I think it’s appropriate to reaffirm some of the commitments I hold and strive toward today, and so I will.
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Today, I see my transgender, non-binary, and gender nonconforming friends, their families, and their allies.
I restate my commitment to inclusive language, to seeking paths out of a binary mindset. I challenge myself to find new ways to speak to everyone, and avoid falling back into old patterns.
I restate my commitment to learning and honoring your pronouns, to correcting myself when I fail, and to gracefully acknowledging and affirming when you or others correct my errors.
I restate my commitment to finding the divine outside the places I am conditioned to expect it by the culture that I grew up in, to seeking ways to express it in a manner that is ever-affirming of the space we hold together.
These are the small things I can do to show you how I see you, and this is my commitment to keep working on them, and making them visible.
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I speak these commitments for myself, to remind myself that they are important. I speak them publicly because I know that visible affirmation is important. I speak them as a Priest of ADF and my Grove, though neither has asked me to, because sometimes the process of being there for people isn’t about what’s asked of you, but about how you see what you should do.
My fire welcomes you, however you are, in the way that you are, and I pray that the light of our shared flame always shows you as you wish to be seen.
