“Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you and, as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and Independent families, some who fear for their lives. The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings; who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants; who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals. They…may not be citizens or have the proper documentation. But the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, gurdwaras and temples. I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away. And that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land. May God grant us the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love and walk humbly with each other and our God for the good of all people in this nation and the world. Amen” Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde Inaugural prayer service, January 21, 2025
In 2018, Bishop Budde played a significant role in LGBTQ+ history when she oversaw the interment of Matthew Shepard’s remains at the National Cathedral — the same building in which she would address Trump nearly seven years later. Shepard was murdered in 1998 in what is still one of the most high-profile hate crime cases in U.S. history, but his parents held onto his ashes for 20 years out of fear his gravesite might be vandalized. Shepard’s remains were interred in the Cathedral’s crypt following a memorial service on October 26, 2018, over which Budde and openly gay Rev. V. Gene Robinson presided. “There will be young people from all across the country, having tours here and being educated here,” Budde told mourners at the time. “When they pass by, they will see a plaque in his honor. They will see that this is a church that has learned from the example of violence that we need to stand and be counted as among those who work for justice and the full embrace of all God's children.” Before Standing Up to Trump, Bishop Budde Helped Matthew Shepard's Parents Safely Lay Their Son to Rest
If the creator wanted only two genders - there would be only two. Imagine a human trying to mate with a whale. Physically and bio-chemically not possible.
THERE ARE THREE NATURALLY OCCURRING GENDERS. MEN GET A "Y" CHROMOSOME FROM HIS FATHER AND AN "X" CHROMOSOME FROM HIS MOTHER. A FEMALE GETS TWO "X" CHROMOSOMES ONE FROM HIS MOTHER AND ONE FROM HIS FATHER. IN RARE CIRCUMSTANCES AN OFFSPRING GET AN ADDITIONAL "X" CHROMOSOME FROM EITHER THE MOTHER OR THE FATHER. THE EXPRESSION OF GENDER OF THE XXY OFFSPRING MAY VARY FROM PERSON TO PERSON.
