From: lcrew@andromeda.rutgers.edu (Louie Crew)
Newsgroups: soc.motss
Subject: LesBiGay Thanksgiving
Date: 22 Nov 92 13:25:35 GMT
Reply-To: <lcrew@andromeda.rutgers.edu>
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.


We who are lesbian, gay, or bisexual experience fierce ironies in being
defined reductively by our plumbing.  When neighbors persecute us for being
different, toughs do not shout "poet!",  "thinker!", "religious!", "tri-
lingualist!" or any of the significant other ways we deviate.  It is not
surprising that in reclaiming our wholeness, we stress spirit and mind.
The most neglected commandment is to love God with these -- but not with
these alone.   God commands us to love God with our bodies too.
 
To fulfill this commandment, we must integrate our minds and our bodies.  And
when we struggle to do so, we have perhaps our most important gifts to give
to heterosexuals as well.
 
We cannot integrate what we will not name, we cannot be of one spirit with
that which we cannot pray about.
 
When God made Creation, She looked upon it and said, not with a frown, but
with gladness, "It is Good!"  When we did not hear, He said, "Call not
unclean any one whom I have made."
 
From Anglosaxon _hal_ we derive three modern words:  _hale_ (as in healthy),
_whole_ (as in complete), and _holy_.   The three still are one.  Thanks be
to God.
 
 
       Lesbigay Litany for Thanksgiving
 
 
 
We thank you, creator,
for penises and vaginas,
for breasts and chests,
for mouths and teeth,
for pre-cum and tubular lubrication,
for heads cut and uncut, with and without cheese,
for clits slow and fast, high and low,
for nipples hard and nipples soft,
for nipples hairy and nipples smooth,
for navels, innies and outies,
for rectums,
for slits galore and slippery places,
for nerves in ears and toes and wrists,
for blinks and winks,
for sperm, for eggs,
for legs and arms that squeeze,
for scrota and wombs.
 
For the first person to kiss us with open mouth,
    whom we now name, for ________,
for the first person to whisper or nod or pant,
for our first hot dream,
for our first wet and sticky sheets,
for the first person to stay overnight,
    whom we now name, for ________,
for the first person to lick lips,
for ejaculation, for spasms,
for involuntary lust,
for sweat, for pubes between the teeth,
we thank you, creator.
 
For those who have suffered for our love,
for every lesbian murdered as a witch,
for every male burned at the stake, shot, or
     drawn and quartered,
for every "dishonorable" discharge,
for every job stolen, every career smashed,
     every dream deferred,
bless us, Just One.
 
Bless the victims of rape and child abuse,
Bless the persons with AIDS and ARC.
Bless those who have died.
      especially those whom we now name:  _________
 
For every dyke, for every sissy,
for every quean, for every dagger,
for every butch, for every femme,
we thank you, Creator.
For gay male clowns and lesbian priests,
for gay surgeons and hairdressers,
for lesbian truck drivers and scholars,
for every lesbigay waiter in the world
and for every lesbigay student,
we thank you, Creator.
 
For gay imagination, for gay joy,
for lesbian excitement, for lesbian arousal,
for the kindness of strangers,
for lesbigay art, music, and poetry,
for lesbigay prayer, quietness, and peace,
for lesbigay gentleness and courage,
for lesbigay scientists and designers,
we thank you, Creator.
 
But especially for all lesbians and gays dear to us,
for ........
 
[Here the congregation will name those dear to them.
When done, the officiant will continue...]
 
We thank you, we thank you, we thank you.   AMEN
 
[The congregation responds:]
 
We thank you, we thank you, we thank you.   AMEN
 
 
                              --Louie Crew
 
Copyright 1990, 1992 by Louie Crew.  Permission granted to anyone who sends
him a copy of published version: P. O. Box 30, Newark, NJ 07101

-- 
  ==========================================================================
  Louie Crew, Assoc. Prof., Academic Foundations Dept., Rutgers U./NWK 07102
  lcrew@andromeda.rutgers.edu                                   201-485-4503
                            Closets are for prayer!
Newsgroups: soc.motss,rec.pets.cats