This year we have worked collaboratively with the University of Glasgow, as well as the Iona Community, members of the Woodlands Methodist Church, included a special message of hope from the Scottish Transgender Alliance, and a reflection from Khakan Qureshi, a Muslim Gay activist from Birmingham, to compile this TDOR service. That is a Transgender Day of Remembrance service, a day to remember those whose lives have been tragically taken from us because they identified as transgender or non binary – they have been murdered or have taken their own lives because of the pressures they have suffered. But we want to say to the transgender community – they are loved.
This is an opportunity to encourage transgender individuals, that they are welcomed, accepted and loved by God – as seen by the sheer diversity of individuals who have contributed towards this service. We have Christians, Quakers, Pagans and Muslims praying for the Transgender community.
Minister: Welcome to this time to remember those whose lives have been tragically taken from them, families broken, relationships severed, by suicide, murder because of identifying as transgender.
In this short time we will pause to reflect on the sheer number of lives across so many continents of our world which have been cut short because of intolerance and an unwillingness to love one another, to love someone as God truly made them.
Let’s pray: Creator God, we thank you for your love, given to every one of us, regardless of colour, race, gender or religion – your grace is given to us and it is up to us to accept. Your love to us is a gift. May we in this time, pause to offer prayers, offer hope, a change in our attitudes, to welcome all, to accept all. Amen
We take a few moments to see the faces of those who have died this past year. Candles are lit, their light to remind us of their lives illuminating many, before so tragically extinguished.
A challenge that we can do much more from Khakan Qureshi BEM, who is a South Asian gay Muslim man in an interracial & interfaith relationship. Khakan has challenged stereotypes and overcome the dual discrimination of both homophobia and Islamophobia. He is the Founder of Birmingham South Asians LGBT
We offer prayers:
[Dave] God full of mercy, bless the souls of all who are in our hearts as we mark this year the Transgender Day of Remembrance. We call to mind young and old, of every race, faith, and gender experience, who have died by violence.
[Alex] We remember those who have died because they would not hide, or did not pass, or did pass, or stood too proud. Today we name them: the reluctant activist; the fiery hurler of heels; the warrior for quiet truth; the one whom no one really knew.
[Jo] As many as we can name, there are thousands more whom we cannot: we mourn their senseless deaths, and give thanks for their lives, for their teaching, and for the brief glow of each holy flame. We pray for the strength to carry on their legacy of vision, bravery, and love.
[Michael] And as we remember them, we remember with them the thousands more who have taken their own lives. We pray for resolve to root out the injustice, ignorance, and cruelty that grow despair.
[Liz] And we pray, God, that all those who perpetrate hate and violence will speedily come to understand that Your creation has many faces, many genders, many holy expressions. Blessed are they, who have allowed their divine image to shine in the world. Blessed is God, in Whom no light is extinguished.
Adapted from Rabbi Reuben Zellman
I AM [Caroline]
I defied the gender binary.
I challenged the first pronouncement ever made about me. I questioned the evidence my body presented to me,
and I took issue with the guidance of my parents,
who assumed,
and nudged my life down one path
without even asking me
if that’s where I wanted to go.
I confounded my society and my culture,
and I ignored what I was told was the norm.
I lived on the edges
and I defied definitions.
I am far more than the names I have been called.
I have done many things and lived many lives.
I am the rule-breaker, the exception, the trickster,
the one who divides and multiplies the gender binary
until it becomes a string of infinite possibilities.
In ancient times I was celebrated
as one who walked in many worlds.
I was revered as the one who embodied transformation and who showed the world
that we can change
But ancient wisdom has long been forgotten
and now I pay the price for our forgetfulness.
We tend to behave badly
Toward that which we do not understand,
and therein lies the pain.
Like all of creation,
I am a mystery.
I don’t seek to be understood.
I just seek to be accepted.
By Emma Chattin; Written for the 2009 Transgender Day of Remembrance, Appeared in MCC’s “Holy Conversations”
Prayers from students at University of Glasgow and a poem of Infinite Love, read by Read Linda Haggerstone
[Bob] We lift these prayers up to you, O God,
You who are beyond binaries,
You who calls us each by name and loves us beyond measure.
Amen.
What are ways that we can continue to move forward with supporting the Transgender, Non Binary, Lesbians, Gay, Bisexual, Intersex and Queer communities?
The dialogue was very interesting