Mother of Abominations: Queer People's Place in Babalon

    It just occurred to me that I haven't written a post in almost four months; so now, having just got back from a lovely trip to New York, I've decided to make one on a topic that I've been meaning to discuss since the beginning of June (aka pride month): the place of queer people as inherent children of Babalon. I write this with the ultimate intention of arming queer folks, as we are living in an age where our defenses are being taken from us as a means to persecute and erase us, particularly trans folk. As such, I hope this argument may be of use to all who read this. 

    This is certainly a touchy notion, as for queer people to accept our place as children of the Great Mother, we must first embrace a title that has tormented us for centuries: abomination. This singular word was the center of a presentation I once gave at my university on this very topic, chosen specifically for my claims due to its use against queer people. The most quoted context of this word comes from Leviticus 18:22, which states, "Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind: it is abomination." However, another verse, Deuteronomy 22:5, has also been made use of against trans people, drag participants, and crossdressers: "The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are an abomination unto the lord thy god." In these times, I believe it is the second which is the greatest threat. 

    While you may can see where I'm going with this, claiming that we as queer people are children of Babalon because we are called abominations, and She is the Mother of Abominations, there is still a major question that stands in the way: why take up the title of "abomination"? Why call ourselves this wretched thing that has been used to degrade us? To this, I offer fours answers: firstly, we must contemplate the connotations and nature of the word itself. After all, we have proudly taken up titles that have been similarly used against us before, namely "queer", a word that was once, and still is, used as a slur taken and reclaimed to not only be empowering, but to label ourselves as individuals and a collective. So what is it exactly about "abomination" that makes us turn away? I believe it is the images the word itself gives, rather than the religious connotations it possesses. Both "queer" and "abomination" have similar meanings: that something about the nature of a thing is "off" or "not quite right", or even altogether unnatural. Of these two, "abomination" certainly carries a more visceral mental image, as it also denotes a meaning of intense hatred. I believe that this is the reason we refuse to accept this title: we continue to refuse the hatred of those who use it against us. We yearn constantly for their acceptance, which is something that will simply never come, solely because we are the other of society. 

    This brings me to my second point: we will never be fully accepted in western society. In a place so deeply engrained with evangelical perceptions of reality that we are actually witnessing a regression and destruction of progress, the hope for acceptance has become a wasted one. Note when I say this I am not advocating for "giving up all hope"; rather I am claiming that the time for acceptance has long passed. Rather, is the now the time for revolution, and the first step of revolution is to abandon the restraints we place upon ourselves in attempts to appear more "likeable" towards those who oppress us. Even now, our governments look to erase us, our neighbors have come to hate us, and we have been branded as the modern wicked witches out to prey upon their children. We will never be accepted, and so instead we must revolt. To do this we must not only face, but embrace, what we are and always will be in their eyes: abominations. We must not placate ourselves for their comfort, but rather become the very things which they despise, and in so doing show that we cannot be silenced or scared into submission. An easy task? No, not by any means. Such feats take great strength, and in times such as these are necessary. 

    Thirdly, we must understand that everything in the world is composed of names and titles that have been thrust upon them. Every mineral, plant, body of water, and even person is named by another, and that name stands as truth because it is believed, at large, to be as such. We do not choose our own names and titles, but rather they are chosen for us. As such, try as we might to fight the arguments of who and what we are, these things have already been defined for us. In this instance, we are abominations, not because we have chosen to be, but rather because we have been named as such. Our only choice in the matter is whether we will allow such a title to be demeaning, through consistently fighting against it and feeling the shame of it, or if we will allow it to empower us, by accepting it for ourselves and transmuting it into something beautiful. 

    My final argument, looking back to the Goddess Herself, is to ask ourselves what "abomination" truly means. Yes, we know it is defined as something that is queer and hated (us), but what is it to the ones who perpetuate that hate? The answer is simple: it is everything which defies their own understanding. Art, science, magic, sex, death, all such things, in their highest form, exist outside the realms of cognitive acceptance for those who see the world only through the lens they have placed upon themselves, rather than for the truth that it is. As such, nature itself can be called the greatest abomination, for all these things are the greatest expression thereof. However, they choose only to see the butterflies and never the decaying carcasses those same creatures feast on. An abomination is not something unnatural, but rather it is the dark side of nature, its true essence. A two headed calf, a rotting stump, a love hidden by shadows. Life was not born from nothing, but rather it is fed by death and ruin. We are not unnatural, but rather we are the greatest expression of nature in our sex and selves, and they choose to hate us for it rather than open their hearts to the darkness that births all light. 

    So I argue that the truth of the matter is this: we are abominations. This is not a choice we have made for ourselves, but rather it is one in which we were born into. It is not something to run from, but to embrace and honor, for in doing so we may embrace the darkest corners of ourselves, and find again the wholeness that has been stripped from us. We have the only Mother we need here, and it's time to take our place by Her side, where she beckons us to come. We are among the holiest of Her children, and have been from the times in which She was called Inanna and before. So do not run from Her, but instead, give Her your sorrows to feast on, and let her give you a Mother in return.