Music
Finding Trans-theological religious music is a tall order, since music about the transgendered experience is already rare. There are a few songs out there though. My reflections seek to listen to these songs and read their lyrics with a theological / religious perspective.
If It Be Your Will by Antony
Hearing a gender queer person sing is a truly incredible experience. It can be so hard moving from a soprano to a bass, learning an entire new clef (not saying that Antony is singing bass here, it is just an observation from singing in choirs with transfolk). Take a listen. The important piece here, (for me), is the quality and beauty of Antony's voice.
Bathrooms, Boxes, Binary by Adhamh Roland (Riot Folk)
"We got two boxes and you've got to check one. Check "M" or "F," boxes leave no room for fun, but I'm not sure what they're asking so I draw my own octagon." The full lyrics are below the video. What I like about this song is it challenges binaries, making us think in a more "genderful" way (as Eli'jah said, "God is genderful"). Question to ponder: How are the concepts of sacred and profane altered or affected if we eliminate binaries?
Lyrics:
Well, I really have to urinate
And I don't want to have to wait
But no matter which bathroom I'm choosin'
Folks just swear I made some mistake
You got two stick figures on the door
And I'm not quite sure what they stand for
One's wearing a triangle
Both look quite unadorned
So, I go into the one I was taught was good to go
But the shrieks and dirty looks got me thinking it ain't so
Plus, I ain't wearing no triangle
So I guess I'm good to go
Well, I figure it must be door number two
The process of elimination has got to be true
But I can't pee in no urinal
And the stall is in use
Oh, bathrooms, you've got me holding my pee
Oh, bathrooms, you've got me holding my pee
You've got two boxes and you've got to check one
Check "M" or "F," boxes leave no room for fun
But I'm not sure what they're asking
So, I draw my own octagon
'Cause if I check "F" and they see "M"
Will they stick me in jail with a bunch of men?
Will they legally search me
'Cause my gender just confuses them?
Well, if I check "M" and they see "F"
Am I more likely to be under arrest?
Will they subject me to some silly
Psychological test?
Oh, 'cause boxes are so limiting
Our genders just ain't fitting
You don't need to know what's in my pants
Unless I'm letting you in
Oh, boxes, you've got me so confused
Oh, boxes, you've got me so confused
Well, so binary these gender norms
These behaviours - these concepts, we must conform
But two options are solely limited to
Twos options got me torn
So, if you play the part
And you fit the protocol
That’s great just leave room for the rest of us all
The Genderqueers and the various Trans-gender folk and Transexuals
Oh, binary, I’m so fucking through
Oh, binary, I think we all would be better off without the likes of you
Well, I really have to urinate
And I don't want to have to wait
But no matter which bathroom I'm choosin'
Folks just swear I made some mistake
You got two stick figures on the door
And I'm not quite sure what they stand for
One's wearing a triangle
Both look quite unadorned
So, I go into the one I was taught was good to go
But the shrieks and dirty looks got me thinking it ain't so
Plus, I ain't wearing no triangle
So I guess I'm good to go
Well, I figure it must be door number two
The process of elimination has got to be true
But I can't pee in no urinal
And the stall is in use
Oh, bathrooms, you've got me holding my pee
Oh, bathrooms, you've got me holding my pee
You've got two boxes and you've got to check one
Check "M" or "F," boxes leave no room for fun
But I'm not sure what they're asking
So, I draw my own octagon
'Cause if I check "F" and they see "M"
Will they stick me in jail with a bunch of men?
Will they legally search me
'Cause my gender just confuses them?
Well, if I check "M" and they see "F"
Am I more likely to be under arrest?
Will they subject me to some silly
Psychological test?
Oh, 'cause boxes are so limiting
Our genders just ain't fitting
You don't need to know what's in my pants
Unless I'm letting you in
Oh, boxes, you've got me so confused
Oh, boxes, you've got me so confused
Well, so binary these gender norms
These behaviours - these concepts, we must conform
But two options are solely limited to
Twos options got me torn
So, if you play the part
And you fit the protocol
That’s great just leave room for the rest of us all
The Genderqueers and the various Trans-gender folk and Transexuals
Oh, binary, I’m so fucking through
Oh, binary, I think we all would be better off without the likes of you
This song addresses issues with binaries - using the bathroom and filling out paperwork. I think all bathrooms should look like this:
A Crime Memoirs by Transgender (a band)
A Crime Memoirs is a song by a band named Transgender. Although the lyrics (shown below) do not reflect anything religious, their album art CERTAINLY does. We see a figure with a mustache on a cross with black crows on zhir's arm and circling in the sky. Zhe could be a political figure, or a transgendered person, we are not sure. What we can be sure of is that religious violence is being brought against this person.
Lyrics:
There was this woman
She was a body with long red hair
lying on the grass.
It was a Sunday morning
after the dark.
And there were people all around her
and some policemen too
the necklace lashed around her neck
was a nylon stocking and a cotton cord
She wore a blue dress...
I know, I know, I've always known
you were hidden behind my dreams
your face alive confused inside
the memory of a child.
Now under my eyes
dry blood between the lips,
your lips and your bare breasts
on the pictures of the Police, of the Police.
I've never stopped seeing you
and don't want to forget you.
I've never stopped seeing you
and I don't want to forget you.
I'm waiting in my car
waiting to feel the fear she felt,
the place she found to hide
the scene of a crime
I search into her death
while her life slips me
reconstructing the scene where
a man killed the redhead.
Tell me why it was you and not somebody else?
I restore the reasons she died
with all my theories about sex crime:
it matter about an alchemy
between a woman and a man.
Tell me why it was you and not somebody else?
I've compared hers with other stories
of women killed for sex and I've mixed their names:
Jean with Betty or Bobbie or Judy,
Jean with Tracy or Karen or Daisy.
Tell me why it was you and not somebody else?
I've never stopped to looking for and run after you,
I've stolen everything I could:
books and drugs and food and air and sex
and beds and love and words ...
I've run away.
I've talked about your secrets to justify
the obsessive life you gave to me
and run to cover the story of you,
of my mother and me.
I'm waiting in my car...
There was this woman
She was a body with long red hair
lying on the grass.
It was a Sunday morning
after the dark.
And there were people all around her
and some policemen too
the necklace lashed around her neck
was a nylon stocking and a cotton cord
She wore a blue dress...
I know, I know, I've always known
you were hidden behind my dreams
your face alive confused inside
the memory of a child.
Now under my eyes
dry blood between the lips,
your lips and your bare breasts
on the pictures of the Police, of the Police.
I've never stopped seeing you
and don't want to forget you.
I've never stopped seeing you
and I don't want to forget you.
I'm waiting in my car
waiting to feel the fear she felt,
the place she found to hide
the scene of a crime
I search into her death
while her life slips me
reconstructing the scene where
a man killed the redhead.
Tell me why it was you and not somebody else?
I restore the reasons she died
with all my theories about sex crime:
it matter about an alchemy
between a woman and a man.
Tell me why it was you and not somebody else?
I've compared hers with other stories
of women killed for sex and I've mixed their names:
Jean with Betty or Bobbie or Judy,
Jean with Tracy or Karen or Daisy.
Tell me why it was you and not somebody else?
I've never stopped to looking for and run after you,
I've stolen everything I could:
books and drugs and food and air and sex
and beds and love and words ...
I've run away.
I've talked about your secrets to justify
the obsessive life you gave to me
and run to cover the story of you,
of my mother and me.
I'm waiting in my car...