Big Gay Sunday

Rev. Marisol Caballero
September 14, 2014

This Sunday we prepare for Austin Pride by looking back at our involvement in the struggle for LGBTQ equality, and look ahead to how our faith is calling us to action in the days and years ahead.

Call to Worship
By Wayne Arnason

Take courage friends.
The way is often hard, the path is never clear, And the stakes are very high.
Take courage.
For deep down, there is another truth:
You are not alone.

Prayer

Source of Life that binds us, Some call you God,
Others call you Mother, Father, Universe, Love…
We give thanks today for your presence in this room today, For your presence in our hearts.
We invite this loving Spirit to dance with us, Sing with us,
Celebrate this family’s uniqueness,
Knowing that we’ve travelled a long road to arrive at today, And we have an unpredictable path laying before us, still, That will take us from tears to elation and back again.
We will gather our strength for this journey From You, our Eternal Source,
Who reminds us that loving community is Always a place for a weary traveler to rest Or to find that second wind.
May it be so.

Amen.

Sermon “Big Gay Sunday”

Unitarians and Universalists have been among those supporting equal rights and full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people for many decades. The first gay marriage performed by one of our clergy in one of our churches, reportedly happened in the late 1950’s. This Sunday, we are getting into the spirit of the upcoming week by having our first ever, Big Gay Sunday! This will be the biggest, gayest worship service you’ve ever attended … at least within the past few weeks.

Some may wonder, what does it mean to gay-up a Sunday service? I’m glad you asked. The verb, “to gay-up,” as in “to gay-up” something or someone, means to embellish, to give a flamboyant flair, to celebrate the wacky, the outlandish, the loud, the divergent, the counter-cultural outsider. These are, of course, not words that describe the personality of every person whose sexual orientation or gender identity is apart from what the dominant culture expects of them or holds as “normal.” Not all gay men are flamboyant. Not all lesbians are butch, or masculine. Not all bisexuals are traveling through a promiscuous phase of confusion. Not all gender variant folks are drag queens. In fact, most of them are not.

These tired stereotypes are not at all what we mean by Big Gay Sunday. In the alphabet soup of the incredible diversity that makes up the “queer community,” otherwise known as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, questioning, and allies, when we call anything “Big Gay,” a huge dose of joy is implicit. To some who prefer the umbrella term “queer,” the term “gay” may sound exclusionary, as it leaves out the LBQIA and focuses only on the G. Some lesbian feminists have also noted that the term “gay” as a catch-all for the entire world’s queer population is inherently misogynist, as it’s an androcentric label, invented to describe homosexual men.

I disagree. Personally, though I understand the value in common vocabulary in movement-building and understand the term “queer’s” rise in popularity among academics and activists, to “queer” something and to “gay something up” have hugely different meanings. “To queer” means to analyze or approach a subject from an LGBTQ perspective. In seminary, we often spoke of, “queering the Bible,” or “a queer reading of Paul’s epistles,” for example.

Why go through so many changes about semantics when we just want to get down to the gaiety of this Sunday? I’m glad you asked that, too. Well, lance tried to commiserate with a gay friend about how folks always seem to assume that everyone is straight until proven otherwise. I confessed that I’ve often been guilty of this bias, myself. He responded, “Really?! I always assume that everyone’s gay until proven otherwise!” So, I suppose that I am approaching today with the biased assumption that, to many in this room, this may be the first experience of a Big Gay Sunday, or a Big Gay anything, for that matter. And, with this crowd, I will own that that is a huge assumption to make!

The truth is, this congregation has been involved in the work of welcoming all who come in good faith for quite a while. But, it took quite a bit of convincing for this church to get behind the idea doing the work required by the Unitarian Universalist Association to be officially recognized as a “Welcoming Congregation” to LGBT folks. I spoke with some of those who were involved in spearheading this effort, who remember those days. Folks spoke ofthis place, as were most institutions ofthe 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, very patriarchal and heterosexist. Though there were women’s dances held here for Austin’s lesbian population, a few out gay men, and Interweave was formed as gay/straight alliance, the unspoken message was that First UU Church of Austin was a culturally straight church. Folks at that time might have had to strain their imaginations to think about a time in which this church could be led by out gay clergy.

Among those who initiated the push for our congregation to receive the honor of being named a welcoming UU congregation, was Margaret Nunley and her partner, Jenny. The minister, Fred Wooten, was ambivalent, the board needed some persuading, and the congregation was confused about why we needed to bother engaging in a series of anti-discrimination workshops. “Aren’t we already welcoming to those people?” Margaret recalls how the help of a few staunch and fearless allies made all the difference in getting everyone on board. In particular, without the help of Doris & Henry Hug and Jim Burson, only but a few would have even shown up at the initial workshop.

Doris remembers, with pride, how adamant Henry was about these workshops moving forward. “He was ahead of his time,” Doris remembers. As the father of girls, he worked for the rights of women and, though he may not have used the word himself at the time, he would have certainly embraced it now- he saw issues of sexual orientation as feminist issues. The resistance by the congregation shocked these straight allies, but was no surprise to gay folks. Doris was taken aback when she heard such comments like, “Why do we even need to do this?” “I don’t think it’s something we need to talk about when they can just come to church, anyway.”

Change is difficult, especially when it requires taking note of personal prejudices and challenging views of what is “normal.” But, though the voices were few, love won out. About twenty-five participants began and completed the Welcoming Congregation curriculum and the congregation voted to apply for recognition of being a Welcoming Congregation within the first two years of the denomination launching the certification program! Make sure and take a glance of our plaque our in the lobby, now that you know what it took to get it there!

Among the requirements of Welcoming Congregations is a commitment to ongoing, continued education. This spring, we will honor that commitment by participating in the Welcoming Congregation renewal program, Living the Welcoming Congregation.

This year is the 75th anniversary of the landmark blockbuster, “The Wizard of Oz.” The theme of this year’s Austin Pride celebration is, “Welcome to the Wonderful Land of Oz-tin.” Our church is, once again, participating in the festival and parade, happening this coming Saturday, Sept. 20th, but there are Oz-themed pride events all week long. It all kicked off yesterday with the annual “Big Gay Brunch.” We invite you to show up here.

Folks often wonder about the connection between The Wizard of Oz, Judy Garland, & the larger gay community. No one can say it better than Pandora Boxx, star of TV’s greatest gifts to humanity, RuPaul’s Drag Race, wrote in a Huffington Post editorial

“They [weren’t] called “Friends of Dorothy” [in the 40’s and 50’s] for nothing! A pretty young gal gets swept away in a tornado, lands in a colorful magical land and squashes (literally) the one ugly being around. She then gets fabulous sparkly new shoes, meets three members of a Gay Men’s Chorus who help her get to a hologram Wizard. She then goes on to defeat the hag of the monkeys. That all sounds like a night out in West Hollywood on molly.

Ultimately, it’s about knowing that the power is within you. Again, the gays love their boozy, pill popping, messy, yet wickedly talented, divas and Judy Garland was one of the first. Divas, sparkly shoes and musical numbers? Need I say more?”

Yes, the movie is escapist and over-the-top campy which, as I mentioned early on, is not only something that gay culture admires, but the art of ironic exaggeration is one that we have perfected. Judy Garland, herself, was great at this, also, whether or not she intended to be. But, that isn’t the only reason that she is a gay icon. As Pandora Boxx notes, she was a tragic figure who overcame so much of what life threw at her, a quality that is sadly alltoo relatable. But, Ms. Garland was known for adoring gay people, who not only included her throngs of fans, but her father and many of her closest friends. She is reputed to have once said, “When I die I have visions of fags singing ‘Over the Rainbow‘ and the flag at Fire Island being flown at half-mast.” But, what’s more is that legend has it that on the night of the Stonewall Riots in New York’s Greenwich Village, the event which sparked the beginning ofthe modern Gay Rights Movement, began the night of Judy Garland’s funeral.

Time Magazine reported, decades later that, “The uprising was inspirited by a potent cocktail of pent-up rage (raids of gay bars were brutal and routine), overwrought emotions (hours earlier, thousands had wept at the funeral of Judy Garland) and drugs. As a 17-yearold cross-dresser was being led into the paddy wagon and got a shove from a cop, she fought back. [She] hit the cop and was so stoned, she didn’t know what she was doing – or didn’t care.”

That was 1969. We now have nineteen states that allow freedom to marry and fourteen states in which judges have ruled in favor of same-sex marriage, including Texas! So, why does pride still matter? Why do we still need festivals & parades? CNN contributor, LZ Granderson says, “Because Congress has yet to pass a law requiring people to hide the fact they are straight. Because the streets are not filled with children who have been kicked out of their homes for being straight. Because there seems to be a lack of stories in which someone has been beaten, tied to a fence and left to die or shot in the face at point blank range because they were straight.”

Marriage equality is important, but it is not, by far the only inequity suffered by queer people. Until I can walk into any grocery store (or church) while holding my fiance’s hand and not be given the stink eye, be spat at, called names, or be made to fear for my safety – all of which have happened to me and many others – Pride is necessary. For as long as we, as a historically marginalized community, hold memories of a painful, violent past, we will need to come together with each other and with our allies to be fierce!; to celebrate life lived brave and proud.

In this way, Pride is not just for “the gays,” it’s for our allies, too. So, I urge you, no matter which way you were born, to join us this Friday evening, 6-8pm for float decorating, and Saturday at our festival booth or to march with us in the parade! You can get more information and sign up at the Lifespan Religious Education booth after service. In keeping with the Oz theme, Meg will be the queen of our float, dressed as Glinda, The Good Witch, and I’ll be marching as Dorothy. Come in costume, in your Standing on the Side of Love T-shirts, or come as you are! We hope to see you there, gaying it up!

Benediction

Go gayly forth to be fierce in demonstrating love. Werk!

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