Fistfighting on Easter
A short note on timing
Dear L,
I get tired of sinning, but never of apologizing.
Apologies are sweet to me: a rechristening of a soul first, and then a friendship. I can’t avoid being a fool, but I can avoid staying one; so let me apologize for yesterday — a good thing said in the wrong way at the wrong time.
Actually, make that two things. The first of them was a gut reaction to Joe Biden reaffirming “Trans Day of Visibility” on Easter. I said, the last thing trans people need is a Day of Visibility. What they need is a day of invisibility; or at least to be seen and not be recognized as trans. The whole day is a shot in the foot.
This is all true, of course. The one thing they want is the one thing almost none of them can get — to be recognized without question as another gender. They have to threaten people just to pretend they’re getting it, and the harder they reach for it, and the more obvious they are about reaching, the further it gets from them — just like Princess Leia said to Darth Vader. It’s been a while since I’ve seen the movie, but I’m pretty sure that’s what she said*.
But whether or not Biden says unholy things is beside the point. Silly people will always say them. The question is, do I fight back on Easter, or keep my space holy? Do I shoot back with truth, or dodge and go about my way — not resisting an evil person, as Christ Himself commanded? (An even more important question: can anyone be good if he takes this teaching literally?)
I chose to shoot back and it felt bad — a poisoning of the atmosphere with a fight when Easter is about the fact that we already won. Maybe this is a sin and maybe it isn’t: it just felt bad, so I’m trusting my feelings on it — just like Han Solo said to Luke**.
The second thing I said to my friends was much worse. It was, Ask a body-positive Christian if there are going to be any fat people in heaven. Then watch their eyes and see the light go out.
Now, I’ve never been to heaven. I’ve never met anyone who’s been there. God hasn’t come down out of the clouds and told me what the average BMI is. I just had this idea, on Easter, that nobody can get fat in heaven. It was that nobody can have heart disease. Nobody’s knees can blow out at 25 because they weigh too much. Nobody can huff going up the stairs and nobody will laugh at them because of it. And nobody will feel self conscious because nobody will get ugly from twinkies. The idea that anyone can be obese in heaven is a joke in itself. If God is actually good, in heaven you can hit Hometown Buffet and leave with your dignity intact***.
My point was that being obese is an objectively evil thing. People lie about it on earth because they don't have the character to face it; but in heaven nobody will be even slightly less than perfect. The very idea of fatness will have to be left in our memories, only to remind us that God finally saved us from ourselves.
Even the “body positive” know this has to be true. To suggest that anyone could spend their eternity dreading summer because they can’t stop sweating and they don’t look good in a bikini is a joke — as most liberal ideas are. God designed fitness so you could enjoy life — a positive thing. Liberals want to get rid of the pain and the shame — a negative thing. One is a lie which keeps the horror and bans people for saying it’s horrible. The other is just goodness and avoids the horror itself. And I pointed it out. And I poisoned the atmosphere on Easter again and I bungled the delivery.
These two subjects have something in common, though, and it’s that people keep saying lies, and the person who refutes the lies looks worse than the person who states them. This is a recurring theme in our society, and one that gets me into scrapes over and over again: a cloaca maxima**** of B.S. spouted day after day, each lie getting worse than the last. In fact their whole platform of “inclusion” is built on it. They even enjoy lying. It makes them feel like good people. The balder the lie, the better they feel.
Thus they cover up real crimes and they burn cities over fake ones. They defend liars at work and they fire the honest. They get rid of grades and evidence and standards and morals to make some people “fit in.” They pretend that getting rid of standards doesn’t prove what it does — that they know some people are worse than others. And they won’t admit the corollary either: that some people are better than others. And the truth can be ugly, of course. And sometimes it has to be covered up for the sake of a good time. Peter says love covers a multitude of sins. Love may also cover a multitude of facts. But there are few things more ugly than someone who lies about obvious facts and then backs those lies up with threats.
I believe all of this is true. I just wish I hadn’t gotten into it on Easter.
Yours,
-J
*That’s not what Princess Leia said.
**Han Solo didn’t say that either.
***The existence of Hometown Buffet in heaven was never confirmed anywhere in Star Wars at all.
****I had an idea years back to write my blog with all these big words and then have links to the dictionary — which I considered the height of condescension, and thus hilarious. Today you see it in practice without irony. The cloaca maxima reference was good, but it was too obscure and I got worried. So I gave you a link, and I did it with a wink.
P.S. The last thing the alphabet people need is another Holy Day anyway. Their only competition in this realm is the Catholics — another religious group which has a long history of celebrating themselves and “bothering” children. This last characteristic is even something they teamed up for.
Here’s a list of the Holy Days we already have, from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation’s own website:
February
February 7: National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
Week after Valentine’s Day: Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week
February 28: HIV Is Not A Crime Awareness Day
March
March: Bisexual Health Awareness Month
Week varies in March: National LGBT Health Awareness Week
March 10: National Women & Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
March 20: National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
March 31: International Transgender Day of Visibility
April
April 6: International Asexuality Day
April 10: National Youth HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
Third Friday of April: Day of Silence
April 18: National Transgender HIV Testing Day
April 18: Nonbinary Parents Day
April 26: Lesbian Visibility Day
May
First Sunday In May: International Family Equality Day
May 17: International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia
May 19: National Asian & Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
May 22: Harvey Milk Day
May 24: Pansexual and Panromantic Awareness and Visibility Day
June
June: LGBTQ Pride Month
June 1: LGBTQ Families Day
June 12: Pulse Remembrance
June 15: Anniversary of U.S. Supreme Court Bostock decision expanding protections to LGBTQ employees
June 26: Anniversary of U.S. Supreme Court legalizing marriage equality
June 27: National HIV Testing Day
June 28: Stonewall Day
June 30: Queer Youth of Faith Day
July
Week of July 14: Nonbinary Awareness Week, culminates in International Nonbinary People’s Day on July 14
July 16: International Drag Day
August
August 14: Gay Uncles Day
August 20: Southern HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
September
September 18: National HIV/AIDS & Aging Awareness Day
Week of September 23: Bisexual+ Awareness Week, culminates in Celebrate Bisexuality Day on September 23
September 27: National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
October
October: LGBTQ History Month
October 8: International Lesbian Day
October 11: National Coming Out Day
October 15: National Latinx HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
October 19: National LGBT Center Awareness Day
Third Wednesday in October: International Pronouns Day
Third Thursday in October: Spirit Day
Last week in October: Asexual Awareness Week
October 26: Intersex Awareness Day
November
First Sunday of November: Transgender Parent Day
November 13 – 19: Transgender Awareness Week
November 20: Transgender Day of Remembrance
December
December 1: World AIDS Day
December 8: Pansexual/Panromantic Pride Day
December 14: HIV Cure Research Day
Other than Gay Uncles Day, on which I will be delivering a hearty congrats to my brother-in-law, my personal favorite is the Day of Silence, when the LGBTQ community publicly announces their existence — again. January somehow escaped their grasp, but thankfully, GLAAD ends the list with a means to correct it,
To recommend additional LGBTQ or HIV-focused recognitions, please email press@glaad.org.
I’ll be sure to do that — as soon as I can think of a race that didn’t get an AIDS day. I didn’t see the Arabs mentioned up there. I think it may have been on purpose.
I’m dangerously unqualified to comment on your unique approach to life’s challenges. I’m 77 and I’m not easily entertained or educated. I truly appreciate your perspective and always look forward to your next contribution. Fistfight was great.