Karen Hollis | Nov 16, 2025 Pentecost 23 | Trans Day of Remembrance
Queering Psalm 23 by M Jade Kaiser
Queer Love is my Divine Companion.
In Their company, I unfurl with delight.
They teach me to question the assumed and the rigid.
They lure me with eros, creative and promiscuous.
They fill me with the spirit of Stonewall
and lead me in the ways of “no pride for some of us
without liberation for all of us.”
Even as systems threaten and forces oppress,
I will forever Act Up; For Silence is Death
and in our holy provocation you are always with us.
You embrace us as chosen family – a comfort in our grief.
You celebrate all that nurtures our aliveness
in the presence of doctrines and policies that deaden.
You bless every trans body.
You declare sacred every sexuality.
Life overflows with possibilities for becoming.
Surely, the glory of the peculiar, the outcast,
the righteous freaks and the weirdos
will inspire me all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell among the thresholds
where the Sacred Strange subverts every normalized terror
and the queers of all ilks fight for the right to grow old.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be reflections of your word to us today, in Christ’s name we pray. Amen
Psalm 23 is so loved. It wraps around us like a blanket, warm and comforting. We reach for it as assurance that God is here and provides everything we need. Because it is so dear to us and also so short, it provides a fantastic opportunity for creativity. I lead an activity sometimes where we rewrite the psalm in our own words. If we were to get really specific about what it looks like in our lives to lie in green pastures and have our souls restored, which words would we use? What if we got clear on the forces in the world that oppose us, along with the particular graces God offers there, and then we wrote them into a personal version of psalm 23?
The Rev. M Jade Kaiser did this exercise with their queer identity in mind and gifted it to the world. Queer Love is their Divine Companion, the One who blurs lines and teaches them to question the rigid, who is present with their acts of holy provocation, who embraces them as family, with whom life overflows with possibilities of becoming . . . queer love is the one who dwells in thresholds where the Sacred Strange subverts every normalized terror and the queers of all ilks fight for the right to grow old. Kaiser describes a real and sacred space for truth and authenticity where it is safe to unfurl with delight, to let down guards and walls, to draw close to the Divine Companion and exist . . . exist without having to defend it from a hostile world.
A couple of years ago, I listened to a panel of trans Canadians, mostly in their 20’s and 30’s. They spoke at length about how much of their daily lives are filled with anxiety. They’re afraid all the time of physical and emotional harm that could come from people they meet as they go through their day. They get strange looks and comments that make them feel unsafe. Statistics Canada shows trans people are much more likely to experience psychological, emotional and physical harm than the broader population.
On a systemic level, there have been some huge steps forward in recent years. Marriage equality became law in Canada in 2005. The US followed suit 10 years later after the “2015 Supreme Court ruling.”1 However, since then, “we have seen a wave of anti-trans laws around the world. Last year, the United States passed 48 bills targeting trans and gender-expansive people, limiting their rights in education, sports, medical care, and public spaces (such as gendered washrooms). Unfortunately, Canada is following suit.”2
“Three Canadian provinces have recently introduced laws and policies that restrict trans rights. In October 2023, Saskatchewan passed a law requiring parental consent for students to use their affirmed names or pronouns at school. New Brunswick passed a similar law, while Alberta’s bills went further, limiting access to gender-affirming [medical] care and sport participation for trans individuals.”3 All of this raises the anxiety level of daily life, as policy follows the mood of the public.
While it’s trans rights being debated in the public forum today, it was the same thing with gay rights and marriage equality 20 years ago.
It’s just awful to have one’s right to exist be debated in public forums. To know when your head hits the pillow that more bad news could be coming in the morning.
How did we get here? Why is there such a coordinated and unprecedented attack on trans people in the first place? One of my favourite modern prophets is a diva named Alok. They are a 34 year old comedian and public speaker on all things queer and affirming. Alok is non-binary, meaning they identify as a gender other than male or female. They often appear in a full beard with make-up, colourful hair, and a well-planned, eye-catching dress. I call Alok a prophet, because they speak truth generously and unapologetically from a queer perspective.
Alok speaks in an interview about being non-binrary: A lot of non-binary people get a bad rep because people think we’re just the killjoys coming in saying, ‘You’re not allowed to be a man or a woman,’ or, ‘if you are a man or a woman then you’re complicit in my oppression.’ That’s not true. What we’re saying is that man and woman are two of potentially infinite [genders], and that man and woman are like 2 stars in the sky and they don’t actually require diminishing one another’s shine. Man doesn’t have to mean ‘not woman.’ ‘Woman’ doesn’t have to mean ‘not man.’ We’re saying there is potentially, as many ways to be a man as there are men, there’s as many ways to be a woman as there are women. And you get to tell me what ‘man’ or ‘woman’ means to you. It’s about asking, ‘who are you?’”4 It’s an interesting question – what does man or woman mean to you? I don’t think it's a completely foreign concept in this room – I know the Men’s Shed, for example, exists because men wanted a space where they could show up more authentically. Still, not everyone in our culture is ready for this kind of personal exploration.
Alok has a theory about why the trans community (and gay rights before them) is under such a coordinated and unprecedented attack. “It’s not about accepting gender-nonconforming people,” they say, “It’s about accepting yourself.” In the midst of a culture where one is supposed to fit themselves into these male and female boxes, trans people are saying, actually no, I don’t have to do that . . . and you don’t either. Trans people break the social rules that the rest of the population has fit or sometimes contorted themselves into.
For those who have conformed to the gender binary without question, looking at trans people may unconsciously touch on a pain point, a place where they once did self-harm by not honouring their authentic self. There’s a saying: What is it about that person that I don’t like about myself? (repeat) It’s the idea that we are a mirror for each other. When we respond negatively to someone, it’s probably because unconsciously, they remind us of ourselves. So, seeing trans people have the audacity to be visible and live a life without compromise could then be very threatening. The fear response in our culture is then to make trans people as invisible as our own true selves are . . . to outlaw the things that affirm trans existence, like gender affirming medical care and having gender neutral washrooms.
Alok has taught me that trans people honour their true selves in a world where it is dangerous not to conform. I wonder . . . do I keep aspects of my version of woman hidden from view? Could I be courageous enough to show my whole self? I’m gonna think about it. Queer folk are just leading the way for something we all need: more affirmation of who we are truly are as humans, who God truly made us to be.
Alok says: “I want to create a world where everyone gets to choose their own gender, where everyone can look how they want to look without fearing violence.” (Sigh), yes.
While the fight for trans rights continues, grieving and healing are complex. It’s difficult to heal while harm is being done, and the trans or queer experience is not singular - it’s more like a rainbow. Even as allies, we each come in our own way, we hold space for each other, affirm each journey. We weep for all that has been lost and dwell in the hope of Queer Love, love who melts lines-humans-have-drawn and makes room for all of us, who unsettles the norms that do harm, who blesses and provides a space of much needed rest.
I invite you today to dwell in this space of all-inclusive love through Open Space.
Affirmations
Light candles
Rocks in water
Remembrance Table
Anointing for Healing
1 https://www.lgbtmap.org/mapping-trans-equality Nov 15, 2025
2 https://www.cbrc.net/anti_trans_laws_youth_support Nov 15, 2025
3 https://www.cbrc.net/anti_trans_laws_youth_support Nov 15, 2025
4 interview clip on facebook.