A Prayer Beyond Binaries

By Lindasusan Ulrich

I call myself bisexual because I acknowledge that I have in myself the potential to be attracted – romantically and/or sexually – to people of more than one sex and/or gender, not necessarily at the same time, not necessarily in the same way, and not necessarily to the same degree. –Robyn Ochs

For those who choose “and” in a world that insists on “or”

For those who struggle against invisibility

Even when it means sprinkling your own head with ashes

For those who will not accept dismissal and diminishment of your pain

Instead naming it with precision as callous disregard

For those who bring your whole self to the work of liberation

Whether or not it fits conveniently into checkboxes

Or someone else’s definition

For those who relentlessly widen the circle for others

Including those who would shut you out

This is a prayer praising your beautiful spirit and your courage

This is a prayer honoring your fierceness and your heartache

You’ve carried the trauma for generations

Still too frequently on your own

But we’re building something new –

Something that can only be shaped in the liminal spaces

Where imagination cannot be fenced in

This is a prayer giving thanks for language broken open

Because the only duality you still hold on to

Is to love and to love some more

There’s a reason the collective noun for bisexuals is blessing

May this day of celebration seep joy into your bones

May this day of acknowledgment reflect back to you your worth

May this day of action illuminate your gifts

May this day, and every day, remind you that you are loved beyond all bounds

Simply because you exist.