i’ve always believed that queerness and the validation of queerness are innately spiritual.
to me, from a spiritual standpoint, queerness is when the essences of the masculine and/or the feminine can express themselves freely regardless of the sex of the physical body. the feminine and the masculine, in this standpoint, are distinct from the male and the female; the feminine and the masculine are spiritual essences that can appear in either a male or a female body. feminine and masculine are descriptors of a spiritual essence or quality, whereas male or female are descriptors of the physical body.
anyone under the queer umbrella, to me, is one who sources from a spiritual essence that may not, under the conventional view, “match” their physical body. queer expression is about finding actions, expressions, or alterations of appearance (or of course even hormonal makeup, physical chemistry, or physical anatomy) to suit the spiritual essence possessed by the individual that may not reflect what our society declares is the corresponding, suitable expression for the physical body they’re born into.
this is semantic, but it is the language I will use: that is to say that a male might have the feminine essence strong within him; thus, he may express himself in “traditionally feminine” ways to give expression to the spiritual essence he holds. or, the feminine spirit might be so strong within a person born into a biologically male body that it defines the identity of the individual, such that, regardless of the appearance, chemistry, or anatomy of the body, the gender of the individual matches the dominant feminine spirit within them.
That was all, of course, completely and utterly semantic, and there may be individuals who describe it in different ways; however, we are in territory that is difficult to describe, and that is how I’ve come to make sense of it (from a spiritual lens, at least, which I am always readily able to suspend in favor of more secular or scientific conversations, which I find equally important).
So, the driving point I would like to make here is that queerness validates the dominance of the spirit. Queer expression says that the composition of the spirit and soul hold sovereignty over the physical body. This, to me, is innately spiritual; it is innately transcendent. To transcend is to reach beyond what we can immediately sense, to reach beyond the mundane into something higher. Queer expression is just that; the spiritual, which is invisible and intangible, is not just reached for, but brought forth into concrete expression, not only often in spite of the established norms and confines of the times, but in spite of the risk of being met with ostracism and hate.
What could be more spiritual than this? What could be more transcendent than this? What could be more defiant of the confines of materiality and the body but to express a spiritual essence seemingly beyond it?
What could be less spiritual than deciding that the anatomy of your physical body should dictate the expression of an individual? What could be less spiritual than denying one’s heart in favor of the material vessel, that which is actually regarded as inferior to the spirit by many spiritual traditions?
How could anyone use religion, that which is supposed to represent an organized path of reaching for the spiritual, to deny the spiritual? How could anyone use religion to declare the dominance of the body over the spirit, the dominance of the vessel you are born into over the spirit that is born into it? This is categorically anti-spiritual. Those who use religion on these grounds pervert the intended effect of religion, using it as a means of confining the soul rather than liberating it.
I adore freedom. Freedom at all costs.
THE CLOSET MYSTIC 