In the time of Jesus as per the accounts in the Bible, all women were lowly handmaidens, they were, according to ‘Peter’ lucky to draw breath, let alone live. It was a particularly oppressive system for women and girls, so much so that he made his consort,‘Mary Magdalene’, an honorary ‘man’ in order to be treated with a modicum of respect. That is, to be able to speak in the company of the other disciples though her knowledge was held by Jesus to be far in advance of his male disciples, and she was the only one who did not lose hope upon his death and gave the disciples courage. She was by his side. Finally, like Joseph who got sold into slavery owing to the jealousy of his brothers, Magdalene was also ejected from Palestine by the patriarchs. Beneath the seething hatred for transgender people, drag queens, homosexuals, etc is the deeper desire for women to resume this condition as envisioned in Margaret Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale. Religious systems of oppression for women are reappearing in Israel, Iran, Afghanistan, and via the Supreme Court and the GOP in the USA.
Who benefits from this attempt to void people of love, promotes hate of the ‘Other’ and a return to the feudal and slave-like oppression of women – other than the power-hungry sexually dysfunctional rapists of Mother Nature and her children? Those who seek dominion over nature. If it’s the way this civilization really started, this only means you will be at Mother Nature’s mercy.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
