as genocide.” The ex-gay movement fits the definition of genocide as outlined by the United Nations, according to startling new scholarship that may help prevent mass murder.Most people think of genocide as mass murder of a group, but the “social death” inflicted on LGBT people by the ex-gay movement is a form of genocide that can lead to mass murder, according to a ground-breaking article by professors Sue E. Spivey and Christine M. Robinson of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Edited comments from a previous discussion of Holy Innocents Day at the Jesus in Love Blog:
___

Turtle Woman said...
I have another theory that many children of god were born, but the girls were killed. Thus, patriarchy killed many girl messiahs along the way. Think about it.

KittKatt said…
I once read a moving short story by feminist Christian Reta Finger about how Jesus was born a girl in ancient Palestine and was killed soon after birth.

pennyjane said...
the story of the murdered female Jesus really does hit home. i fear, sometimes, that modern science will discover a cause for transsexualism and offer a "solution" to pregnant mothers...perhaps the option of a pill that would bring the mind and body into congruence while yet in the womb. what mother wouldn't accept that option? (poof) the end of us.

for some...perhaps most...it would seem like progress....to me, it's more like genocide.

what would Jesus do?

___
Consider the implications as you experience Coventry Carol, the solemn Christmas carol based on this tragedy. This version is by Canadian singer Loreena McKennitt’s version from her “Midwinter Night’s Dream” album (video below).

Holy Innocents Day: Queer genocide?

Massacre of the Innocents by Giotto from Wikimedia Commons

Today is Holy Innocents Day, honoring the baby boys killed by King Herod in order to avoid losing his throne to the newborn Jesus, the king foretold by the Magi.

Coventry Carol, the solemn Christmas carol based on this tragedy, has long been a favorite of mine, and I love Loreena McKennitt’s version from her “Midwinter Night’s Dream” album (video below).

The slaughter of the innocents also has a LGBT connection. Last year’s post about Holy Innocents Day led to a flurry of comments about female infanticide and selective abortion of unborn lesbians, gays and transgenders. The threat of this kind of “massacre of the innocents” is real and it provokes real fear and rage. Today I’m posting highlights from that discussion, in honor of Holy Innocents Day.

The Biblical story of the slaughter of the innocents (Matthew 2:16-18) has a silver lining: Jesus escapes. His parents got him out of Bethlehem before the massacre. To me, the message is that people may try to systematically destroy groups through infanticide and genocide, but it’s not 100 percent effective. Somebody always escapes.

The genocide of queer people is also explored in our previous post, “Ex-Gay movement as genocide.” The ex-gay movement fits the definition of genocide as outlined by the United Nations, according to startling new scholarship that may help prevent mass murder.Most people think of genocide as mass murder of a group, but the “social death” inflicted on LGBT people by the ex-gay movement is a form of genocide that can lead to mass murder, according to a ground-breaking article by professors Sue E. Spivey and Christine M. Robinson of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Edited highlights from comments last year at the Jesus in Love Blog:

Turtle Woman said...
I have another theory that many children of god were born, but the girls were killed. Thus, patriarchy killed many girl messiahs along the way. Think about it.

KittKatt said…
I once read a moving short story by feminist Christian Reta Finger about how Jesus was born a girl in ancient Palestine and was killed soon after birth.

pennyjane said...
the story of the murdered female Jesus really does hit home. i fear, sometimes, that modern science will discover a cause for transsexualism and offer a "solution" to pregnant mothers...perhaps the option of a pill that would bring the mind and body into congruence while yet in the womb. what mother wouldn't accept that option? (poof) the end of us.

for some...perhaps most...it would seem like progress....to me, it's more like genocide.

what would Jesus do?

Turtle Woman said...
I believe infanticide is widespread in patriarchal cultures that value boys, but hate girls. The one-child policy in China, the use of amniocentesis in India to destroy girl children before they are born, and of course, ancient Israel where women were not even valued as much a livestock.

So Rita Finger's idea of the destruction of women messiahs is very real to me. I believe men kill women and girls, and that patriarchy tries in every way to destroy female spiritual leaders or even the birth of "the daughter of god."

KittKatt said...
I’ve also heard that some scientists are looking for a “gay gene” in order to abort embryos that carry it.

pennyjane said...
the genocide i spoke of is real, at least in my mind. i know that there are different people seeking the "cause" of transsexualism. i've seen certain reports about certain periods of time in the womb when "hormone spashes" occurr that might influence gender identity.

my fear is real. i fear that if these times are identified the next step would be to "correct" the results of the splashes, to bring the body and mind into congruence prior to birth conscienciousness. i don't see that as becoming anything but a routine, accepted medical practice in the not so distant future. that could, in fact....be the end of us...transsexuals.

the idea saddens me deeply. i wrote a story about the last transsexual once. i called it "last bus to trinidad." the "apocalypic" herolding of the post-transsexual period of earth history.

i don't want to do away with us...i think we're worth keeping.

Ex-gay movement as genocide

The Broken Image by Christine Bakke

Mixed Media, 2007

The ex-gay movement fits the definition of genocide as outlined by the United Nations, according to startling new scholarship that may help prevent mass murder.

Most people think of genocide as mass murder of a group, but the “social death” inflicted on LGBT people by the ex-gay movement is a form of genocide that can lead to mass murder, according to professors Sue E. Spivey and Christine M. Robinson of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Their groundbreaking article “Genocidal Intentions: Social Death and the Ex-Gay Movement” appears in the April 2010 issue of the scholarly journal “Genocide Studies and Prevention.”

Using UN documents, they present genocide as a continuum of oppression, with social death at one end and mass murder at the other. The UN definition of genocide includes “causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group.”

If causing serious MENTAL harm is genocide, then the ex-gay movement is clearly genocidal. Art by ex-gay survivors shows the serious mental harm inflicted by ex-gay conversion therapies. These therapies can break the spirit and shatter lives.

The damage is made visible in powerful art by ex-gay survivors appearing with this blog post and at BeyondExGay.com. More ex-gay art may be viewed online at:
http://www.beyondexgay.com/resources/visualarts

Spivey and Robinson explain that the ex-gay movement is “predominantly an evangelical Christian Right social movement which aims to purge society of homosexuality and transgenderism.” The movement promotes the belief that “same-sex attraction” is a sinful disorder that can be cured through “reparative” and “conversion” therapies. The professors do an excellent job of analyzing the genocidal intentions expressed by ex-gay movement entrepreneurs and organizations such as Exodus International and Focus on the Family.

The UN definition of genocide also includes “imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group” and “forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.” As Spivey and Robinson point out, “ex-gay organizations seek to deny reproductive technologies and adoption rights for homosexuals, and support policies and court decisions that have forcibly removed children from the custody of their parents solely based on their homosexuality.”

The conclusion is clear. “The ex-gay movement is actively pursuing public policies that would, if implemented, constitute state-sponsored genocidal practices in the United States and globally,” Spivey and Robinson say in the article. Uganda’s notorious 2009 Anti-Homosexuality Bill is given as an example.

The authors admit that the original UN definition of genocide did not include social or political groups and was not applied to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. However, they noted that the recent International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda established a precedent by broadening the definition of possible genocide victims as any group sharing a common culture. The UN has also begun to formally recognize human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

The new understanding of genocide can benefit people beyond the GLBT community. Seeing genocide as a continuum enables people to recognize its early stages, thus predicting and preventing mass murder.

Meanwhile, genocide or not, those who have survived ex-gay experiences are joining together to heal, thrive and create art. Two artists from the BeyondExGay.com exhibit, Christine Bakke and Jason Ingram, agreed to share their work here at the Jesus in Love Blog.

Bakke takes the title of her artwork from the classic ex-gay book “The Broken Image.” Bakke explains, “For those of you who read ‘The Broken Image’ by Leanne Payne, or who were fed the notion that our sexuality or gender identity were broken, this piece of art is for you. For all those years that you were taught to see a broken image....perhaps it was only the mirror that was broken.”

Many thanks to the artists, the scholars and to Jallen Rix, author of “Ex-Gay No Way,” whose Advocate article first alerted me to the “Genocidal Intentions” scholarship.

Broken by Jason Ingram

Mixed media

“Save Me” is the story of a young gay man who undergoes ex-gay therapy, but ends up finding romance with a guy he meets at the ex-gay retreat center. Told with compassion for both gays AND conservative Christians.

Holy Innocents Day: GLBT genocide?

Massacre of the Innocents by Giotto from Wikimedia Commons

Today is Holy Innocents Day, honoring the baby boys killed by King Herod in order to avoid losing his throne to the newborn Jesus, the king foretold by the Magi.

Coventry Carol, the solemn Christmas carol based on this tragedy, has long been a favorite of mine, but I never saw any GLBT connection to the slaughter of the innocents until this month when the Jesus in Love Blog received a lot of comments on the theme.

I was surprised when my post “New Play: Transwoman Jesus tells Christmas story” led to a flurry of comments about female infanticide and selective abortion of unborn lesbians, gays and transgenders. The threat of this kind of “massacre of the innocents” is real and it provokes real fear and rage. Today I’m posting highlights from that discussion, in honor of Holy Innocents Day.

The Biblical story of the slaughter of the innocents (Matthew 2:16-18) has a silver lining: Jesus escapes. His parents got him out of Bethlehem before the massacre. To me, the message is that people may try to systematically destroy groups through infanticide and genocide, but it’s not 100 percent effective. Somebody always escapes.

Edited highlights from the comments here at the Jesus in Love Blog:

Turtle Woman said...
I have another theory that many children of god were born, but the girls were killed. Thus, patriarchy killed many girl messiahs along the way. Think about it.

KittKatt said…
I once read a moving short story by feminist Christian Reta Finger about how Jesus was born a girl in ancient Palestine and was killed soon after birth.

pennyjane said...
the story of the murdered female Jesus really does hit home. i fear, sometimes, that modern science will discover a cause for transsexualism and offer a "solution" to pregnant mothers...perhaps the option of a pill that would bring the mind and body into congruence while yet in the womb. what mother wouldn't accept that option? (poof) the end of us.

for some...perhaps most...it would seem like progress....to me, it's more like genocide.

what would Jesus do?

Turtle Woman said...
I believe infanticide is widespread in patriarchal cultures that value boys, but hate girls. The one-child policy in China, the use of amniocentesis in India to destroy girl children before they are born, and of course, ancient Israel where women were not even valued as much a livestock.

So Rita Finger's idea of the destruction of women messiahs is very real to me. I believe men kill women and girls, and that patriarchy tries in every way to destroy female spiritual leaders or even the birth of "the daughter of god."

pennyjane said...
the idea of the failed messiah...the murdered female Jesus...is not new to me. there is a woman in my bible study class who often speaks of God's great plan being peppered with failures: an abraham who didn't hear the angel on moriah; a moses who chickened out from lack of faith in aaron; a david who missed...etc.

all these things would take a re-do...so it's not that odd a thought that God gave us first a female messiah, one joseph couldn't reconcile with mary's story....so...murdered.

KittKatt said...
pj, I never thought of how MARY might have had a female child before Jesus. Interesting idea! I had heard that other good, holy women might have given birth to previous female Messiahs who were killed before they could be recognized.

Well, I must say I am surprised at how much passion some of you feel about infanticide/selective abortion of female and transgender infants. I’ve also heard that some scientists are looking for a “gay gene” in order to abort embryos that carry it.

pennyjane said...
the genocide i spoke of is real, at least in my mind. i know that there are different people seeking the "cause" of transsexualism. i've seen certain reports about certain periods of time in the womb when "hormone spashes" occurr that might influence gender identity.

my fear is real. i fear that if these times are identified the next step would be to "correct" the results of the splashes, to bring the body and mind into congruence prior to birth conscienciousness. i don't see that as becoming anything but a routine, accepted medical practice in the not so distant future. that could, in fact....be the end of us...transsexuals.

the idea saddens me deeply. i wrote a story about the last transsexual once. i called it "last bus to trinidad." the "apocalypic" herolding of the post-transsexual period of earth history.

i don't want to do away with us...i think we're worth keeping.