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Magora Kennedy

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Reverend Goddess
Magora Elmira Kennedy
Born
Magora Ernestine Molineaux

(1938-09-22) September 22, 1938 (age 85)
Albany, New York, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater
Occupations
Known forGay liberation

Magora Elmira Kennedy[1] (born Magora Ernestine Molineaux; September 22, 1938)[2] is an American minister and LGBT civil rights activist who participated in the Stonewall uprising.[3] She is a former Black Panther and was involved in the civil rights and women’s rights movements.[4] She is a self-proclaimed Black lesbian, crone goddess, and woman of God.[5]

Early life

Magora Kennedy was born on September 22, 1938 in Albany, New York and raised in Saratoga Springs, New York.[1] Her father was White and Caribbean and her mother was Native American and Black. Kennedy knew that she was a lesbian from a young age.[2] At age 14, she was outed and, in an attempt to “cure” her homosexuality, her mother offered her the choice to get married to a man, or be institutionalized at the Utica State Hospital. She ended up marrying a man 21 years her senior.[6][7] The marriage was consummated, but later annulled because of her age.[2] She later married a gay man, before divorcing him and publicly coming out as a lesbian.[8]

Career

Kennedy attended Boston University and worked as a comedian and singer (known for her platinum wig) before moving to New York to attend seminary.[5] She returned to Boston, where in 1970, she served as minister of the Universal Life Church and secretary of the Boston Black Action Committee.[9] She organized a children’s church choir called the “Little Wonders” at Way of the Cross Holy Church of God in Roxbury, but was asked to leave when her lesbianism was discovered.[8]

Kennedy took part in the Stonewall uprising in New York in 1969. She was driving to Provincetown when she heard that LGBT people were fighting against a police raid at the Stonewall Inn, so she turned her car around and joined the uprising.[1] She was also a member of Boston’s pride committee during its first pride march of June 1971.[5] At the first stop of the march at drag bar Jacques Cabaret, Kennedy stated a list of demands:

Because we can’t go anywhere else, because as gay women we have been especially ghettoized here in Boston, and because the conditions at gay bars are by and large determined by the straight world, those in control know they can be as oppressive as they want. Jacques is terribly crowded and a fire hazard on weekends. Women entering the bar were subject to taunts by [straight] men, who not only [took] up badly needed room but also got their kicks leering and propositioning the women here. Sanitary conditions hardly exist at all. We are effectively ghettoized, since dancing between members of the same sex and other behavior, which the law deems to call lewd and lascivious, are illegal.[10]

In 1971, she appeared on The David Susskind Show along with other LGBT activists, arguing against the American Psychiatric Association's designation of homosexuality as a mental disorder.

In 1975, she served on the Task Force on Racism of the Christian Social Action Commission of the Metropolitan Community Church.[11]

Legacy

Interest in Kennedy’s life has increased due to her participation in interviews and exhibits about the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising and her participation in the documentary CURED.[12][13] She is the former Chaplain of the Stonewall Veterans Association[14] and is involved with the National Action Network.[15]

Magora Kennedy describes her philosophy on life in her book “This Goddess Has Landed: Does She Have a Message For YOU!”:

  1. Mother Goddess/Father God loves you just the way you are.
  2. So learn to Love Yourself for real, as the star that you are.
  3. Love is the most powerful Force in the Universe.
  4. Sisterhood is Powerful![2]

Her forthcoming book is called Shades of Stonewall.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Rev. Magora Elmira Kennedy". StonewallVets.org. Retrieved 2021-05-26.
  2. ^ a b c d Kennedy, Magora (2015). This Goddess Has Landed: Does She Have A Message for YOU!. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 978-1508524069.
  3. ^ Edwards, Jessy (2021-01-19). "New BK Photo Exhibit of LGBTQ Seniors Counts Years 'Lost' Hiding Authentic Self". BKReader. Retrieved 2021-05-26.
  4. ^ a b "Rev. Magora Kennedy". The Forum on Workplace Inclusion. Retrieved 2021-03-07.
  5. ^ a b c "#BlackHistoryMonth: Reverend Goddess Magora Kennedy". The History Project. Retrieved 2021-05-26.
  6. ^ "The People". CURED. Retrieved 2021-05-26.
  7. ^ "Reverend Goddess Magora Kennedy". Not Another Second. Retrieved 2021-05-26.
  8. ^ a b Eron, Carol (1970-07-21). "To be Young, Gift, Gay & Black". Boston Phoenix.
  9. ^ Baber, Lorraine (1970-04-23). "Magora Kennedy: From Showbiz to the Ministry". Bay State Banner.
  10. ^ 2079762. "2015 Boston Pride Guide - History Supplement". Issuu. Retrieved 2021-03-07. {{cite web}}: |last= has numeric name (help)
  11. ^ 1108793. "October - 1975 - In Unity". Issuu. Retrieved 2021-03-07. {{cite web}}: |last= has numeric name (help)
  12. ^ The True Story Behind The Stonewall Riots | i-D, retrieved 2021-03-07
  13. ^ Bennett Singer and Reverend Magora Kennedy talked CURED, retrieved 2021-03-07
  14. ^ "S.V.A. Photo Album Index". StonewallVets.org. Retrieved 2021-05-26.
  15. ^ Boyd, Herb (4 August 2003). "Black New Yorkers: 'Gayest great-grandmother in the country'". New York Amsterdam News.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)


Category:1938 births Category:20th-century African-American activists Category:Activists from Boston Category:Activists from New York City Category:African-American Christian clergy Category:American chaplains Category:American Christian clergy Category:Clergy from Boston Category:Clergy from New York City Category:Lesbians Category:LGBT African Americans Category:LGBT people from New York (state) Category:LGBT rights activists from the United States Category:Members of the Black Panther Party Category:People from Saratoga Springs, New York Category:Religious leaders from Albany, New York

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