Gina

Today was a very, very, very good day. I feel awesome and bad-ass and in my power and energized, in short.

That said, I am a liiiiiittle sad that I forgot that it was Ash Wednesday and forgot to go to services tonight.

Esp. because the last time I went to church on Ash Wednesday (last year):
1) The priest was hella sweet & hella queer.
2) The priest loved my St. James Infirmary hoodie and was hella excited that I was a former St. James employee & connected to sex worker community.
3) One of the other parishioners recognized me from a bathhouse (specifically, from an all-genders sex party that was held at a bathhouse that is usually dudes-only). He was all adorably like “Hey!!! I know you from…” and then he looked kinda stricken and dropped his voice to a whisper “Oh, wait, should I say that out loud? Oops.” (I smiled and said it was fine, ‘cause it was.)

I am really thankful that a church like this exists, and that it is not even the queer church in town (but it is obvs a church with lots of queer folks front & center). Just… First off, it is amazing to live somewhere where there is more than one spiritual community option for queer genderqueer pervert sex worker outsider me. And it was pretty amazing, last year on Ash Wednesday, to go to this church I’d only heard about in passing, and pretty magically & unexpectedly have all those parts of myself acknowledged & affirmed, to have all of those parts of myself actually get to come to the table.

I’m realizing as of late, for a lot of reasons, that I really need to get myself back to church. And to that church, specifically.

So, I went to an Ash Wednesday service tonight at St. Gregory of Nyssa, a wonderful & offbeat Episcopalian church out in Potrero Hill with an out queer head pastor, lots of queers and lots of young punky folks in the pews, and a giant mural of Dancing Saints (included in the mural are Dr. King & Harvey Milk, alongside more traditional saints) painted around the chapel ceiling.

Cool Thing #1: As we were doing Communion, someone approached me and told me they recognized me… FROM A BATHHOUSE*.

Cool Thing #2: The pastor loved my Lynda Barry tattoo & my St. James Infirmary hoodie. Like, seriously, his face lit up at both.

I’d like more church like that in my life, please!

* Yes, that kind of bathhouse. EROS opens up to girls every once in awhile for all-genders parties, and when they do, I go.