a Liturgical Proclamation of Queer Holiness

My colleague the Rev Carolyn Albert Donovon took one of my recent Facebook posts, and turned it into this lovely liturgy. It's intended to be used when the LGBT community must gather to mourn and celebrate. I invite you to use it in its entirety as you wish, but request that you don't omit our sex being holy. It is best if the leader is a person who identifies as LGBTQ, even if that is not the clergy person, but can be used in settings where that is not possible.

The leader will read the non-bolded text, which may then be repeated by the people gathered. If you identify as LGBTQ+, you may choose to say “our” while those who do not identify as LGBTQ+ may choose to read “your” at the beginning of each line. We do this not because straight folks are not holy in these ways, too, but because it is LGBTQ+ people who have been told over and over and over that they are not, and these are days when we need to claim aloud that excluding LGBTQ+ people from our understanding of the sacred has been and still is a violent lie – perpetuated for many long years by the church. We raise our voices to correct this lie.  We also honor those who choose to remain in silence.

My Beloved Queer Ones,

(y)our lives are holy.
(y)our lives are holy.
(y)our dancing is holy.
(y)our dancing is holy. 
(y)our protest is holy.
(y)our protest is holy.
(y)our grief is holy.
(y)our grief is holy.
(y)our rage is holy.
(y)our rage is holy.
(y)our community is holy.
(y)our community is holy. 
(y)our gender presentations are holy.
(y)our gender presentations are holy.
(y)our bodies are holy.
(y)our bodies are holy.
(y)our sex is holy.
(y)our sex is holy. 
(y)our love is holy.
(y)our love is holy.
(y)ou are holy.
(y)ou are holy.
We are holy.