Forum

There are so many issues that Denessa Smith’s life and death brings to mind. She fought against the hatred that many people inflict on magickal children. She fought against the injustice that Pagan people often face in their personal and work lives. She never wanted special privilege for magickal people, only equal treatment. It is sad that she will not see it manifest in her physical life. There is another issue that concerns me about Denessa. She had a wonderful and faithful wife she shared her life with. I cannot image the loss that her wife feels now that so powerful a presence is gone. But we should be mindful of the discrepancies in our society regarding same-sex relationships. Was her wife able to make the same decisions on her behalf that any other married couples would be able to make? Did they have to have specific codicils to allow her to care for her lover the way that legally married couples can do as a matter of course? We need to think about this. Our society is hateful to gay couples and being silent about it only perpetuates that hatred. Denessa championed her daughter’s cause and the cause of so many young Pagans. But Denessa was more than that. Her life was about equality and while her memory will be more focused on the Tempest Smith Foundation, let us not forget the other people in our Pagan and mundane society who are inflicted by the perverted “morals” of a dominate culture that will not let people be free and happy.