1. QUEERING PRAYER
COMPILED AND CREATED BY
ABBY GONDEK
AND
DAHLIA PETERSON
CLOCKWISE FROM
TOP LEFT: ADRIENNE
RICH, GLORIA
WEKKER, AUDRE
LORDE, HELENE
CIXOUS, JUDY GRAHN

2. CLOCKWISE FROM TOP
CENTER:
TONY KUSHNER, CINDY
PATTON, MELANIE SAFKA,
SANDY STONE, MINNIE
BRUCE PRATT

3. Queering Prayer:
An Introduction
• Queering Prayer connects sexuality and spirituality,
• Transforms a space traditionally confined to
hierarchical and oftentimes oppressive ways of
praying,
• And demonstrates that academic ideas can be
conveyed in a non-academic structure and that
academics and spirituality can be tied together.
• Queering Prayer was created based on the belief that
sexuality should be a central part of spirituality, rather
than a disconnected and forbidden part.
• Prayer should be joyful; it should include song and
music.
• Prayer should be inclusive; it should give participants
the chance to speak and participate.

4. An Introduction to Queering Prayer
• Prayer should create space for everyone participating to
find a way to connect to their spirituality and sexuality.
• For me, prayer has always been about connecting with
those I love, with nature, with my own spirit. I never saw
"God" as a man above me, but instead the woman spirit
within me and the web that connects me to the people I
love.
• I long for spirituality in my life. Becoming a rabbi is
something I have thought about for a long time. The
spiritual aspects of Judaism have had a profound
influence on me.

5. Stepping Backward
Adrienne Rich
I should be forced to look upon
you whole
The way we look upon the
things we lose.
Parting might make us meet
anew, entire.
We are a small and lonely
human race
Showing no sign of mastering
solitude
you and I
Still look from separate windows
every morning
And when we come into each
other's rooms
Once in awhile, encumbered
and self-conscious,
We hover awkwardly about the
threshold
And usually regret the visit later.
Perhaps the harshest fact is,
only lovers--
And once in a while two with the
grace of lovers--
Unlearn that clumsiness of rare
intrusion
And let each other freely come
and go

6. Stepping Backward
Most of us shut too quickly into
cupboards
The margin-scribbled books, the
dried geranium,
The penny horoscope, letters
never mailed.
The door may open, but the room
is altered;
Not the same room we look from
night and day.
That imperfection has a certain
tang.
Has in it the defeat of isolation--
If not our own, then someone's,
anyway.

7. Stepping Backward
So I come back to saying this good-by,
A sort of ceremony of my own,
This stepping backward for another glance.
Perhaps you'll say we need no ceremony,
Because we know each other, crack and flaw,
Like two irregular stones that fit together.
Your stature's one I want to memorize--