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:
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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?

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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).