Wearing Black for st. patrick's day.

I'm a Catholic-raised Irish-American, so 'the wearing of the green' was always kind of a big thing on "Saint Patrick's Day". Other people have their cultural stuff... but this, beer, shamrocks, leprechauns... was mine. It wasn't, much but I wanted to feel like I was part of something.

I also grew up LGBTQ+. The moment I realized it in my very early teens, 'Christ' joined 'Santa' on the dung-heap of 'lies parents tell their children because of 'tradition''.

But, I still wore green every year trying to ignore the 'Catholic' loyalty statement it made. I love green, it's my favorite color, I wear it often... just not today.

For a while, I switched to wearing Orange on the 17th, because fuck the vatican, and their utterly unforgivable history. A point missed by most of the people around me, but I'd get a knowing nod once in a while.

Green and Orange are both represented in the Irish flag, for Catholics and Protestants, with a band of white signifying peace between them. I could wear white, but screw that. Unified Christians always find some new foe to demonize... better for the rest of us, if they not get too chummy with each other.

So now I wear black on 'Saint Patrick's Day'. Out of respect for all the dead at the hands of Catholicism, from stereotypical 'irish cop' brutality to the mass graves of babies in Tuam, Canada and who knows where else. Out of respect for those abused or bullied to the point of suicide by priests and those who followed their history. And -so- many others whose blood is on their hands.

Anyway, thanks for listening, this rant's been building up in me for a while.