Blessed Are the Binary Breakers

In saying yes to bearing God Themself outside of marriage, Mary said yes to disgrace in the eyes of the world — not unlike the rejection LGBTQA+ persons can face when we accept God's call to live into our full, beautiful, queer selves. In this short story from Squirrel House Publishing's 2021 anthology Reconstructing Christmas, the Mother of God emboldens a nonbinary college student to take a courageous step.

Click here for an episode transcript.

Talking Points:

- 0:00 - Exploring the queerness of Mary in Luke 1, as well as in her apparitions to marginalized persons across the ages

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Blessed Are the Binary Breakers is part of the Rock Candy Podcast Network. Find more shows at www.rockcandyrecordings.com.

This show's theme song is "Aetherium" by Leah Horn. This episode also makes use of "Let's Just Get through Christmas" by Doctor Turtle.

K Kriesel (they/them or she/her) is not afraid of "messy," with a spiritual life that blends Catholicism and Wicca, and holds space for time adrift. 

K has broken away from a variety of groups that proved too limiting to uplift the most marginalized, including any feminism that prioritizes white, cis women. As they search for a spiritual community built with people like them in mind, K serves as a chaplain and creates the kind of queer Catholic art they want to see in the world. You can contact K and view their work at kkriesel.com or @kkrieselart on Instagram or Facebook.

Click here for an episode transcript.

Click here for K's Google Doc of Nonbinary spiritual resources.

Talking Points:

0:00 - Intro material

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Blessed  Are the Binary Breakers is part of the Rock Candy Podcast Network. Find more shows at www.rockcandyrecordings.com.

This show's theme song is "Aetherium" by Leah Horn. This episode also makes use of "The Encouragement Stick" by Doctor Turtle.

After growing up Southern Baptist and pressured to conform to gender norms, it took time for Ynza Morgan Star (she/her & zey/zeir) to live fully into her genderqueer, agnostic, pagan, game designer self. In this episode, Ynza shares how neurodivergence and the power of story have shaped her journey; how zey crafted zeir own name; how zey joined zeir local Unitarian Universalist fellowship; and so much more!

Content warnings: lots of discussion about conservative Christianity and transphobia, including the intense policing of a child’s self-expression. There are also brief mentions of dementia and parent death.

Click here for the episode transcript, which includes links with info on various discussion points throughout.

Talking Points:

0:00 - Intro, including Avery's visit to Ynza's UU fellowship

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Blessed  Are the Binary Breakers is part of the Rock Candy Podcast  Network. Find more shows at www.rockcandyrecordings.com.

This show's theme song is "Aetherium" by Leah Horn. This episode also makes use of "Gold Beamer" by Mother Hood.

This episode is a slightly abridged version of part 1 of the Neuroqueer Joseph series over on The Autistic Liberation Theology podcast. Be sure to visit Laura's podcast for parts 2 & 3 once you've finished this episode!

My friend Laura and I explore all the queer + autistic elements of Joseph's story, starting with Genesis 37. Joseph wears makeup and the colorful dress of a princess, toe-walks, and dreams dreams that threaten the status quo — a queer and neurodivergent figure if there ever was one! Why did Joseph’s world — and why does ours — view such a person as threatening? What gifts do neuroqueer folk bring to their communities when empowered to do so? 

Content warnings: discussions of transphobia & anti-autistic ableism, bullying, familial violence, hate crimes.

Click here for an episode transcript.

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Timestamps:

(0:00) Introducing the episode

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Further Reading:

- Article: "(Gender)queering Joseph" by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg

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This show's theme song is "Aetherium" by Leah Horn. This episode also makes use of "Dreamer" and "Theme 1" by Jeremy SH Griffith.

Avery reads more passages from Leslie Feinberg's 1996 work Transgender Warriors — this time ones that respond to the same tired arguments people have been making against the trans community for decades now. How do you respond when someone insists that women's spaces shouldn't include trans women, that drag queens make a mockery of femininity, that trans women have male privilege? Feinberg offered concise, helpful answers years ago that can help us continue the good fight today.

Click here for an episode transcript, which contains source links.

Talking Points:

(0:00 - 4:30) Call for stories + introducing the topic

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This show's theme song is "Aetherium" by Leah Horn. This episode also  makes use of "Gold Beamer," "Can't Find," and "Lately" by Mother Hood.

Avery reads excerpts from Leslie Feinberg's Transgender Warriors. Though the book was first published in 1996, the history it relates could not be more pertinent. In the shared passages, Feinberg emphasizes how we must not only demand and win but also defend our human rights. The fight isn’t over until systems that deny us our rights are also overthrown, and every single person is free.

Click here for an episode transcript.

You can read Transgender Warriors for free online.

Talking points:

(0:00 - 4:48) Introducing Leslie Feinberg and Transgender Warriors

(4:49 - 15:42) Resisting divide-and-conquer tactics, fighting to win and keep trans rights and all rights

15:43 - end) Wrapping up — send Avery your thoughts, fears, responses to current events

UCC pastor Rev. Krissy imagines a Body of Christ that moves beyond the institutional Church. We are called to confront corruption and power, and to unite in solidarity with all who work towards liberation.

This is a bonus clip from a larger conversation; check out episode 54 — “Coming Back to Life: Rev. Krissy is a Politically Queer UCC Pastor" — for more of Krissy's story and wisdom. Find Krissy at rev-krissy.tumblr.com; or visit their church website: www.epiphanyucc.org

Click here for an episode transcript. 

Talking Points:

(0:00 - 3:45) Intro material

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FURTHER READING

- Interfaith Worker Justice

- "Labor Rights in the Jewish Tradition"

- “What is biblical inerrancy? What does it mean to say the Bible is literally true?”

- "American Christianity's White Supremacy Problem"

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This show's theme song is "Aetherium" by Leah Horn. This episode also makes use of "Gold Beamer" and "Can't Find" by Mother Hood.

In Jesus, God rose with wounds that would have impaired his mobility and fine motor skills. In John 20, Jesus allows his disciples to gaze at his impaired body, and even lets Thomas touch his wounds. Let's explore how this story connects to the complications of marginalized bodies being put on display for public consumption — of being made into a spectacle.

Is it possible for marginalized persons to have any agency in how our bodies are viewed and interpreted? How does Jesus model possibility for his disciples, similar to what Laverne Cox calls trans possibility models? How have marginalized persons identified with the wounded Christ across the centuries?

Content Warning: brief, undetailed mentions of hate crimes, transphobia, ableism, antiblackness, fatphobia

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Part of this episode explores an art piece by Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin — a photograph of Jesus with top surgery scars — that you can view here.

The episode also draws from S. Bear Bergman's 2021 article "Please Come and Be Fat."

The episode ends with Rebekah Anderson's meditation "The Body of God."

A previous episode of this podcast also delves into the John 20 story of Jesus and Thomas through a trans and disabled lens — episode 40, "Goodness Embodied: An Intersex, Nonbinary First Human and a Disabled Risen Christ."

If you want to watch the sermon that this ep is based off of, visit here.

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TALKING POINTS:

(0:00 - 3:36) - Introducing the topic: based off a sermon; Jesus's disabling wounds & marginalized bodies as spectacle

Blessed  Are the Binary Breakers is part of the Rock Candy Podcast Network. Find more shows, such as Magnified Pod, at www.rockcandyrecordings.com.

This show's theme song is "Aetherium" by Leah Horn. This episode  includes clips from “Dreamer,” “Theme 9,” and “Mod 5,” by Jeremy SH Griffith; as well as "Can't Find" by Mother Hood.

Now are the days that God lies dead — the God who, in dying, expressed ultimate solidarity with all who have been unjustly killed across the ages. Let's explore how various queer theologians between 1993 & 2006 — plus some trans poets more recently — have connected Jesus's Passion, death & burial, and resurrection to LGBTQ experiences.

CONTENT WARNING: graphic depictions of hate crimes, including the murders of Matthew Shepard & a (fictional) Argentinian trans woman; deaths of gay men with AIDS; uses of dated LGBTQ+ language; mentions of religious homophobia

Click here for an episode transcript (works cited at the end).

Avery invites you to check out their YouTube video exploring theologies of the cross;

Talking Points:

- (0:00 - 4:35) Intro: different theologies of the cross; connecting Jesus’ Passion to contemporary LGBTQ experiences

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Blessed  Are the Binary Breakers is part of the Rock Candy Podcast Network. Find more shows at www.rockcandyrecordings.com.

This show's theme song is "Aetherium" by Leah Horn. This episode includes clips from “Dreamer,” “Theme 1,” “Theme 6,” “Mod 4,” “Dreams,” “Mod 5,” “Camilla,” and “Theme 3” by Jeremy SH Griffith. “The Circles I Went Round In” and “Beaconsfield Villas Stomp” by Doctor Turtle are also used.

For Holy Week, Avery joined Laura Sommer on their Autistic Liberation Theology Podcast to discuss two Gospel stories through a disability theology lens — with some trans theology sprinkled in: John 12's account of Mary of Bethany anointing Jesus; and Mark 14's telling of Jesus' Agony in the Garden.

Our world does not teach us how to face discomfort and pain healthily: we avoid, dismiss, or deny it; or we blame the one suffering; or we jump to action even when there are no easy fixes. In Bethany, Mary teaches us the art of simple affirmation and tenderness in the face of another's suffering. In Gethsemane, Jesus shows us the power in taking time to lament, to complain, to rage, to question — to feel whatever emotions come — when we are the ones in pain.

Read along with the episode transcript here.

Talking Points:

- (0:00 - 4:52) Introducing the topics – making space with Jesus for fear and grief; chronic pain

- (3:22 - 9:33) First story: John 12:1-8 — reading; discussing Judas – it’s fine to ask questions

- (9:34 - 13:53) Hierarchy of luxury — judging the spending of poor & disabled persons, activists

- (13:54 - 15:31) Mary had to use oil on Lazarus’ body not long before; now she can use it on Jesus while he’s still alive to appreciate it — Trans message: “Give us our roses while we’re here”

- (15:32 - 17:19) Avoiding inspiration porn; diluting people’s message after their death — MLK, Jesus

- (17:20 - 24:29) Mary affirms Jesus’s identity and mission when no one else does — versus avoiding, blaming, denying, or trying to fix disabled persons’ pain; our culture doesn’t teach us how deal with discomfort

- (24:30 - 28:20) The oil will follow Jesus through his suffering; comfort to Mary as well; it’s hard to feel helpless as the person suffering or the person watching that suffering

- (28:21 - 33:49) Second story: Mark 14’s Gethsemane story; comparing the disciples’ sleep to coping with reality by shutting our eyes

- (33:50 - 40:38) Jesus took the time and space to sit with his grief; disabled people deserve to grieve their own experiences without it “betraying the cause” — allowed to camp a while in the Gethsemane of things

- (40:39 - 42:40) Community members who affirm your experience make all the difference; it makes sense that it’s the women who “get” Jesus because they know what it’s like to have their pain & reality dismissed

- (42:41 - end) Wrapping up

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Blessed  Are the Binary Breakers is part of the Rock Candy Podcast Network. Find more shows, such as Bible Bash, at www.rockcandyrecordings.com.

This show's theme song is "Aetherium" by Leah Horn. Other music used in this episode: "Mod 4" and "Mod 5" by Jeremy SH Griffith.