A Tent Peg and A Shot Glass

This sermon was delivered at Central Congregational Church in Galesburg, Illinois. Video is at the bottom of the post.

Pentecost celebrates the birth of the church. This was not a quiet or gentle beginning, but rather a riotous, frenzied start of something that would persist for thousands of years to come. There were flaming tongues from the sky, rushing wind, and people talking in every language imaginable. It was so wild, that some accused the disciples of drinking too much wine. But the disciples weren’t drunk- they had been radicalized by the holy spirit, and it was from this experience that they were able to go out and build the Church universal. That is why today is often called the “birthday of the church,” as Pentecost was the fiery beginning of something new.

Today I want to talk about a different birthday celebration. This month is the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York City. These riots launched movement for gay rights in the united states and they were ALSO a fiery beginning of something new. But why am I talking about this today? Because it matters.

You may or may not know this, but today is Galesburg’s Pride celebration picnic at Lake Storey. It’s important to me that you know this, because having a Pride celebration in a town the size of Galesburg means the world to LGBTQ+ kids, youth, and adults- it means that we have a home here in Galesburg and it celebrates how far we have come as an LGBTQ+ community. It may make you uncomfortable that I’m speaking about LGBTQ+ issues from the pulpit today, but as I’ve been told, Jesus came to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.

Why is it important that there’s a Galesburg pride? Well, The second leading cause of death in college age students is suicide.For transgender people, the risk of suicide is nearly nine times the rate of the rest of the U.S. Population. Further, LGBTQ+ youth have a higher incidence of mental disorder diagnoses. Nearly 75% of LGBTQ+ college students have experienced sexual harassment. Twenty percent of LGBTQ+ college students feared for their physical safety due to their gender identity or their perceived sexual orientation, and these rates increase to 31% for LGBTQ+ students of color. LGBTQ+ students are less likely to feel safe, less likely to feel respected and less likely to feel like they belong than their heterosexual counterparts. Additionally, LGBTQ+ students are more likely to feel anxious, struggle with depression, and rate their own emotional health lower than their straight counterparts. LGBTQ+ students are also more likely to feel isolated from campus life. These students also have a higher incidence of feeling lonely, self-harming, seriously considering suicide, and attempting suicide. And yet, studies have shown that when LGBTQ+ young folks ARE supported? These risks are reduced exponentially. Having a Pride celebration can quite literally save lives. So, it matters.

Fifty years ago this month, Pride was born. Perhaps you’ve seen t-shirts that say “the first pride was a riot,” and that’s because it was. It’s never been easy to be an LGBTQ+ person, but in the 1960’s and the decades preceding, it was even harder. In New York city, police raids on gay bars were a regular occurance, as it was illegal to serve Gay people alcohol or for same-sex couples to dance with each other. During these raids, the lights would be turned on and anyone without full identification or anyone wearing less than three pieces of “gender appropriate” clothing would be arrested. After the raids, folks would leave and wait to return another night. However, on June 28, 1969, things didn't go “as usual. The crowd fought back- they threw garbage cans, bottles, rocks, and bricks. They used a parking meter as a battering ram. They fought back, and the next day they returned to protest again. Today, pride parades and picnics and celebrations are held to commemorate the Stonewall Riots- not to celebrate the violence, but to celebrate the fight for LGBTQ+ rights that became more public and more visible because of the riots.

The Stonewall riots wouldn’t have been successful without brave women doing something dangerous. Two women, Masha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera were pivotal figures in the Stonewall riots, and the LGBTQ+ community owes them both a great debt of gratitude. Both of these women, both of them trans* women of color, are considered the unsung heroines of Stonewall.

So today, I want to tell you two stories- one from the Old Testament, and one from Stonewall. As these stories show us that sometimes, it takes a bold act by a bold woman to make change happen.

In the story from Judges, Israel has yet again fallen into the hands of captors- this time the Canaanites. This is part of the deuteronomistic cycle in the first testament where God would tell Israel, “don’t do the thing” and Israel would do the thing anyway, and then they’d end up subject to their enemies and cry out for help until God sent a prophet or a deliverer that would lead them out of bondage until the whole cycle would repeat again. It’s not pretty. This time, the Israelites were under the rule of Canaan, and God sent them a woman- Deborah.

I’m pretty sure this is one of those moments when God was like, “well, they aren’t listening to any of the men I send, let’s try something new.” So we have Deborah, a prophet, serving as a judge for Israel. She was essentially the ruler of Israel, and everyone came to her for advice.

During this time, the Israelites were fighting for their independence from Canan whose army was led by a commander named Sisera. Deborah had a plan for drawing Sisera out and ending the war, but her general, Barak wouldn’t cooperate. Despite that, she said that “The Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.”

Was that woman Deborah? No

Enter Jael. Sisera had stopped at the home of Heber the Kenite- who was an ally to the Canannites. However, Heber’s wife, Jael was not an ally, she had bigger plans. She fed him, helped him to bed, and gave him warm milk to ease him to sleep. While he slept, she drove a tent peg through his temple- killing him. She seized the moment. She acted in a way that no one would have expected. And she changed the course of Israel’s history. The death of Sisera led to Israel’s victory against the Canaanites, and it wouldn’t have happened without a brave woman doing something dangerous.

Fifty years ago, on June 28, 1969, Marsha P. Johnson was at the Stonewall Inn celebrating her 25th birthday. Marsha was a transgender woman of color who had found solace at the Stonewall In. Although she was assigned male at birth, Marsha started wearing dresses when she was 5, and was raped when she was 13. She came to New York in 1960 and met her first Drag Queens and realized she had a place she could fit. In a world where there was no place else for a young black drag queen to exist, she found solace in the village and at the Stonewall Inn. She was one of the first drag queens to become a regular at Stonewall, and she was much revered on Christopher street. She was something of a patron saint for other drag queens, and those who knew her said that he presence was almost holy. She would ask for money from folks in the streets and then turn around and give it to someone who needed a meal, she’d adorn her head with daffodils and ribbons, and she’d give her signature smile to anyone who needed to feel loved or safe.

It was early in the morning, or late in the night depending on how you look at it, when the police raided the Stonewall Inn in an uncharacteristic surprise raid. As per usual in these raids, those not wearing at least three items of “gender appropriate” clothing were subject to arrest. When the police started reading Marsha her rights, she threw a shot glass into a mirror. This act of defiance became known as the “shot glass that was heard around the world,” and soon others joined in resisting arrest. A crowd started to gather outside of the bar The police dragged a lesbian woman to the paddy wagon, hitting her over the head to force her into compliance. She screamed at the crowd to do something. People began throwing pennies, pennies became nickels, nickels became quarters, quarters became bricks. It was a full on riot. The crowd grew angrier and larger, and the police barricaded themselves inside the bar until a riot squad could free them and disperse the crowd.

But the crowds returned the next day. And the day after that. For five days the LGBTQ+ community of New York showed up to protest. Each night the protests grew more deliberate and more focused. The riots galvanized the gay rights movement and created momentum. A year later, Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, another trans woman of color who had been present at the riots, were pivotal in the march that took place on the one year anniversary of Stonewall- the first Pride parade. Other cities joined in- Los Angeles...Chicago. And the movement began to grow into a push for rights and equality.

The movement that brought research for AIDS. The movement that made same-sex marriage legal. The power of this movement toward equality can be traced back to a trans woman of color celebrating her birthday, and her shot glass.

One of the people there that night, Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt, put it this way. Moments like this happen "because people make decisions that are sometimes very impulsive and of the moment, but those moments are cumulative realities."

The cumulative reality of Jael’s moment- her tent peg moment, led Israel to freedom. The cumulative reality of Marsha’s moment- her shot glass moment, led me to freedom. It allowed me to be here today, in this pulpit, sharing this story with you and celebrating the beginnings of my own liberation.

But does it end with a tent peg or a shot glass?

No. The power of these moments are not isolated to the moments themselves. The power comes in what comes next. Sadly, Israel continued its pattern for many generations to come- backsliding again and again only to cry out for help and deliverance. Sadly, the march to equality is just as difficult. With every movement toward true equality for all people, we are met with the reality of hate and misunderstanding.

There are churches where we aren’t welcome to worship. There are families that turn us away. There are jobs that fire us. And there is so much violence. Last year, 26 transgender women of color were murdered in the United States. This year, there have already been 9- Dana Martin, Jazzaline Ware, Ashanti Carmon, Claire Legato, Muhlaysia Booker, Michelle Tamika Washington, Paris Cameron, Chynal Lindsey, and Chanel Scurlock. Just last week, two London women were beaten for refusing to kiss at the demands of five teenage boys.

Here’s the thing, folks, we need Galesburg Pride because we need to let our family, friends, and children know that there is a safe place of them in this community. We need open and affirming churches like this one because of the years of abuse LGBTQ+ folks have suffered at the hands of those claiming to be Christian. We need to be reminded that there are places and communites where we know that Jesus loves us, and that we are loved and lovable, accepted and acceptable as children of God. This church can be that type of community. This church can be a tent peg and a shot glass.

Amen.

¹ "10 Leading Causes of Death by Age Group, United States 2017."

² "U.S. Transgender Survey 2016," 5.

³ Mustanski, Garoafalo, and Emerson, "Mental Health Disorders, Psychological Distress, and Suicidality in a Diverse Sample of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Youths."

⁴ "AAU Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Sexual Misconduct (2015) | Association of American Universities (AAU)."

⁵ "AAU Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Sexual Misconduct (2015) | Association of American Universities (AAU"

⁶ Greathouse et al., "Queer Spectrum and Trans-Spectrum Student Experiences in American Higher Education."

⁷ Greathouse et al.

⁸ Greathouse et al.

⁹ Greathouse et al.

¹⁰ "Using a Transgender Person's Name Can Decrease Their Risk of Depression and Suicide | Teen Vogue."

¹¹ Editors, "Stonewall Riots."

¹² "The Birthplace."

¹³ "The Birthplace."

¹⁴ Kasino and Kasino, Pay It No Mind: Marsha P. Johnson, 6:00.

¹⁵ Kasino and Kasino, 7:40.

¹⁶ Kasino and Kasino, 2:35.

¹⁷ Hillstrom, The Stonewall Riots, 108.

¹⁸ Hillstrom, 108.

¹⁹ Kasino and Kasino, 16:30