Queer deities

 Throughout Pride, we talk about representation and belonging.  Mostly we talk about this in terms of media and general culture, in how everyone wants to see people they can identify with in mainstream media and about how they want to feel like they belong.  This holds true in our spiritual life as well.

The good news is that, as a Pagan, there are lots of options for queer deities that you can work with...or not (as of course you don't have to only worship deities that are exactly like you).  The gender identity and sexual orientations of many Pagan deities are just as varied and complex as our own...and that means they can be quite complicated at times!

But what I think the important point here is that we can look at our mythologies and our pantheons and we can see representations of qualities that often make us feel 'othered'.  And the queer deities aren't villainized or ostracized for their queerness (though they can be the villains of the story...for other reasons).

Something I find particularly wonderful about queer deities is that they aren't restricted to queer worshipers, and that means that all kinds of people can interact with and venerate them...and that leads to more acceptance of people like them that you might meet in your daily interactions.

But I also feel it gives people deities they can reach out to or work with that will understand (on a personal level) many of the things they are going through.  It's like the difference between talking to someone who shares your experiences and can empathize with you versus someone who can only sympathize with you.  Sometimes you just want someone who's gone through it.

One thing that I think we do have to be aware of, is that sometimes deities get 'normalized' as the stories get translated (especially any story that is being told to children).  It reminds me a little of the way in which historical romances are remembered as 'close friends'...even if they lived together, shared a bed and sometimes raised children together! As we read up on deities, we can look for the places in which the stories might have been edited to satisfy more 'traditional' sensibilities.

Another thing to keep in mind is that many people have UPG (unverified personal gnosis...aka personal experiences that aren't backed by historical records) which lead them to related to specific deities as queer deities (or to consider a deity queer even if there is no evidence of it in the myths).  There are many deities that we don't know much about, so their gender and sexual identities aren't known.  And if you work with them, and they reveal their preferences to you, that's completely valid!  ((note:  it is also completely valid if someone works with a deity you work with, and you don't agree on their gender/sexual identity...remember, deities can be like people and they can show different aspects of themselves to different people....they are also unlike people in that they can hold different aspects that may at first seem contradictory))

I am also of the believe that our deities are not static...that they can grow and change.  So just because a deity was historically represented in a certain way doesn't mean that they might not have changed in light of more modern understanding (especially if they were in their prime during a more restrictive time).

There are so many deities out there, and being able to see ourselves in some of them is SO important.  Seeing queer deities as a part of a pantheon demonstrates how we can all live together, in harmony.  Working with deities that are both the same and different from you helps create bonds that reach beyond our similarities and help us to embrace people who walk a slightly different path.  And these are all things that make us, as a Pagan community and as a part of the greater human race, that much stronger.