June is pride month in the US. Last year I arrived in Amsterdam in late July and they were celebrating pride at that time.
Arriving in the city I saw rainbow flags and bunches of rainbow colored balloons draped along the street as I walked from Centraal train Station to my friends apartment in the city center. Trams too had pride painted on them.
What an extraordinary experience to be in a major European city where signs celebrating Pride were all over. Amsterdam also has a Homo monument, honoring the queers who died in the holocaust.
Most of the time, queer sensibilities and inclusion is hard to find. Even among people who are trained in the field of sexuality, the awareness toward inclusion is rare. Not in their hearts. In their consciousness. In language, phrasing tends to be focused on P in V.
This is where the concept of diversity is important.
The other day, I sat on a bench overlooking a meadow in front of me. Its was spectacular, with a variety of grasses, buttercups and seeds stems creating a palette of purples, mauves, and yellow, with the grasses providing a variety of greens, from dark to neon lime green. I sat next to a friend who commented that this is where healing of the earth is happening. With diversity in the meadows, With woods nearby and the earth supporting a diversity of plants. Which in turn supports a variety of insects and a variety of birds. Biodiversity is extremely important for the ecosystem to support all the life on earth.
While weeding. in the garden, I noticed too, many different insects and spiders. When mentioning this observation to another friend ,who has vast knowledge of soil and trees, he said, “that’s good.”
That which is good, is diversity, variety. It is good because it heals the earth. I think we could look to other biological places where diversity is important. Like our guts. Where having a variety of good bacteria, helps with digestion and we all know when our guts are happy we will be happier too.
We can add the importance of having racial, ethnic and ability diversity in our culture. That we all benefit from having people from different perspectives, cultures, physical abilities, sizes and sexualities in our midsts.
With this post, I invite you to take into your consciousness that diversity in all its forms, especially in sexuality, is not just something to be proud about, but important for our species and our planet to thrive.
Enjoy the video of my bear witness musings on the subject. Check out the archival footage, at the end, of me speaking at the marriage equality rally, after the Oral Arguments in front of the Vermont Supreme Court in the Baker v State of Vermont hearing, November 18, 1998. Twenty years ago…..
I said it then and I feel it now, Every cell in my body tells me that my sexuality is sacred. Queer sexuality is sacred. Diversity is sacred and a part of the cosmic plan.
Musings shared with love,
Bari
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