Week 10: Religion and liberation

By Danielle Litt

Natalia with the Bisexual Pride Flag that she shared with us

This past week was spent in Mexico City where we discussed religion, liberation theology, what it means to be both a feminist and to be liberated, and if it is possible to be these two things and have religion. We began our time in Mexico City with a panel at “La Iglesia de la comunidad metropolitana” (the church of the metropolitan community), a church vibrant with colors and art and adorned with crosses, rainbow colored flags, and stained glass windows of Jesus, the Ten Commandments, and the apple from the Garden of Eden. Here we spoke with Reverend Jorge Sosa and Fray Julian Cruzalta about sexual diversity and the Church. Throughout this conversation we heard the Bible described as myths “that are part of the construction of our being but not our history” and the Bible described as a sacred book.[i] In our next religion class on Thursday we discussed what we had thought of Cruzalta’s description of the Bible and different questions it raised for us.

That evening we made a stop at “Católicos por el Derecho a decidir” (Catholics for the right to decide). This is an organization that declares itself both Catholic and Pro-Choice, what for some would be a contradiction of terms. As we were welcomed into their garden for a talk, we were told to quickly close the door behind us since the organization receives threats because of their work. One tactic that the organization uses are quotes such as “Love others as yourself, use a condom” and the Songs of Solomon to show that there is indeed sex in the bible. This organization realizes that making sex a taboo topic does not stop sex from taking place; it just stops it from taking place safely. Its goal is to open up dialogue so that people have a place where they can learn that if they are going to have sex they should do it safely

A third conversation we had during the week was with Natalia Anaya Q., an activist who has worked with bisexuals, people with HIV, and transsexual people. She self-identifies as a member of all three of these groups. Recently, a new law created by Natalia’s organization was passed in Mexico City, stating that transsexuals have the right to change their name and gender on documents such as driver’s licenses and birth certificates. We talked about the power of language and how there can be both power and pain in different words describing men, women, transsexuals, and people of all different sexual orientations. Natalia spoke about how important and difficult it is for us to have self-acceptance and finished her talk by saying that the most important thing is to “be free inside your own soul.”[ii]

We had many different conversations this week, both with guest speakers and amongst our group. Through these talks, we not only had the opportunity to question others about religion and liberation but also ourselves. Do we think that the Bible is made up of myths? What does the word myth mean? Is the Bible sacred? Is monotheism too limiting a choice? How do we identify ourselves? Are these identities shaped by religion? Are they contradictory to religion? Can you be both a feminist and a Christian? Gay and Christian? An ally of the LGBTQ community and a Christian? More personally for me: What if you’re Jewish (a religion we have not read or had any speakers about)? I can’t write the answers to these questions. We did not come to a clear black and white consensus in our group, nor do we all have a clear black and white consensus within ourselves. These are questions that often lead to ambiguity, answers of yes and no, maybe, and sometimes. Maybe it is like the rainbow colored flags that we saw this week. Maybe instead of black and white and even gray, the answers come in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple, the colors of the gay pride flags that adorned the Church we visited. Or if not that, then at least in the pink, purple, and blue colors of the bisexual pride flag that Natalia shared with us.

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[i] Lecture by Fray Julian Cruzalta, October 21, 2008.

[ii] Lecture by Natalia Anaya Q., October 22, 2008.

Students with los Catholicos por el derecho a decidir