#memberqueer

I'm taking an Acts-Revelations class at college this semester, and we just finished and took exams on the book of Acts! I have two main thoughts but seeing as I'm doing a larger research project on one, I'll share the other now.

In Acts 10, Peter has a vision. It's a pretty important vision overall; the vision and the events coming after mark the beginning of the gospel being spread to gentile peoples. In the vision, a vessel descends from heaven containing all sorts of animals. When Peter is told to eat, he initially refuses because they are unclean. God tells him:

15 And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.

(Acts 10:15, KJV)

We are made clean through the blood of Christ and in our faith. We're not common or unclean anymore!

In application to myself, I take this to apply to my queerness. God created an aromantic, asexual, trans nonbinary creature and they got baptised. They have faith.

As I'm trying my best, I don't have to let others call me common or unclean. I can stand up for myself and my faith: what God has cleansed, they should not call common.

I'm a gay genderqueer Mormon with a complicated relationship with the church. I like to use the term memberqueer to describe it! I'm not a member in the sense of "100% does everything, is active", but I'm not inactive, but I'm not PIMO, but I'm not...

Being queer influences my relationship with the church. I jokingly called it memberqueer with my qpp and it caught on.

Examples: I have a friend in my writing group who's taking a break from the church. She recently has started sending pictures of her wearing new, 'immodest' clothes in the discord group. One thing that's striking to me is how much more confident she looks than in pictures she sent before, and how genuinely happy she seems wearing the outfits.

My personfriend and I ordered corsets recently. One that she ordered was designed to be outerwear, shoulderless. Another was a lace-backed shirt that left the back open. When she tried them on, she had such a big smile.

I personally have developed a fondness for crop tops and tank tops. Over the past year, I've picked up a few that I particularly like, and wearing them makes me feel good about myself and how I look. I remember acquiring one in particular at an open closet event, and someone commented that I looked happier than when I'd come in.

Church modesty council to youth recently changed in the new For the Strength of Youth. Instead of strict Do or Don't lists, the handbook says to treat your body with respect. Treat it like a gift from God.

In my opinion, dressing in a way that makes you happy is a form of respect. Respect isn't how much of yourself you cover. It's not in wearing only what's 'normal' or 'usual' in your area. It's about treating it well. Being authentic to yourself and dressing in ways that make you happier is respectful to your mind and your body, and therefore fits in this definition of modesty!