The #QuixoticQuest and @TheHuOfficial

I've been blogging about my Quixotic Quest for the World Anthem for a while.  This Quest was based on Michael Jackson's belief, as exemplified by the "Cry" video, that if the world could unite together in singing a single song it would help bring peace.

Here is the blog where I'm trying to organize my thoughts about this Quest

Trying to organize my thoughts

More recently I've been intrigued by the role of YouTube in this process.  On YouTube, we see people all over the world singing American songs back to us.  It's not always the same song, but it's a kind of international communication.

Now, just recently, some people out of Central Asia have been drawing my attention.  One of these was #Dimash.  I blogged about going to see him.

blog about Dimash concert

His coming here, only 2 years after going on a Chinese TV talent show, and nearly selling out the Barclay Center strikes me as a miracle. He's probably the best singer in history, but he's from Kazakhstan.  It seems to me that fifty years ago the likelihood of a singer from Kazakhstan filling an arena in the USA would have been extremely low.

Well, I'm not sure whether Mongolia is considered central or east Asia, but there's a new group out of there as well, The HU.  What they bring is a music style that I've never heard before that fuses traditional Mongolian instruments and throat singing with heavy metal influences.  The result is the most intriguing and innovative rock band we've heard in a long time.

And what are they singing about?  Genghis Khan....

And shortly after I discovered these intriguing videos I learned that they were touring the USA>  They performed in Brooklyn, which isn't too far from me, but the time wasn't convenient, which was very frustrating to me.  I did find some super cool interviews with these people.  Now I'm not finding the interview that I liked best.  Maybe I'll add it later, if I can find it again.

There's an interesting disconnect here, between what Genghis Khan means to people outside Mongolia and what that name means inside Mongolia.

Prior to encountering this group, my idea of Genghis Khan was that he was a terrifying imperialist, riding roughshod over most of Eurasia, bringing terror, rape, and pillage wherever he went.  I didn't know much about him, really, just this negative impression.

Here, tho, this group is saying that people should return to the wisdom of Genghis Khan.  Listening to this message was disturbing to me. These people have these beautiful instruments.  They're out in this very spiritual looking desert.  They're evoking images of this horrendous period of history -- and yet I'm listening, because the music is so intriguing and the videos are so good.

Obviously, I wasn't the only one intrigued, because, like Dimash, these people are touring the world, not too long after first becoming know on YouTube.

But, listening to them, I think I'm seeing the disconnect.  For them, Genghis Khan was a spiritual leader who sought unification, world peace, religious tolerance, and even music.

This all happened a very long time ago, of course.  I wasn't there.  Were people terrified of the golden hoards merely because they were mysterious foreigners?  Did they misinterpret the intentions of the "invaders?"  Or, are these modern day Mongolians deluding themselves about their history?

In any case, these Mongolians *are* taking over the world musically, in a sense, traveling even farther than Genghis Khan to bring their music to the farthest corners -- and they want to bring peace and unity and religious tolerance.  So, perhaps, it doesn't really matter so much what the historical Genghis Khan really was like.  Perhaps it's more important what these intriguing images mean.

And, perhaps, The HU is going to help this Quixotic Quest. 

BTW if you read my blogs, you should know that I edit them from time to time.  If you come back later, it might not be exactly the same.

@joshgroban leaving Twitter -- again

I joined Twitter because of him. I think it was 2010. I was a Grobanite. Josh was on Twitter. He didn't have that many followers. He tweeted me fairly often. I don't remember how often. Maybe it was more than twenty?

I came to see that he was a voracious speed reader. He sometimes spied on us talking about him. 

We knew he tended to come in at midnight California time, so we would hang around on Twitter then, because we knew he'd be more likely to see our responses if we responded right away. We chatted while waiting. He was likely listening. 

There was a group called Groban Tweeters, or something like that. I got added to it. Some of us suspected that he started the group to monitor is. 

He was funny. There was at least one article recommending following him for the humor. 

He did vlogs where he talked to us. He seemed like a regular guy. 

I came to think of him as almost a friend. I tweeted him a lot more often than he tweeted me. I sent him links to stuff that I thought would interest

Over time he got a lot more followers. He stopped tweeting me. 

Still he often live tweeted major events, like major TV shows. 

I didn't stop tweeting him. It was a habit. I thought of it as a conversation. He didn't always answer, but I knew he was paying attention. Or, if he wasn't paying attention, his manager was, but usually it was him. 

Then he experimented with leaving Twitter. I suspected he would be back. I was pretty sure he was just as addicted as we were. He came back. 

I suspected also that those days when he put out a lot of funny tweets that he was blowing off steam after a fight with a girlfriend. 

But he kept tweeting that Twitter was making him miserable and his therapist wanted him to stop. 

Now he says he's leaving again. 

I get it. Twitter is a rough place. People are often unkind. 

But if he's not there, should I still follow him? Should I still tweet him? Should I be on Twitter at all? (Well I've got two other Twitter id's for other purposes. 

I did adopt my #QuixoticQuest as part of my Twitter identity. That was supposed to be my mission here other than the vapid desire to commune with a singer I was obsessed with. 

I'm feeling frustrated with the #QuixoticQuest now, though. It was inspired my Michael Jackson and now everyone thinks he was a pedophile. I blogged about that recently. I'm undecided as to whether I believe the allegations, but they predominate the public consciousness about Michael Jackson. 

Also I'm not sure a single world anthem is necessarily the solution now. Maybe the sharing of music that's going on on YouTube is sufficient. 

Tho a world anthem might still serve a purpose. 

I've found others to communicate with on Twitter. I've met other fans. I've communicated with other performers. But of my first reason for being there is gone, should I just turn around and leave. Should I unfollow him?

I've certainly had my complaints about him over the years. I consider myself more of a #glambert than a #grobanite now. 

At least one fan thinks his ambivalent attitude towards fans on Twitter is such a turnoff that she thinks he should be unfollowed. 

I don't know. Maybe I'm part of why he's miserable. Maybe I should unfollow him?

allegations against MJ

This is such a tricky situation.

So many of my friends have jumped on the "Leaving Neverland" bandwagon.  They think MJ was a child molester.

I can't say for certain that he wasn't.  I wasn't there.

On the other hand, I've seen so many bizarre lies made up about him, like that his children were fathered by his dermatologist or a white actor -- and that they're white, when: they're clearly light-skinned African Americans, Prince has inherited MJ's vitiligo, and Paris looks like MJ's twin.

Moreover, in my own family, I've seen that my ex had false memories of abuse, possibly implanted by a therapist, which seems to me likely to have happened to these two guys, if they weren't outright lying.  I've seen transcripts of psychologists suggesting to former child friends of MJ that merely sleeping in his bed was sexual molestation.

In fact, he grew up, until he was 10 in a 2 bedroom home with 8 siblings and two parents.  He had 26 cousins nearby.  He would have had a very different concept of sharing sleeping quarters than most Americans.  He saw nothing wrong with what he was doing and couldn't understand what everyone else thought was wrong with it.

I do suspect that he had an autism spectrum disorder.  He didn't understand what kind of impression he was creating.

But I've based this whole Quixotic Quest on MJ's idea that singing together could bring or at least promote world peace.  With so many people believing that MJ was a child molester, it's hard to continue this #QuixoticQuest without completely re-writing all my blogs about it.

I really thought that this was a divinely inspired calling, but I'm not sure where to go with it.

Of course, over time, my feeling about how this quest should work has evolved.  I used to think it had to be a single song, sung all at the same time.  Now I'm thinking that the way YouTube works, with so many people exchanging music, might be a better model.  I also think that, perhaps, just having common cultural observances of any kind could be useful to help us feel like one people.

But, ultimately, the idea that this quest was inspired by MJ isn't going to be an easy sell right about now.

My recent YouTube video about this topic.

My main #QuixoticQuest blog

https://skysong263.blogspot.com/2015/05/trying-to-organize-information-about-my.html

sleep remedies

Addenda September 2023:

No longer talking prilosec, taking atenolol instead

Currently using Apollo Neuro instead of hemi-sync. 

No longer taking progesterone, due to having had ovarian cancer, though that was mostly due to an undiagnosed BRCA2 mutation

No longer using pillows between my arms and knees

No longer using wrist braces. While these helped my carpal tunnel syndrome, they aggravated the arthritis in my thumbs. Just trying to dictate more, rather than typing 

————-

I originally did this on twitlonger, back in 2012.  It's hard to find twitlongers, so I'm putting this up here, now

link to original twitlonger

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/hp84rd

I don't use progesterone any more, btw, because I got ovarian cancer and my doctors feel that this hormone might encourage tumor growth

Skysong263 ♜ ☄ · @skysong263

 10th Jun 2012 from Twitlonger

@joshgroban More about what I have to do to go to sleep

11) Caltrate + Minerals (else I get muscle tension & joint pain)
12) God Box (If anything is bothering me, or on my to do list, I write it down & put it in the box for God to take care of overnight. It's sort of like what Dumbledore did in Harry Potter, where he pulled extra thoughts out of his head with his wand and put them in the pensieve)


(BTW -- my progesterone container says some men also need progesterone supplements in order to sleep. My experience is that without it I get racing thoughts that keep me awake.)

Yesterday's post repeated:

What I have to do to go to sleep

1- prilosec for GERD
2 - melatonin
3 - progesterone
4 - pillows between my elbows & knees
5 - wrist braces
6 - mouthguard
7 - yoga before bed
8 - journal before bed
9 - bedtime prayer
10 - hemi-sync (Sleep with CD player)

Without any of these things, I can't sleep. With them, I'm fine.…

Editing wikipedia article about @theloosh

I am noticing that the wikipedia article about Lucia Micarelli is a stub.  I put a whole lot of stuff on the talk page about it.  I don't like to put stuff on the main page, because it gets so heavily edited.  I just want to reproduce what I put on the talk page here before it gets effaced somehow.

I'm not sure why this thing is getting right and left justified.  I have it set for only right justify

== Other career milestones ==

I'm putting this here, rather than on the main page, because I'm so sick of self-righteous editors deleting my stuff.  Frankly, I think editors are destroying wikipedia by making it too hard for ordinary people to post.  I'll let someone else deal with the co-dependent drama.  But there is a whole lot more to her career than what is on the main page

For instance, I see that the over-zealous editor has deleted the reference to the solo performances with Ian Anderson, because the point was surrounded by other language the editor didn't like -- effectively throwing the baby out with the bath water.  Here are two youtube videos from January of 2006 of their appearance in Vienna https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTVuFKozfJg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttGl-Mt302Y

While the main page refers to her tours with Josh Groban it neglects to mention that she appears as a soloist and concert mistress  in two of Josh Groban's DVDs: "Live at the Greek" and "Awake."  This music was characterized as classical/pop crossover.  Her solos, "Kashmir" and "Bohemian Rhapsody," also appear on YouTube.

Again, while the main page refers to her touring with Chris Botti, it doesn't mention that she also appears  as a soloist on Chris Botti's DVD and CD from his "In Boston" concert playing "Emmanuel."  This is on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8NN4fpdm40

She appears prominently on a DVD/CD called "Love Project Journey,: organized by a percussionist called Yael.  This DVD/CD features improvisational/experimental music. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1523352/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm

Here is a youtube video of her playing with Josh Groban and David Foster on "Mi Mancherai" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJwNS-FPXOI

She did a duet of "Kashmir" with William Joseph on his CD "Beyond." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1hsAtAOGcs  https://www.pandora.com/artist/william-joseph/beyond/kashmir-feat-lucia-micarelli-violin/TRx2jgz3ndrnmbK

She had a single "One More Cup of Coffee" on a fundraising CD Set for Amnesty International called "Chimes of Freedom" along with Steve Earle.  On this single she both plays the violin and sings, revealing a bluesy singing style. https://music.amnestyusa.org/products/steve-earle-and-lucia-micarelli-one-more-cup-of-coffee-valley-below

She can be heard in several pieces on the CD's coming out of the Treme show.  These include "I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance," "New Orleans Blues," "Heavy Henry," "Spring Can Really Hang You Up," and "Carved in Stone."  These songs are in the New Orleans Jazz genre.

She toured with Chris Botti again, more recently, including in the 2015-2016 season.  During these performances she was featured soloist on several pieces.  I counted 5 or 6. http://www.bluenote.net/newyork/schedule/moreinfo.cgi?id=13655

She had a PBS special filmed June 3, 2017 https://events.kcrw.com/events/an-evening-with-lucia-micarelli-filmed-live-for-pbs/

The music of the Trans-siberian orchestra has been characterized as symphonic metal.

Also, she studied with Pinchas Zukerman, a very notable violinist, in the classical genre.

The variety of genres that she has undertaken is notable.

I believe that the emotional style and the unique sound of her playing are also notable -- even though the editor doesn't like to hear about it.  Josh Groban recently tweeted that no one sounds like her https://twitter.com/joshgroban/status/870506744446832641  If you watch videos of her playing, you can see that what she is doing with the bow is not what other violinists do.  It's hard to put these things into words, but presumably some future scholar, studying her work, will be able to explain why she is able to make the violin sound like other instruments, such as electric guitar (Kashmir) and tenor sax (Heavy Henry).  It's hard to verbalize these things before the academic vocabulary characterizing her work is developed by scholars.  There is a huge bias in wikipedia in favor of academic language developed by scholars, which results in ordinary people who try to describe this stuff in conversational English getting censored.

Another notable thing about her is her history of performing barefoot, which is visible on all of the DVD performances -- and some of the youtube videos listed above.

== personal life ==

She is originally from Queens, NY.

She is mixed race being of Korean and Italian ancestry

She has been married  https://twitter.com/theloosh/status/451945873573183488 https://www.instagram.com/p/mWvDamn18R/  Though I heard she may have gotten divorced

What do I believe?

What do I believe?

I was asked this question by a twitter user who self-identified as a Jehovah’s Witness.  My response here is shaped in part by her having identified herself that way. I might have written something different to someone else, but not sure about that.

I don’t expect this document ever to be completely finished. I will think of new things to write in here, I’m sure.  So here goes.

• The true name of God is unpronounceable.  No human names for God are correct or incorrect.
• The religious/spiritual experience is universal, but non-verbal.  The use of words to describe this experience leads to conflict.
• The true nature of God is not understandable. No human scriptures or religious texts are correct or incorrect.
• No person or group of people has a monopoly on the truth about God.
• Asking the question “Do You Believe in God?” is non-sensical, because whether one believes or not depends on how the word “God” is defined, but the word cannot be defined, because human language is insufficient.
• The confidence of particular individuals in the truth of their own scriptures or their own interpretation of scriptures relates to their particular personality, but not to the accuracy of their interpretation or scriptures.
• People who push their religious beliefs on others are insecure and need others to validate them.  Often they are bullies.  Often they are crazy.  I was nearly attacked by a street preacher when the guy I was walking with decided to talk to the preacher about what the preacher was saying.

Nevertheless, I was raised Protestant, so I have been strongly influenced in my thinking by that formation.

I have been very drawn to the Baha'i' faith, and to the three unities expressed by Baha'u'llah, but I have never declared myself to be a Baha'i', because I haven't done enough research to be sure that I understand all the implications of that.

The above being said, I nonetheless share some of these personality issues that make me want to push my beliefs on others.

Some more beliefs

• conscientious objection to war and military service.
• sanctity of the environment as God’s creation.
• sanctity of truth — and repulsion toward people who lie.
• wrongness of oppression of people based on gender, age, race, LGBTQIA, religion etc.
• Generally I like free speech and deplore efforts to suppress it. 
• I am pro-choice. I do not believe that killing human embryos, prior to the appearance of human brain activity, is murder. Fetuses later in development are a bit more troubling to me, though it depends on the circumstances.
• some social justice: i.e. basic safety nets for everyone -- though I still accept that some would be richer than others, and I don't believe in government ownership of the means of production
• 12 step approach to self-improvement

This twitter user asked me how my beliefs are helpful. Yeah. I do believe that if everyone shared my beliefs this would be a better place. Sure.  I know everyone thinks that, but of course I think I'm right.

Regarding Quakers (Religious Society of Friends):

I am an unprogrammed Friend.  I identify with Friends General Conference, rather than FUM or FEA.  

Quakers do not have a creed.  You cannot say, based on the affiliation of a person with this movement, necessarily what they believe.  I cannot speak for others.

******

Addendum:

I have also been influenced by Yoga, which I started studying at age 13.  I'm also drawn to aspects Zen Buddhism and Taoism.  Some Zen practitioners regard unprogrammed Friends/Quakers as practicing a form of Zen Buddhism -- though, also, some Quakers are very insistent that Quakers should be Christian.

*******

5/23/21

I was asked by my Quaker Meeting to formulate what I believe.  I looked back at this blog, but decided that there were some things I wanted to re-word.  This is what I have so far:

The divine as unknowable.  This is a core belief for me. Neither the divine nor the physical universe can be completely encompassed by human speech or thinking.  What happens may seem illogical or harmful.  This is due to our deficiency in thinking, not to the divine. 

All names and descriptions are wrong.  The divine is not impressed by any one wrong description over another.  Logical inconsistencies between religious beliefs can also be explained by the unknowable nature of the divine.

The word God is a variable, like the letter x in Algebra. It represents the answers to unanswerable questions.

Trying to prove the existence of God is nonsensical.  First, there is no consensus as to what the word “God” represents.  Many people seek to prove or disprove the existence of God using a concept of God that they understand to be promulgated by some group — but that group lacks actual authority to define God and the person making the argument may not even understand what that group actually believes.  Second, the nature of logic is to reason from assumptions to conclusions. Logic can show that certain assumptions are inconsistent with each other, but the assumptions are taken on faith.  Trying to prove an assumption is stating right up front that you lack faith in that assumption.  If you say you are going to prove the existence of God, that means that you do not have faith in God.

Sense of contact: Many people have a sense of contact.  I think some people call this a “personal relationship” with God. What is this? Is it actual contact with an external divine being or an interesting neurological phenomenon? People sometimes seem to be inspired by their sense of contact to speak words or take action.  Often these words or actions lead to conflict. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad. I do like meditation, yoga and Zen koäns, tho.

Life after death: I’m not particularly attracted to this concept.  However, I believe, from physics that time is a dimension.  Things that existed in the past are not gone.  They are just located in a particular section of time that is not currently accessible to us.  That does not mean that it will never be accessible to us.  Moreover that does not mean that some divine entity cannot freely travel back there and visit what exists in that other place. I don’t really believe that people are dead.

I sometimes quote from religious texts or traditions because they seem to coincide with what I feel.  This is due to my literary upbringing.  I do not accord any religious text a sacred weight. Each text is the best effort of the authors to express their understanding.  Each text is wrong, but also has elements of rightness — elements that genuinely reflect a historical divine inspiration. Each text must be interpreted within a historical context. It cannot be applied in a simple minded fashion to current events.   

I get annoyed by detailed systems of signs, numbers, symbols, or diet that purport to be religious or spiritual.

The concept of free will is not attractive to me.  I believe that most of what goes on in the brain is in the subconscious, based on what I’ve read of reports of scientific literature.  The conscious brain is a delusional egomaniac that thinks it is in charge, when it is the tail thinking it is wagging the dog. 

Discussion of transgender issues on twitter 5/23-24/16

Anybody trying to read this: I am still editing it.  It's not finished

I had a long twitter conversation with some folks about trans issues.

This has been bouncing around a lot in my head.  First, having my ex and my eldest child be trans makes it very personal, but also the format of this discussion being on twitter was confusing and alienating.  Twitter is not a great place to discuss issues that take more than a few interchanges. Blogs are more sophisticated.  So I wanted to add some more information.

Safety issues

One issue had to do with the safety of restrooms.  

Some people participating and reading seemed to be unaware that transgender people are being attacked.  I tweeted a link to wikipedia where someone is keeping a list of trans people who have been attacked for being trans.   wikipedia list of trans people being attacked  Plus there was a huffington post article Huffington Post article about trans people being attacked  Clearly trans people are being attacked.

Then there was the issue of women being attacked, specifically, at Target.  Here's some information about that. women attacked at Target . I pointed out that none of the attackers were alleged to be trans.  

My ex told me that he goes to some event called Transgender Day of Remembrance about trans people who have been killed for being trans.  This is obviously one of those high drama events about tragic loss of people.

On the other hand, in retrospect, I do have to concede that the number of cis women who are attacked for being women dwarfs the number of trans people who are being attacked for being trans.

Detransitioning

There was an assertion that most trans people regret their decision, and specifically that Caitlin Jenner regretted her decision.  With respect to Caitlin, she has most emphatically denied that she regrets transitioning.  Caitlyn Jenner denies sex change regret 

I have certainly heard trans people denying that most regret it 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brynn-tannehill/myths-about-transition-regrets_b_6160626.html

Pretending

This person I was talking to had the impression that "trans" people are "pretending" to be the other gender. This word is wrong. I would accept words like "obsessed" or "delusional," but not "pretending."  "Pretending" implies that people know that what they are doing is fake.  That is not the case with trans people.  That is the case with many cross dressers.  Many cross dressers know they are pretending to be of the other gender.  Trans people believe they are of the other gender and are in the wrong body.

Biblical interpretation

I'm not sure why I care about this. I'm not a fundamentalist.  I don't believe that the Bible is literally true. I did grow up in Christian churches, though, so I do care what the Bible says.  A lot of fundamentalists don't seem to recognize that most Christians are *not* fundamentalists.  They seem to think that fundamentalism is the only way.

The following instances of scripture were cited to me.  

Deut 22:5 Gal 3:28 Deut 23:1 Mat 6:25 Ro 1:24-32

Let's just look at these passages in more detail.

Deut 22:5

5 A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this.

Of course, a transwoman does not think she is a man, so her desire to wear women's clothing, in her mind, would not violate this provision.

But, even putting that aside, this passage is part of the Torah, the firs five books of the Bible.  For Jews, this part of the Bible is particularly important, and is to be paid the utmost attention to.

Most Christians, however, while enjoying reading the Torah, typically do not obey many of its provisions.  During this interchange of tweets, I gave the example of eating pork, which most Christians do, even though the Torah prohibits it.  Some Christians even take the position that the New Testament supercedes the Torah, despite Jesus having said that he would not take on jot or tittle from the law.

Still, I have to be a bit skeptical of a person who may eat pork, swear oaths on the Bible, &c citing the Torah to me, when they don't observe other provisions of it.

It's also ironic to me, because conservatives were asserting, when Hillary Clinton was running against Rudy Giuliani for NY State Senate, that he was more conservative than she and that she was a dangerous liberal.  Then we saw photos of him dancing on stage in a chorus line in drag.  I always wondered what all those conservative Republicans thought, when they were asserting that he was more conservative.

Gal 3:28

28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

I find it mysterious that this passage would be cited as prohibiting people from doing gender reassignment.  This seems to be a statement of acceptance, not a statement of prohibition.  If anything, I would cite this as an argument for why it would be ok, and not make a difference if one was to transition, since everyone is one anyway.

Mat 6:25

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?

This statement seems to be about trusting God and not worrying about whether will have food, drink, or clothing.  I fail to see how this could be interpreted as relating to the appropriateness of transitioning.

Ro 1:24-32

24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

I see this passage as relating to gay people -- not that I agree with it -- but it does not seem to be dealing with trans people.  I don't think my ex or my son is having sex with anyone, actually.  Caitlin has said she is asexual.

In any case, I don't think that a Christian need worry about whether these passages are prohibiting people from changing gender -- not that the person who cited them to me was willing to consider that her interpretation might have been wrong.

First, some screen shots of the discussion.  It's hard to capture the sequence in a 3 way twitter conversation, because people are writing responses sometimes not seeing that other responses have already occurred. If you open a tweet, you can see what conversation it is part of, but sometimes several tweets share the same history.  

This has been bouncing around a lot in my head.  First, having my ex and my eldest child be trans makes it very personal, but also the format of this discussion being on twitter was confusing and alienating.  Twitter is not a great place to discuss issues that take more than a few interchanges.  Blogs are more sophisticated.

Safety issues

One issue had to do with the safety of restrooms.  

Some people participating and reading seemed to be unaware that transgender people are being attacked.  I tweeted a link to wikipedia where someone is keeping a list of trans people who have been attacked for being trans.   https://t.co/17SSil5ouA  Plus there was a huffington post article https://t.co/4tfLYvBTPq  Clearly trans people are being attacked.

Then there was the issue of women being attacked, specifically, at Target.  Here's some information about that. https://t.co/FOeuRSF0MK . I pointed out that none of the attackers were alleged to be trans.  

My ex told me that he goes to some event called Transgender Day of Remembrance about trans people who have been killed for being trans.  This is obviously one of those high drama events about tragic loss of people.

On the other hand, in retrospect, I do have to concede that the number of cis women who are attacked for being women dwarfs the number of trans people who are being attacked for being trans.

Detransitioning

There was an assertion that most trans people regret their decision, and specifically that Caitlin Jenner regretted her decision.  With respect to Caitlin, she has most emphatically denied that she regrets transitioning.  https://t.co/dwfyLZOQIy 

I have certainly heard trans people denying that most regret it 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brynn-tannehill/myths-about-transition-regrets_b_6160626.html

Biblical interpretation

I'm not sure why I care about this. I'm not a fundamentalist.  I don't believe that the Bible is literally true. I did grow up in Christian churches, though, so I do care what the Bible says.  A lot of fundamentalists don't seem to recognize that most Christians are *not* fundamentalists.  They seem to think that fundamentalism is the only way.

The following instances of scripture were cited to me.  

Deut 22:5 Gal 3:28 Deut 23:1 Mat 6:25 Ro 1:24-32

Let's just look at these passages in more detail.

Deut 22:5

5 A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this.

Of course, a transwoman does not think she is a man, so her desire to wear women's clothing, in her mind, would not violate this provision.

But, even putting that aside, this passage is part of the Torah, the firs five books of the Bible.  For Jews, this part of the Bible is particularly important, and is to be paid the utmost attention to.

Most Christians, however, while enjoying reading the Torah, typically do not obey many of its provisions.  During this interchange of tweets, I gave the example of eating pork, which most Christians do, even though the Torah prohibits it.  Some Christians even take the position that the New Testament supercedes the Torah, despite Jesus having said that he would not take on jot or tittle from the law.

Still, I have to be a bit skeptical of a person who may eat pork, swear oaths on the Bible, &c citing the Torah to me.

Gal 3:28

28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

I find it mysterious that this passage would be cited as prohibiting people from doing gender reassignment.  This seems to be a statement of acceptance, not a statement of prohibition.  If anything, I would cite this as an argument for why it would be ok, and not make a difference if one was to transition, since everyone is one anyway.

Mat 6:25

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?

This statement seems to be about trusting God and not worrying about whether will have food, drink, or clothing.  I fail to see how this could be interpreted as relating to the appropriateness of transitioning.

Ro 1:24-32

24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

I see this passage as relating to gay people -- not that I agree with it -- but it does not seem to be dealing with trans people.  I don't think my ex or my son is having sex with anyone, actually.  Caitlin has said she is asexual.

In any case, I don't think that a Christian need worry about whether these passages are prohibiting people from changing gender -- not that the person who cited them to me was willing to consider that her interpretation might have been wrong.