Day three- oct 20: justice, justice

כ צֶדֶק צֶדֶק, תִּרְדֹּף--לְמַעַן תִּחְיֶה וְיָרַשְׁתָּ אֶת-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר-יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ. {ס} 20

Justice, justice shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. {S} (Deuteronomy 16:20)

After waiting for five hours in chairs we weren't allowed to stand up from, forty of us (including a man with no legs and and 83 year old woman) were told at 11 pm that we wouldn't be getting a room in the inn. It was freezing out, despite my three layers, a hat and a scarf. The night minister brought me another hat and a flannel.

Around midnight I finally got to rest. Tonight, I was able to avoid the constant numbness that kept waking me up to remind me of the dull ache of the sidewalk. At 6am I rose and headed off to Glide for breakfast.

After breakfast I joined a clergy gathering to encourage people to vote no on prop 8. Bishop Holmerud spoke. The rabbi who spoke reminded us all that Deuteronomy calls us to justice, justice. Stated twice so we will remember it is justice not only for ourselves but also for others.

It reminds me that part of my journey is to call you, others anld politicians to wake up to the way we are abandoning the poor and our elders, trampling the disabled and consuming our earth.

Justice, justice!

"Are you a drag queen?" I was asked as I waited for a shelter. Proof that I have indeed only taken one step on the gender scale. I am now being read as a man dressing as a woman. He invited others over to guess my gender before he finally concluded that whatever I was, he liked it. Clearly a sexual advance, I noticed that this was somehow a type of sexual harassment I had yet to experience on the streets. As a female sexual harassment was demeaning and designed to put me in a lower position as the man in the bathroom had also tried to do.

But this gave me power, sexual power. For the first time I could see how sex work could be liberating. And at the same time I continued to note how much acceptance of trans folk becomes a fetish.

I think I have much more to think about around these issues, but tonight I remember that Jesus said that the sex workers would go ahead of us in heaven. I remember, Ruth, Tamar, Deborah and all the other ferocious women of scripture. And I remember the woman who was older than my grandmother who may still be waiting for shelter.