One scene replays itself in my mind. I went to a series of events which were held at the GLBT center in Greenwich village. We had taken a dinner break, and the next event designers had declared they wanted everyone out of the meeting room until the agreed upon recommencement time in order to prepare their segment.

I who had finished my meal early returned to find myself thusly gently 'shooed' out of the meeting room. I decided I would then enjoy some more of the cool, fresh air and sat on the steps of the GLBT center to watch the people come and go. Most walked by without noticing me. A few walked by, noticing the nature of the building and its intended purpose, uttered some inanitities like, "Ugh, that's the QUEER center!" with a mocking, yet nervous disdain in their voices. I was amazed that in this huge city, hugest in the country, such bigoted attitudes should exist.

But, of course, bigots live everywhere. And the power of their influence trickles downward. Two very young men, not yet needing to shave, entered the building, and I overheard one say to the other, "Oh, I wouldn't sit there if I were her, that's dumb!" I could hardly believe what I'd heard, that these timid younglings had so absorbed the attitudes of a few unenlightened morons, that they would deprive themselves of the right of enjoying some fresh air. They dashed into the building as quickly as they could, hoping that they had not been seen.

But I saw them, I heard them. And now today, in reflection I think about the meaning of the freedom to define our own lives. Millions of people came to the shores of this land, with the Lady holding her lamp of freedom high, for just such a reason, that they had the right to define their own lives, not proscribed and limited by government. For the freedom to live and align themselves religiously as they felt called in their hearts to do so, many took the perilous journey from their familiar, but limiting places, to come to our shores.

What is the nature of this liberty and where does it come from? At first it comes from the heart which declares "I am equal to any other man. No man may therefore dictate to me how I may live." That many understand this is the reason we enjoy the freedom we have today. However, there are deeper roots to this declaration. At first we declare ourselves equal to other men, THEN we declare ourselves equal to the Gods. This liberty ultimately comes from the dignity of each person to declare his own self created divinity, and say, "My Will be done," as opposed to those who cower in fear, and whisper, "Thy Will be done." Herein are the roots of the freedom we declare. The timid younglings who do not own the freedom to sit outside and enjoy the fresh air, if in that declaration they are saying, "I am of the GLBT community, (or if not directly of the GLBT community align myself so closely that I shall be seen openly to stand with them).", are submitting to the will of the few who declare them to be evil for their unique individuality as it expresses itself within the GLBT definitions.

What price that submission enacts! It costs a person everything, and those who so submit find themselves paying in a hundred possibly unseen ways. Their lives, the choices they make, each and every action they take is ultimately under this crushing domination of the will of some Other, some Other perceived as more worthy than themselves.

But it is our gift, those of us who in our hearts the Black Flame burns, to understand the deeper workings of things and the interlocking influences around us. We understand the true nature of freedom and know the defiant acts it takes to declare this freedom. We hold ourselves sacred. We refuse to let people make us feel small. We do not bow, we do not submit in fear and self abasement. We lift our heads high and declare our freedom proudly! Let us be the torch bearers, the torch whose flame comes from that which burns in our hearts. We are the self created beings in whom the Flame of Freedom burns! Let us live our lives joyously!

Go to It's About Freedom: A Spirituality of Liberation

In this evolving article, we learn that this liberation is not 'merely' a rebellion, but a reclaiming of power which had been ours but which was taken from us in the crushing forces of monotheism.