In April of this year, our good friend and one of the pioneering pagan children's authors, Kyrja Withers, and her husband underwent severe threatening harassment, which began with people screaming expletives and honking as they drove by, progressing to a pellet gun being fired at her house, and then escalating to two acid bombs being tossed into her front yard.
This, of course, would cause any family extreme fear and stress about any further harassment and the level to which it might continue to escalate ~ all of this as a result of a misperception about our beliefs.
Yet, even though these events occurred because of misunderstandings by people uneducated regarding the tenets of paganism, what does a victim of such physically threatening prejudice do? Often times, pagans have had to move and suffer not only the stress of relocation, but sometimes having to surrender employment and selling property in unfavorable housing markets.
This time, however, champions appeared. Selena Fox with the Circle Sanctuary (a national activist in pagan and other concerns), in concert with Peter Dybing (now considered a local pagan hero here in Florida) along with the Lady Liberty League stepped in to educate and even offer protection in the Kyrja Withers matter.
As the Florida Pagan / Wiccan Community begins to recover from the impact of such physically threatening attacks against one of their beloved members, yet another issue steps in to raise concern in the Community surrounding Florida's newest pagan festival, the Lake Okeechobee Summer Solstice Pagan Festival, scheduled to take place over the Summer Solstice this year.
Despite all the advanced and careful planning, notifications, and advertising in the many, many months preceding the event, several Christian clergy have JUST NOW become aware of and are apparently now inflamed over the pending festival. Such disapproval, of course, was expressed in the media while displaying an amazing lack of understanding and education in this day and age regarding any aspect of paganism reverting to comments filled with words such as warlocks and warning against the impending evils of belly dancing and magic spells.
What the article fails to stress, however, is that this is the opinion of a FEW members of the local residents. It also fails to mention the positive benefits our various Florida festivals have had on local municipalities and townships including the positive financial impact on local businesses, some of whom actually cater specifically to pagans during the festivals. I guess making a positive impact on local communities is not as dramatic as hollering warlocks and magic spells. Oh, and let's not forget the evils of belly dancing - an art form which has been employed as a form of physical fitness in many Christian based exercise programs, by the way. At least they didn't mention the Flying Ointment because we all know about the "FLYING OINTMENT"!
We have faced prejudice before and this is nothing new. What is really important about this situation is the responsive presence by Selena Fox, Peter Dybing, and the Lady Liberty League offering once again to educate the uneducated - if they will listen to them - in a calm, professional, non-aggressive stance. They stand for an evolution in the Community, not only in Florida and the United States, but, hopefully, a worldwide movement to protect and defend our rights utilizing peace driven and education focused directives. It takes activists to do this - strong activists - to take a strong stance without enflaming either the Pagan & Wiccan Communities or the Christian community while offering the security of protection and assistance that Pagans and Wiccans need to preserve their rights.
So for these reasons, I salute Selena Fox, Peter Dybing, and the Lady Liberty League for being champions and guardians for the rights of Pagans and Wiccans not only in Florida, but elsewhere as well. May they remain as examples and inspiration for others in the Community.
Muwah! Mead Muse
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