A Queer Prayer after Colorado Springs

This evening, we are still processing the mass murder at Club Q in Colorado Springs overnight even as we commemorate all the trans beloveds whose lives have been stolen on this Trans Day of Remembrance. Tonight, we are reminded yet again of the violence that lies at the core of white Christian nationalism, whether in the form of guns aimed at our queer and trans beloveds, or legislation designed to criminalize our very existence. We at Side With Love will continue to fight for a world in which all bodies are treated as sacred; to join our UPLIFT Action campaign for LGBTQ+, Gender & Reproductive Justice, click here. 

To our beloved trans and queer family,

If your heart is broken, we weep with you. 

May you sense how fiercely you are held in love.

If your fists are frozen in rage, we scream our fury alongside you. 

May you be warmed by the white-hot heat of our righteous solidarity.

If your stomach drops with terror, we tremble with you. 

May you feel the strength of the safety we wrap around one another.

If your bones are weary, we sink down next to you. 

May deep rest be the companion of your grief.

And, beloveds, remember:

All of us–

the high femmes, the faeries, the twinks, the gender transgressors, the panromantics,

the dykes, the bears, the studs, the butches, the homos, the androgynes, 

the aces, the demibois, the zaddies, the graysexuals, the baby queers – 

all the delicious, unexpected, gorgeously beloved incarnations of us – 

we are made from stardust and and leather and honey 

and Love.

Even on the todays, 

the mornings when mourning our dead and fearing for our lives 

is the metallic aftertaste on our tongues:

We still dance because the surging electric life force 

that loved us into being and that pulses through our veins 

is too powerful to stay inert and unmoving. 

How could we be still?

We still sing because the defiant hymns of our ancestors 

reverberate in the tiniest interstices between our cells. 

How can we keep from singing?

We still congregate because like root systems and constellations and watersheds,

the molecules of our being only make sense 

when we are intertwined and inseparable 

and powerfully free in our interdependence. 

How could we do other than to claim and choose each other, every day?

We dance our resistance.

We sing our belovedness.

We gather each other up 

and we do not let go.

As is our vow, today and all days:

we will mourn the dead and fight like hell for the living.

And all the while, we will repeat this truth

Til it is lodged in our bones and

And undisputed anywhere:

We were meant for life, for abundance, for freedom.

We were made for joy.

In faith and solidarity,

Rev. Ashley Horan

Side With Love Organizing Strategy Director