This is something I’ve been thinking about the past few hours (yes, only hours) and I think I have my thoughts in an accessible order. There was a post that came up a few days ago on Tumblr, and it got me thinking. As Western society becomes more aware of differing sexualities and genders, there are people in different religious places who may falter when it comes to feeling comfortable and identifying with deities from mythological and religious canon. This has resulted in asking “As a ____ are there ancient deities that fit the bill to match me?” I understand why it happens, everyone wants to feel included and many want their practice to be their safe space or something that reflects them as a person, but this question is problematic. The shortest way to answer that question is to say: No, not exactly or No, probably not.
Point blank, the way we (being Western society and popular culture) currently handle gender, sexuality, and romantic affiliation is not compatible with the ways mythology and religion from the past operate and existed. There may be similarities, but the concepts are not 100% the same and they won’t be (you can’t change the past), and the way we use words, titles, and associations is nothing like our understanding of past cultures. Applying our understanding of sexuality and gender onto deities from the past is very difficult and in many cases, done in a very poor manner. Behavior like that outlined in the linked post [above] really, really needs to be stopped because it doesn’t accurately depict deities nor does it really do anyone any good. It’s best to say that, in mythology; deities don’t have our concept of gender or our concept of sexuality.
However, that’s not to mean views of a similar nature are 100% problematic or inaccurate, or even problematic to begin with. People make reaches all of the time, but that’s entirely different than claiming a deity is a modernized concept. In this [second] link, an anonymous user is asking about what deities might be an option to worship in order to feel that a practice is more trans inclusive. The response provides several ideas (some fairly interesting ones, I might add), but it clearly labels what the instances are behind feeling them appropriate as opposed to directly stating that they are something they are not. Learning about a deity and then choosing to identify with them because one of their traits reminds you of your sexuality or gender is fantastic – the problem is applying a modern concept to one and then saying that said deity is ____ just like yourself.
See yourself in your deities as much as you want, but it when it comes to making blanket statements or articles for the masses; refrain from pushing a modernized set of concepts onto deities that don’t quite fit those roles.
Venture Further 