Praying for the Dead and the Living in Orlando
June 13, 2016
Prayers for protection, healing, peace
and comfort during this time of grief
and righteous rage.
To everyone in Orlando
To the streets of Pride, worldwide.
To all of our LGBTQ2 loved ones
Family, lovers, friends, children, grandchildren
and ourselves.
Holy.
Ancestors.
You whose hands we held, dying of AIDS,
of gaybashing, of hate crimes, of misogyny
of all the phobias turned outwards
that took our loved ones’ lives.
We call your names. Guide us now.
Goddesses of healing and battle, Brigid, Morrígan,
hold and comfort our wounded,
rally our dead and fight like hell for the living.
We call you now.
In pride, in power, in resistance.
Slàinte Mhath.
Our prayers are with everyone in Orlando, and everyone who’s been affected by this homophobic and racist hate crime (for anyone who didn’t know, not only was the shootout at a gay club during Pride month, but it was Latino night and a drag show).
For those of us who lived through earlier eras, this is bringing back hard memories of when we, too, were shot at or jumped just for going to a gay club, when we held vigils for people murdered by gaybashers, where people we had been with on the barricades turned up dead after being hassled at Pride. Those days are not that long gone, and this is a flashback to when our marches were not “Pride,” but “Liberation.”
This meme includes one of the Winged Victories from a monument in Dublin. She has a shield of protection and has taken away the sword from the enemy and broken it. The background is a photo by Diana Davies of the very first Gay Pride rally, aka Christopher Street Liberation Day, aka The Gay Liberation Run, held on the first anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising.
Be safe out there, folks.
Winged Victory courtesy Wikimedia. For more about Diana Davies photos of the Gay Liberation Front.
