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Sally Gross: Intersex priest led legal reform after being defrocked

Last Updated on October 26, 2023 by

Sally Gross was an intersex South African anti-apartheid activist who became a Catholic priest — but was stripped of clergy status after revealing that she identified as female in the 1990s. She became an intersex activist, winning legal recognition of intersex for the first time in the world.

Gross helped change national laws and mentored intersex activists worldwide. Her writings on intersex theology continue to be examined and developed in books by contemporary queer theologians. As a priest, Gross taught moral theology in the elite world of Oxford and Cambridge. Later she turned to Quaker and Buddhist spirituality. Vivid personal memories of Gross are shared by her queer clergy colleague Michael Worsnip, who recalls her as “incandescent” and “a legend,” affirming that “You certainly could not ignore her.”

It is especially appropriate to remember Sally Gross during the “Fourteen Days of Intersex” between Intersex Awareness Day (Oct. 26) and Intersex Day of Remembrance (Nov. 8), also known as Intersex Solidarity Day.

Gross also identified as asexual or “one of nature’s celibates.” Her extraordinary life mixed Jewish and Christian faiths and citizenship in South Africa, Israel and the United Kingdom.

Changes in her personal life happened in parallel with similar political shifts in her native country. She moved from an imposed male identity to her true intersex self while South Africa made the transition from white-minority rule to a multi-racial democracy.

Born intersex and classified male

Sally Gross (Aug. 22, 1953 – Feb. 14, 2014) was born to an Orthodox Jewish family in suburban Cape Town.  Parents and medical staff were alarmed because there was no easy answer to the standard question of whether the newborn was a boy or a girl.  “Anatomically my body is exceedingly ambiguous, and was clearly so when I was born,” Gross explained in the 2009 article “The Journey from Selwyn to Sally.” It was published by the Witness, the oldest continuously publishing newspaper in South Africa, and remains the most extensive online article her.

The baby was spared the genital reshaping surgery that became standard practice a few years later in an effort to make all children fit the gender binary. The intersex infant was classified male, given the masculine name Selwyn, and raised as a boy.

After an Orthodox Jewish education, including a year of traditional rabbinical training at a yeshiva in England, Gross was attracted to Catholicism. Gross ended up leaving Judaism because Christians were doing more to end apartheid, a system of racial segregation. Christian theology also did more to help Gross with the stigma and resulting stress caused by having an intersex condition. As with gender, Gross’ approach to faith was not a strict either/or binary. She continued to honor her Jewish heritage.

Christianity helped with confusion and pain

Gross discussed how Christianity helped her as an intersex person with the Witness:

“The image of the cross seemed to be an icon of all manner of confusion and suffering. The Holocaust was there, the horror of apartheid was there, and my own personal confusion and pain — which I could never publicly admit — was there as well. And in the resurrection was a symbol that this was transcended. And at the back of my mind, there would have been an awareness that in Christianity there are strands of tradition in which celibacy is valued and turned to positive use.”

Gross was baptized in 1976. Soon afterward black students led a major uprising in Soweto, motivating the newly baptized Christian to became more involved as an anti-apartheid political activist. Gross left South Africa in 1977 for safety as a political refugee on the advice of colleagues in the African National Congress (ANC), moving to first to Botswana and then to join her parents in Israel. Stripped of South African citizenship, Gross became a citizen of Israel. Exile led to greater involvement with the Dominicans, a major Roman Catholic order.

Gross joins the Dominicans in art by Jan Haen, author of “Heavenly Homos, Etc.: Queer Icons from LGBTQ Life, Religion, and History.”

In 1981 Gross was accepted into the novitiate of the Dominican order in Oxford, England, and became a naturalized British citizen. After ordination in 1987, the young priest was honored with important assignments. “Father Selwyn” taught moral theology and ethics at Blackfriars in Oxford, and gave philosophy tutorials at various other colleges of Oxford University. Meanwhile Gross continued to do anti-apartheid activism, serving as a member of the then-banned ANC delegation under Thabo Mbeki, who later became president of South Africa. In 1992 Gross became sub-prior at the Cambridge priority, a Dominican intellectual center founded in 1238.

Gross identifies her intersex condition in adulthood

Apartheid was dismantled in 1990-91, culminating in elections South Africa’s first election open to all races in 1994. Gross’ South African citizenship was restored in 1991 — with a male designation. Gross felt the time had come to address the other major tension in her life: gender.

She consulted a counselor at a transgender organization, who helped helped Gross identify her intersex condition. She underwent extensive medical testing that found that her testosterone levels were midpoint in the female range but less than an eighth of the bottom of the male range. Gross agreed with the suggestion of a “real-life test” living in a female role for a year, even as she resisted pressure from the counselor to fit the transgender model.

The Dominicans grudgingly granted Gross a year’s leave of absence to live as a woman, while forbidding her to tell anyone and insisting that she move to a new place. Gross began living as Sally in Eastbourne on the south coast of England. She knew that women were excluded from Catholic priesthood, but she hoped to continue living in a religious community as a nun, possibly in a mixed community of both sexes.

Church revokes her clergy status over intersex issues

However when Gross informed the church that she was an intersex person who identified as female, they revoked her clergy credentials, annulled her religious vows — and imposed rules that effectively made it impossible for her to even attend any Catholic church.

“It was the biggest trauma of my life, one that was surely life-threatening and dragged on for a long time,” she told the Witness in 2009. Gross was still trying to heal and express this trauma through artistic collaboration at the time of her death four years later.

Even her baptism was questioned. In her 1998 paper “Intersexuality and Scripture,” she wrote that “pious, intelligent, theologically sophisticated but fundamentalistic Christians of my acquaintance’ argued that “like dogs, cats and tins of tuna, I am not the kind of thing which could have been baptised validly.”

Sally Gross points at the passport that she fought to correct in art by Jan Haen.

Gross ended up staying in Eastbourne several years longer, facing a 15-month legal battle with South African officials to correct her name and gender on her passport. South Africa banned her from returning until the issue was resolved. It was suggested informally that she solve the conflict by submitting to genital “disambiguation” surgery. “I considered this an immoral suggestion – to undergo dangerous and unnecessary surgery as a condition for having a legal identity. I made it clear I would take legal action if this was put to me formally,” Gross told the Witness.

Finally in 1997 officials issued a passport stating that Gross was born female, on the grounds of mis-identification at birth. Gross went on to live in South Africa, where she became an activist for intersex rights. In 2000 she got “intersex” included in the South Africa’s anti-discrimination law — the the first known mention of intersex in any national law. Ten years later founded the community organization Intersex South Africa (ISSA). In that role she recorded a video for the It Gets Better project in 2013.

Gross directed ISSA until her death in February 2014 at age 60. As with other aspects of her identity, the official record differs from her lived experience. Her official date of death is Feb. 14, 2014, which is when her body was discovered, but she was believed to have died on Feb. 11. She fought for intersex rights to the end, even as her health failed. “Sally died alone, in her flat in Cape Town, having been forced to appeal to friends for funds to pay rent and medical bills as her health deteriorated; she was virtually immobile,” the Daily Maverick reported.

Gross has been portrayed by artists

Artists who have portrayed Sally Gross include Gabrielle Le Roux, a South African artist and activist for social justice, and Jan Haen, a Catholic priest and Dutch artist who grew up in South Africa.

Gross was collaborating with her friend Gabrielle Le Roux on a series of portraits in the year before her death. They completed two out of the planned six portraits. Gross did not live long enough to finish the third portrait based on her rejection by the church. The first portrait includes inscriptions such as “Ehyeh asher Ehyeh,” (Canaanite / early Hebrew letters for “I am what I am,” God’s words to Moses from the burning bush.

Gross hand-wrote her own powerful words on the second portrait: “I am an unmutilated, whole Intersex PERSON.” It was included in “Queer and Trans Art-iculations: Collaborative Art for Social Change,” a 2014 portrait exhibition of transgender and intersex Africans at the Wit Museum in Johannesburg.

In a memorial tribute to Gross, Le Roux described how their plans for an artwork about how the church rejected the intersex priest:

“She had decided what she wanted to wear for the third one – a garment that needed to be made specially, akin to what she wore as a Dominican priest but in a strong shade of deep pink. She planned to write in the background about her experience of vicious rejection and victimization by the church when she came out to them as intersex – a massively scarring experience for her. One of her dreams was that she would share her experience with the church in a way that would make them change their policy on intersex people. To this end she recently wrote to the new Pope as she hoped that, with a more humane world view than his predecessors, he might make some significant changes when he heard about the devastating impact on her of their prejudice.”

Gross’ whole extraordinary life, with its many unusual twists and turns, is re-told in graphic-novel format in the forthcoming book “Heavenly LGBTQ+” by Jan Haen, a Dutch artist and Roman Catholic priest in the Redemptorist order. It is the sequel to his 2022 graphic non-fiction book “Heavenly Homos, Etc.: Queer Icons from LGBTQ Life, Religion, and History.” Saints and heroes of the LGBTQ community come alive through bold, cartoon-like artwork in his illustrated books. Short, accessible text lets the pictures tell their stories.

Gross, center, at a 1987 gathering of the African National Congress in art by Jan Haen.

Haen’s storytelling style includes action scenes that are rarely if ever portrayed by artists, such as Gross raising an arm at a multi-racial gathering of the African National Congress. The artist doesn’t recall ever meeting Gross in person when they were both living in South Africa. Like Gross, Haen had to leave the country in the late 1970s under pressure from the apartheid regime.

Theology and philosophy of Sally Gross

Christian theologians have struggled with intersex or so-called “hermaphrodite” people at least since Augustine of Hippo wrote about it. Gross wrote theological papers on intersex that show the erudite brilliance of her mind.

The entire scholarly paper “Intersexuality and Scripture,” written by Sally Gross in 1998, is posted online by Engender.org.

In the paper Gross provides evidence that Adam, the first human being, was intersex. She notes the shift in pronouns in Genesis 1:27: “So God created man [the Hebrew is ‘Adam’] in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

Gross reveals that this potentially liberating passage was used against her “to argue that God created all human beings determinately male or determinately female with nothing in-between. At a more personal level, they have also been used to argue that an intersexed person such as me does not satisfy the Biblical criterion of humanity, and indeed even that it follows that I am congenitally unbaptisable and must therefore be said not to have been baptised validly.”

Instead of the rigid duality of male/female, Gross knows firsthand that sex and gender are a spectrum. “To use a rather hackneyed metaphor: we are a rainbow nation, and that rainbow quality, that diversity, is to be seen as a strength rather than as a weakness. And perhaps intersexuality shows also that we are a rainbow species: there is more diversity in physical types than people find it easy to concede,” she told the Witness.

Fourteen Days of Intersex

Intersex Awareness Day (Oct. 26) commemorates the first public demonstration by intersex people in North America. On Oct. 26, 1996, protesters gathered in Boston outside the annual conference of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Organizers had intended to speak at the conference to challenge the assumption that intersex children need cosmetic surgery, but security guards forced them out so they protested with a sign saying, “Hermaphrodites With Attitude.”

Intersex Day of Remembrance, also known as Intersex Solidarity Day, occurs on Nov. 8 for the birthday of French intersex person Herculine Barbin. Philosopher Michel Foucault published her memoirs in “Herculine Barbin: Being the Recently Discovered Memoirs of a Nineteenth-Century French Hermaphrodite.”

Two intersex-affirming hymns were written by Daniel Charles Damon in 2022 for a worship service observing Intersex Solidarity Day at The Table, an LGBTQIA+ centered faith collective in Nashville, Tennessee. Damon pastors First United Methodist Church in Richmond, California. The hymns are “Intersex People” and “O God, You Share Your Beauty.”

Intersex Awareness Day tends to be celebrated in North America, while Europe emphasizes Intersex Day of Remembrance.  Some countries honor both events and the whole period between as “Fourteen Days of Intersex.”

Intersex theology books

A variety of queer theology books discuss the life and theology of Sally Gross, including:

“Religion and Intersex: Perspectives from Science, Law, Culture and Theology” by Stephanie Budwey. Published by Routledge, Aug. 2022.

“Sex and Uncertainty in the Body of Christ: Intersex Conditions and Christian Theology” by Susannah Cornwall, 2010.

“Sex Difference in Christian Theology: Male, Female, and Intersex in the Image of God” by Megan K. DeFranza, 2015.

“Intersex in Christ: Ambiguous Biology and the Gospel” by Jennifer Anne Cox, 2018.

Links related to Sally Gross

“Intersexuality and Scripture” by Sally Gross, 1998 (Engender.org)

Sally Gross: The fight for gender equality loses a giant (Daily Maverick)

Sally Gross (South African History Online)

The journey from Selwyn to Sally (The Natal Witness)

Intersex links at Q Spirit

Thomas(ine) Hall: Intersex in colonial America

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Top image credit:
Sally Gross portrait by Gabrielle Le Roux, 2013: “I am an unmutilated, whole Intersex PERSON.”

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This post is part of the LGBTQ Saints series by Kittredge Cherry. Traditional and alternative saints, people in the Bible, LGBT and queer martyrs, authors, theologians, religious leaders, artists, deities and other figures of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people and our allies are covered.

This article was originally published on Q Spirit on Aug. 1, 2022, was expanded with new material over time and was most recently updated on Oct. 25, 2023.

Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
Qspirit.net presents the Jesus in Love Blog on LGBTQ spirituality.

The post Sally Gross: Intersex priest led legal reform after being defrocked appeared first on Q Spirit.

Kittredge Cherry: Christianity inspired me to come out as a lesbian

Last Updated on October 21, 2023 by

I am celebrating my birthday on Oct. 21 by re-posting this reflection on my coming-out story and life journey as a lesbian Christian.

You are invited to donate to Q Spirit for my birthday. Say happy birthday with a contribution and help me promote LGBTQ spirituality!

I am what many believe is impossible

I am what many people believe is impossible: a lesbian Christian. I bring together two realities that appear to be opposites. I am too queer for most of the church — and too religious for most of the LGBTQ community. I am also an author, art historian, and retired minister in Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC). My specialty is writing about LGBTQ spirituality, with an emphasis on history, saints, books and the visual arts.  Over the decades I have grown from serving a local congregation to being a “pastor to the pastors” who provides spiritual resources for LGBTQ people and allies all over the world.  It is deeply rewarding to nurture artists, authors, scholars and spiritual seekers in many traditions worldwide.

I am a participant as well as an observer. I myself am an artist and creative writer, while at the same time I also nurture other authors and artists who make LGBTQ Christian imagery. I’ve been criticized harshly by religious conservatives for promoting LGBTQ spirituality . It’s a ministry that fits me well because of my background as a minister and an art historian.

My Christian faith gave me the strength to come out as a lesbian in 1985. Most people grow up Christian and discover they are LGBTQ. I am unusual because I grew up lesbian and discovered Christ. Raised mostly unchurched, I became an adult convert to Christianity. For me the obstacle was finding out whether God exists. As soon as I experienced God, I knew without a doubt that God loved all of me, including my queer sexuality. Christianity gave me a whole new way of looking at the world: I knew God loved me and created me as I am, so I could stop worrying about what others thought. I was no longer enslaved to social approval. My faith empowered me to come out as a lesbian, first to my family and then to others. Later I learned that my journey was rare. Many LGBTQ people start out feeling condemned as sinners by the church, and find liberation by rejecting religion. But I felt condemned by society and found liberation through the church. I could never imagine a God that didn’t totally love LGBTQ people.

1950s-70s in Iowa: Growing up

I was born on Oct. 21, 1957, and raised in Iowa in a mostly secular family. My mother was an artist and elementary-school art teacher who filled our home with art. She taught me to love art and to create it myself from the time I was old enough to hold a crayon. Coming from an elite background, my mom went to high school with First-Lady-to-be Jackie Kennedy. But at Oberlin College she fell in love with a World War II veteran who was there on the G.I. Bill. My father was a businessman and part-time professional musician. His Big-Band music formed the soundtrack to my childhood, and he taught me to play the Hammond organ as he did. The oldest of two children, I enjoyed many adventures growing up in the Iowa suburbs with my younger brother, Craig. We loved playing with rubber animal erasers, real live toads and the family dogs.

Kittredge Cherry, age 5, with the family dog. Watercolor portrait by her mother. Photo by her father, Arthur Cherry.

My family didn’t expose me to much religion. I was an un-baptized kid whose knowledge of Jesus was more or less limited to the “Jesus Loves Me” song and the Nativity scene that we set up at Christmas. Easter was all about bunnies and Easter eggs. My mother taught me the Lord’s Prayer, which is still the basis of my prayer life. She took me off and on to various Protestant churches, but God didn’t seem real to me back then. Adults talked about God at church, but their actions spoke louder than words and I came to the conclusion that they didn’t actually believe God was real. They told Bible stories in odd little snippets that made no sense to me, especially because the people in the scriptures had no connection to anything that I learned in my public school. Men ran the churches and starred in the Bible stories, and I felt left out as a girl, even before I knew I was a lesbian. Whenever a Biblical movie came on television, I would change the channel immediately.

At the cusp of puberty, I was attracted to God and I was attracted to girls, not necessarily in that order. I also loved to write. I felt what I now know were spiritual longings, but the churches that I visited seemed to be more about socializing than spirituality. Disconnected from the official church, I learned the gospel by gleaning what I could from my cassette tape of the rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar” and its musical cousin “Godspell.” I watched “Godspell” over and over when I was in high school as a volunteer usher on the Showboat Rhododendron in Clinton, Iowa. Looking back, I smile at my own naivete because I had a totally mixed-up idea of who was singing what, and yet the scripture-based words strengthened me.

1975-79: Love and study at the University of Iowa

I majored in journalism and art history at the University of Iowa, where I fell in love with Audrey Lockwood, my college sweetheart, life partner and spouse to this day. She is still the love of my life and we were finally able to marry legally in 2016 — almost 50 years later. It all began when I noticed an extraordinary person with a briefcase and short, red curly hair walking purposefully across the main lounge of Burge dormitory in August 1975. Burge, also known as “the Zoo,” was our new home as University of Iowa freshmen. Gazing at the handsome stranger, I thought happily to myself, “Finally — I’m attracted to a man!” Ha! I soon found out that She was a butch woman from Milwaukee majoring in political science.

Kittredge Cherry, left, and Audrey Lockwood in their dormitory at the University of Iowa, 1978.

Audrey was passionate, intelligent and eager to make the world better. She dazzled me when she told me that she planned to be America’s first female president. The daughter of sophisticated journalists, Audrey had been a kind of child prodigy who used her winnings from a chess tournament to buy a pet armadillo. I had never met anyone like her. During college I got mundane summer jobs, writing for the local newspaper and welding refrigerator shelves at the factory where my dad was sales manager. Meanwhile Audrey flew to Washington for a glamorous internship at the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Small Business. It was the Watergate era and I was an idealistic young journalism student eager to follow in the footsteps of Washington Post investigative reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. I am still inspired by their painstaking research and dogged determination to report the truth, even when it challenges the most powerful leaders.

Together Audrey and I made many friends among the international students, including some from a country that we both loved since childhood: Japan. One of her pet names for me was “Little Infidel” because I scoffed at religion. She, on the other hand, attended Mass every Sunday while the rest of our dorm slept, and that intrigued me too. Audrey and I stayed in the closet not because we thought homosexuality was a sin, but because we feared losing our families and job opportunities.

We graduated in 1979 during a recession, and jobs were hard to find. We mailed out tons of resumes to many places — including Japan. We both dreamed of making a dramatic move to Japan because of the opportunities there and our long-time love for the Japanese people and culture. Audrey quickly accepted a job offer from a corporate training program in Tokyo.

1979-80s: Journalism and Japan

It took me longer to find work. Finally, with a recommendation from Audrey’s father, I was hired as a daily newspaper reporter in the remote town of Quincy, Illinois. I spent three years covering business and the arts at the Quincy Herald-Whig. When I called to interview out-of-towners, they sometimes exclaimed, “You’re Kitt Who from the Herald-What?!”

Kittredge Cherry working as a newspaper reporter, circa 1980.

The editors lured me to Quincy by boasting that it was the biggest city in a 200-mile radius. True enough, but living in the isolated town of 30,000 was like going back in time. Quincy’s strait-laced establishment was shocked when I organized an art show that included a nude painting and wrote an article about the local male strippers. I also covered the devastating impact of the recession, a high-profile child-abuse murder and much more.

Herald-Whig regional editor Beth Keck had just returned from studying in China on a Rotary journalism scholarship. She encouraged me to follow in her footsteps. I joined Audrey in Japan by winning a Rotary International Scholarship for Journalists. I lived there for three years, studying at International Christian University in Tokyo and Kobe College (Kobe Jogakuin Daigaku). Those experiences led to my first book, “Womansword: What Japanese Words Say About Women.”  It was not published until years later when I was back in the States, but then it became a surprise bestseller and even the New York Times praised its “very graceful, erudite” writing style.

Kittredge Cherry carries mikoshi shrine in Japan, 1982.

My father’s death in 1983 threw me into a spiritual crisis. I was stunned when he died suddenly of a heart attack. I had only been to one funeral before in my whole life, when I covered the death of a Quincy politician as a reporter. My grief-stricken mind was searching for answers about what happens after death. I did not believe in life after death, and yet I could feel Daddy’s spirit as an ongoing presence. In shock, I resorted to church, specifically Kobe Union Church. It was an interdenominational English-speaking congregation with members from all over the world. There I felt God reach out to me, just as I am, lesbian and all.

1983-84: Finding God, getting baptized

I was sitting in a pew at the church in Kobe when I experienced a revelation that God is real. I was stunned when the congregation began singing “Nearer, My God, to Thee,” a hymn from my dad’s funeral. I was instantly convinced that it could not be a coincidence, but that this holy synchronicity was God reaching out personally to me — and accepting me just as I am, including my lesbianism. As soon as I knew there was a God, I knew that God accepted homosexuality because otherwise God would not have bothered with me. I had no trouble reconciling Christianity and homosexuality. It sounds simple when I retell it, but it was a joyful, life-changing moment of feeling fully loved and knowing that I would never be alone again because God is always with me.

Because I came from a fmostly secular family, it felt almost as transgressive to become a Christian as to be a lesbian. I grew up believing that some kinds of sexual attraction were normal, but any strong religious sentiments were always an embarrassment.

Kobe Union Church turned out to be a great place to find faith because it was (and still is) an interdenominational English-speaking congregation of people from Japan and all over the world. With so many different backgrounds, nobody tried to impose one rigid style of Christianity on the others. We were free to connect with God in our own way. I was following Jesus, but I saw Christianity as one of many equally valuable paths to God, including Buddhism, Shinto, and goddess worship. This diverse congregation included at least one other closeted lesbian, who became a spiritual guide to me. I also benefited from meeting one-on-one with pastor Jim Fiske.

I did object to Christianity’s oppression of women, but my eyes were opened by Japanese feminists, many of whom are Christian. They said that conversion to Christianity set them free from sexism. Raised Buddhist, they saw Christianity as a fresh, egalitarian religion that established schools for women, ended legal prostitution, and ordained Japanese women during World War II. After I started attending church, I learned that Jesus consistently defied the norms of his culture to empower women. He dared to love outcasts, including women, lepers and foreigners. I was impressed by Bible readings such as, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28). I also poured over American Christian feminist writing, such as Virginia Mollenkott’s books and “Daughters of Sarah” magazine. Living in Japan, where only two percent of the population is Christian, afforded me a clearer view of Christianity’s value than I had in America. Japanese Christians are choosing to ignore or even resist the majority. That is subversive. The lack of social pressure to join a church freed me to make my own decision. I was baptized at Kobe Union Church in 1984 at age 26.

My baptism in Japan is an example of how lesbian sexuality and Christianity came together in my own life. I was not baptized as a baby, so I had to be baptized in order to join Kobe Union Church. My baptism ceremony was almost like a same-sex wedding. The church required me to have a sponsor stand beside me and promise to guide me in faith, so I chose Audrey Lockwood. Nobody else knew at that time that we were lovers, although some probably suspected. Audrey and I stood side by side before the altar as the pastor gave a blessing.

1985: Coming out, coming home

Christian teachings such as “the truth shall set you free” empowered me to come out as a lesbian the following year. Audrey and I revealed our relationship to family and friends. Later our parents accepted our relationship, but at first they were devastated. Coming out also meant coming home because we decided to move back from Japan to the States. We chose San Francisco as our new home because it had a strong gay and lesbian community as well as a large Asian population.

Brave or foolish or both, we thought it would be a great idea to take a do-it-yourself low-budget world tour on the way home, starting with China. We rode the cheap “hard sleeper” cars of the slow trains from Guangzhou to Xian and Beijing in 1985. China had just opened up to individual tourists from abroad.

Kittredge Cherry at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, 1985. Photo by Audrey Lockwood.

Travel in a developing country was a shock and a daily struggle for food and shelter amid air pollution and unsanitary conditions. Everyone had a cough, but after a few weeks mine turned into pneumonia that was so severe that I had to spend a week in a Beijing hospital. Our fantasies of a world tour came to a screeching halt. Audrey helped me go directly from my hospital bed in Beijing to a plane bound for California. I still regret that we didn’t get to cross Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railway as planned. This experience ended up fueling my sense of gratitude, compassion, and desire to help others as a minster.

1980s-90s in San Francisco: Ministry and marriage

On our first Sunday in San Francisco, we decided to go to Metropolitan Community Church. MCC is a denomination that ministers primarily in the LGBTQ community. At that time it was one of the very few options then for Christians who were openly lesbian or gay. We were invited by Nancy Wilson, who later became my boss and moderator of the whole MCC denomination. Our friendship began when Nancy wrote to Audrey in Tokyo asking to subscribe to the “Feminist Forum” newsletter that she edited for International Feminists of Japan.

I felt nervous when I first opened the door to MCC San Francisco, the so-called “gay church” in San Francisco. We had never been to a Pride march. All I knew was that MCC was a church by and for the lesbian and gay community. (The term “LGBT” had not yet been coined, and “queer” was still an unredeemed insult.) I wasn’t used to being open about my sexual orientation. I didn’t know what to expect, but I sensed there was no going back. Immediately I was put at ease by the warmth of the congregation and the beauty of the rainbow flags hanging behind the altar and around the sanctuary. Two powerful clergywomen, Nancy Wilson and Coni Staff, both spoke. God’s presence was palpable. At last I was free to be fully myself, both lesbian and Christian.

Audrey and I went to our first Lesbian/Gay Freedom Day Parade in 1986. We planned to stay on the sidelines, not ready to go public as lesbians yet. But being there transformed us. Never before had we seen thousands of LGBTQ people openly celebrating who we are and how we love. When the MCC San Francisco group passed by us, we couldn’t resist. We spontaneously ran and grabbed the banner to join the march. You can see the joy on our faces. Free at last!

Kittredge Cherry and Audrey Lockwood carry an MCC banner at their first Pride parade in 1986.

Full of passion for God, I dove into study and ministry.  I came of age spiritually with the help of an amazing congregation in the midst of the AIDS crisis. My ministry began during the AIDS pandemic of the 1980s at MCC San Francisco, located at 150 Eureka Street in a building that came to be known as “the pink and purple church in the Castro.”  AIDS had a huge impact because our church was in San Francisco’s gay Castro neighborhood during the worst of the AIDS pandemic. At least two-thirds of the men in the congregation were HIV-positive, and members or their friends died of AIDS every week. Sunday worship was marked by tears, laughter and intense singing. We came to understand ourselves as a church with AIDS — catapulted into intense relationships, spiritual growth, premature death or all of the above. I feel that many of the friends who died at that time are still with me decades later as guardian angels or patron saints. My supervising pastor Jim Mitulski and I wrote a now-classic article about the experience for Christian Century in 1988: “We are the Church Alive, the Church with AIDS.”  To quote author Charles Dickens, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

Holy Union wedding of Kittredge Cherry and Audrey Lockwood on April 11, 1987, with Jim Mitulski officiating. Photo by Lisa Wigoda.

In the midst of the pandemic, I also found new life. Audrey and I were united in a Holy Union church wedding on April 11, 1987 at MCC-SF. We didn’t wait for the government to approve our relationship — God and the church blessed us without all that. Less than a month later I led my first event at MCC-SF: a women’s spirituality speakers series with famous lesbian authors. Women’s participation tripled under my leadership. I organized the church’s first annual women’s retreat and was promoted to program director.

Kittredge Cherry appeared celebrating communion at MCC-SF on the front page of the San Francisco Examiner on April 16, 1990.

I was consecrated to professional ministry in a ceremony at MCC-SF on Aug. 6, 1989. Along with the usual vows to God and the church, I added a special vow to help the secular world too. This is not usually a concern for clergy, but it was for me. I still feel a special calling support people who are drawn to God but weren’t raised in the church.

I became a frequent worship leader and appeared on the front page of the San Francisco Examiner celebrating communion at MCC-SF in 1990. I went on to earn a Master of Divinity degree from Pacific School of Religion and be ordained by MCC.  During this phase of my life, I also wrote my coming-out guide, “Hide and Speak.”  Meanwhile Audrey was a rare out lesbian working in the corporate world.

1990s in Los Angeles: International LGBTQ church leader

Audrey and I moved to Los Angeles in 1991 so I could take a job as ecumenical and public relations director for the whole denomination, advocating for LGBTQ rights at the national and international levels in every branch of Christianity. I had the privilege of working closely with MCC founder Troy Perry, a Pentecostal minister who was defrocked for being gay, and Nancy Wilson, who succeeded him as moderator of the whole denomination. Troy was incredibly brave and visionary to create a church for queer people back in 1968, when homosexuality was still considered a sin, a sickness and a crime.

Kittredge Cherry at her ordination with spouse Audrey

I was on the forefront of the homosexuality debates at the National Council of Churches and World Council of Churches. Nancy describes some of our adventures at the World Council of Churches in her book “Outing the Church: 40 Years in the Queer Christian Movement.” She wrote about me in a chapter titled, “Gift Number 4, “Our Shamanistic Gifts of Creativity, Originality, Art, Magic, and Theater.”

In addition I organized dramatic demonstrations for LGBTQ rights in the church, including Hands Around the God-Box at the offices of the National Council of Churches and the take-over of the 1993 NCC meeting when members voted to deny observer status to MCC. I handled media relations for The Wedding, a spectacular group blessing of 6,000 lesbian and gay couples at the 1993 March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Rights. For photos of these events and more, see my article Metropolitan Community Churches: Ministering in the LGBTQ community since 1968: Historic MCC photos.

While I was editor, the denominational newsletter “Keeping in Touch” was voted the most valuable MCC program.  I co-founded a worship service in the style of Taize, an international ecumenical community known for its meditative chants. My soul and my theology were also nourished by women’s conferences such as Christian Lesbians Out Together (CLOUT) and Re-Imagining: A Global Theological Conference By Women: For Men and Women. Openly LGBTQ Christian leaders were a rare breed back then and we all knew each other. I had LGBTQ friends from a wide variety of Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox traditions, and gathered the best of their worship services into my book “Equal Rites.”

Kittredge Cherry shakes hands with Bishop Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Peace Prize winning human rights activist from South Africa, at the World Council of Churches meeting in Johannesburg in 1994.

I spent years promoting “dialogue” on LGBTQ issues at the World Council of Churches and. National Council of Churches (USA) as MCC’s ecumenical officer. It was exhausting and frustrating because they kept voting against us while creating “dialogue committees” over and over as a way to avoid making real change. Marriage equality, queer theology and ordination of openly LGBTQ clergy in some churches are all signs of progress. I still hope that all churches will move beyond “dialogue” to live out the Christian message that inspired and strengthened me to come out as a lesbian.

Recent times: Spiritual growth and online ministry

Suddenly Chronic Fatigue Syndrome forced me to leave my job and let go of my social life. I was forced into a much more contemplative way of being. Audrey, my hero, stuck with me. We expanded our family to include wonderful dogs and cats. My health kept me home most of the time, so I also tuned into the earth. Nature provided me with wisdom and companionship in my own backyard. I made friends with butterflies, moths, honeybees, crickets, spiders, fig-eater beetles, lizards and other small creatures living right outside my back door.

As my access to the outside world diminished, new spiritual dimensions opened to me. I felt that I had to pull out all stops and experiment with every theological concept and form of prayer in order to heal. I got startling results when I tried visualizing myself in “safe places” from childhood and inviting Christ to be there with me. I first learned that meditation technique during seminary, when a traditional male Jesus would walk politely next to me in silence. In the past others told me what Jesus was like. But they were all gone, and in my illness I was left alone with Jesus, unmediated. Now, in my imagination, a queer Christ sat down right beside me and invited me to walk with him through his “heart-memories.” We began what seemed like a guided tour through the Gospels, which I wrote about in my “Jesus in Love” novels.

My contemplative life as a writer reminds me of some women from my LGBTQ Saints series, especially Julian of Norwich and Hildegard of Bingen. Julian wrote her powerful “Revelations of Divine Love” while living alone in a cell attached to a church. It had windows so she could witness church services and interact with visitors.  My computer screen became my window on the world and functions in much the same way.

Kittredge Cherry with stone wall, 2009.  Photo by Audrey Lockwood.

Slowly I began building a website, JesusInLove.org, based on the queer Christ. Then, by some grace, art caught up with me. My web designer told me that I needed images for my website, so I searched the Internet. It was hard to find any kind of LGBTQ-oriented Christ figures, but the rarest of all was the queer resurrection. I rejoiced when I finally came found “Jesus Rises” by Douglas Blanchard. It comes from his gay Passion series, which shows Jesus as a gay man of today in a modern city.

Kittredge Cherry with the original “Jesus Rises” painting from the gay Passion of Christ series by Doug Blanchard, 2013.  Photo by Audrey Lockwood.

The new Christ images evoked a healing response in me. I was weaving together the separate threads of my life: spirituality, lesbian identity, writing, and art. My physical strength partially returned as I worked on my novels and began contacting the artists who seemed to have seen what I saw. Some let me display their work at JesusInLove.org. I aimed to promote artistic and religious freedom and show God’s love for all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. The website launch in 2005 sparked an explosion of interest. Hundreds of gay news sites covered my books and website, with blogs buzzing on both sides of the issue.

The response convinced me of the urgent need for my next two books, Lambda Literary Award finalist “Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ, and More” and “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision.” My unofficial online ministry grew to include Qspirit.net plus a popular blog and newsletter. I started the Santos Queer blog in 2012 to share my work in Spanish.  In 2018-19 I expanded on social media by launching the LGBTQ Saints group on Facebook and inherited the role of administrator for the Queer Biblical Studies and Theologies group.

I did not have much direct contact with the hateful side of Christian fundamentalism until I launched Jesusinlove.org. Most readers called my work inspiring, informative and “always fabulous.” But as soon as I put LGBTQ Christian content on the Web, right-wing Christians started bombarding me with hate mail. They threatened me with hell, labeled me “a hyper-homosexual revisionist,” and denounced my projects as “garbage,” “insanity,” and “a blatant act of defamation and blasphemy.” The ongoing religious bigotry proves that LGBTQ-affirming Christian voices are needed. LGBTQ spirituality is crucial because conservatives are using Christian rhetoric to justify hate and discrimination against LGBTQ people. Queer people have been labeled “sinners,” denied civil rights and economic access, erased from history, deprived of our holy icons, and sometimes beaten or killed in the name of Jesus. Much of the oppression is rooted in religion, so counteracting dangerous, hateful theologies is important even for non-believers.

Portrait of Kittredge Cherry by Angela Yarber of Tehom Center, 2012

After decades of activism for LGBTQ rights and marriage equality, Audrey and I were finally able to marry legally on May 4, 2016 in a small, private civil ceremony at the Beverly Hills Courthouse. When we had our church wedding in 1987, we were both 29 years old.  At the time there was no legal recognition for same-sex marriage or even for domestic partnerships. Pollsters were not asking about marriage equality yet. It took another 29 years for the law to catch up with their ground-breaking lesbian love.

Kittredge Cherry raises her hands in joy when the deputy makes the legal pronouncement that she and Audrey Lockwood are “spouses for life” on May 4, 2016 in the Beverly Hills Courthouse. Photo by Rodney Hoffman.

I was laser-focused on Jesus in the first years of my online ministry. Some readers convinced me to expand by telling me that they couldn’t relate to Jesus, but they liked the idea that LGBTQ people were among his followers. My LGBTQ Saints series launched in 2009 and quickly became the most popular content on my blog. I became an independent historian who applied journalistic skills to the past instead of reporting on current events. The queer saints fascinated me more and more as I dug into them. Working on each profile is like welcoming that saint as a houseguest. They never completely leave, and I sense that they surround me like “a great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1). My spiritual journey began with being raised in a mostly secular family, so I did not grow up with saints.  Still I have an inexplicable affinity for the folk devotion to saints as expressed from the grassroots by ordinary people. I feel it is possible to draw inspiration from this folk tradition while steering clear of the institutional church and its terrible policies on gender and sexuality.

I taught myself web design and built a site with a broader scope in 2016: Qspirit.net. It expands the meaning of holiness by presenting diverse saints, history and books of spiritual and religious significance to LGBTQ people of faith and allies. The Q in Q Spirit can stand for queer, questioning one’s own sexuality or questioning spiritual and religious traditions with quality content.  My blog surpassed 3 million page views in its first 15 years. My most frequently cited blog posts include my LGBTQ Saints series, my Litany of Queer Saints, my gay Passion of Christ series, and the Rainbow Christ Prayer (co-authored with Patrick Cheng).

Portrait of Kittredge Cherry by Jeremy Whitner, 2022.

Researching LGBTQ saints taught me a powerful truth: Queer people have been spiritual leaders in every time and place. Our history is our power, but churches have tried to control people by burying queer history. We have to search extra hard for small clues — and make a big deal out of what we find — to compensate for past bias. LGBTQ saints show us not only THEIR place in history, but also OUR place — because we are all saints who are meant to embody love. Remembering our history and passing it on is a sacred responsibility that shapes the future.

Kittredge Cherry and Audrey Lockwood share a rainbow scarf, 2020.  Photo by Rodney Hoffman.

Some people are puzzled by my career path. At times even I find it hard to understand. The longer I live, the harder it is to remember and make sense of it all. Ultimately I have come to see that I consistently pursued truth, no matter where it took me. I began my work life as a newspaper reporter, digging out facts. Then I wanted to find out the reality of Japan and what the Japanese language says about women. Later I sought to discover deeper truths about life, love, death and God.

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Top image credit:
Kittredge Cherry with rainbow scarf. Photo by her brother, Craig Cherry.

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This article was originally published on Q Spirit on June 3, 2021 and most recently updated on Oct. 20, 2023.

Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
Qspirit.net presents the Jesus in Love Blog on LGBTQ spirituality.

The post Kittredge Cherry: Christianity inspired me to come out as a lesbian appeared first on Q Spirit.

Spirit Day: Stand up to bullying of LGBTQ youth

Last Updated on October 19, 2023 by

 

People are speaking out against bullying of LGBTQ youth for Spirit Day (Oct. 19, 2023).

On Spirit Day millions of people make a statement supporting LGBTQ young people by wearing purple, which symbolizes spirit on the rainbow flag. Some also “go purple” by making their profile pictures purple on social media websites.

Spirit Day happens every year on the third Thursday of October.  It was started in 2010 by Brittany McMillan, a 16-year-old Canadian girl, in response to high-profile suicides by young LGBTQ people such as Tyler Clementi.  Since then it has grown into the largest, most visible LGBTQ anti-bullying campaign in the world.

Q Spirit marks Spirit Day by sharing books on LGBTQ youth ministry and posting Station 14 from “Stations of the Cross: The Struggle For LGBT Equality” by Mary Button, courtesy of Believe Out Loud. The painting matches Jesus being laid in his tomb with images of LGBTQ youths who took their own lives. Recognizable faces include Tyler Clementi, Jamey Rodemeyer, Raymond Chase, and Seth Walsh. They represent countless other young LGBTQ people who committed suicide because they couldn’t bear life in a world that despises and discriminates against queer people.

New in 2022
“Pastoral Care to and Ministry with LGBTQ Youth and Young Adults” by Arthur David Canales.

New ways for churches to support God’s queer young people are offered in a book that weaves together queer theology and successful practice. The book critiques the Bible’s anti-LGBTQ “texts of terror” and provides liberating interpretations of scriptures on homosexuality and transgender from a marginalized perspective. It offers a practical framework for pastoral care and support serving sexual minorities. The author describes himself as “a Hispanic, Catholic, pastoral and liberation theologian who specializes in youth and young adult ministry” and proud LGBTQ ally. He is associate professor of pastoral theology and ministry at Marian University in Indianapolis, Indiana. Published by Wipf and Stock in 2022.

Spirit Day is promoted by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). Visit Spirit Day for more info, including an interview with McMillan about why she founded Spirit Day.

“The purpose of the event was so that people who were being bullied at their schools could come to school on Spirit Day and look around at all the people wearing purple, all the people who they could trust, all the people who would support them….I honestly had a bit of a pessimistic view of it. I thought that I would only get a few hundred people wearing purple and then my school. I never thought it would get as big as it did,” she said.

Unfortunately Clementi’s experience is far from rare in the United States and around the world. In South Korea, gay Catholic poet Yook Woo-Dang took his own life  at age 18 to protest discrimination against LGBTQ people.  His death in 2018 shocked the nation and he became a national symbol of teenage sexual minorities, leading to some legal reforms for LGBTQ rights.

McMillan noted that Spirit Day is also a day to mourn the youths already lost. “A lot of events are always doing things for the present or the future, but they don’t really look back on the past. Spirit Day is a day where you can presently support LGBTQ teens, promise to stand up to homophobic bullying and also remember teens from the past,” she said.

Books for LGBTQ Christian youth

2020 BESTSELLER AT Q SPIRIT
“Queerfully and Wonderfully Made: A Guide for LGBTQ+ Christian Teens” by Leigh Finke (editor).

LGBTQ teens are assured that their queerness is part of God’s plan in this fun, enlightening and compassionate guide for young people ages 12 and up. A broad range of LGBTQ religious issues are covered, including Biblical arguments, church reactions, conversion therapy, and “queer icons of Christianity” such as saints Sebastian and Joan of Arc. Additional chapters cover definitions, self-care, coming out, consent, sex, being queer online and much more, with personal stories scattered throughout the text. The book ends with a helpful glossary and resource list. It is edited by religion writer Leigh Finke and written by a team of writers with expertise in ministry, mental health, art, education, and LGBTQ+ activism. Foreword by Jennifer Knapp, contemporary Christian music star who came out as lesbian. It is a companion book to “Welcoming and Affirming: A Guide to Supporting and Working with LGBTQ+ Christian Teens.” Published by Beaming Books in 2020.

 

“Still Stace: My Gay Christian Coming-of-Age Story” by Stacey Chomiak.

A young woman makes peace with her lesbian identity and Christian faith in this young-adult illustrated memoir.  It tells the true story of Chomiak’s teenage and young-adult years: finding love, wrestling with family conflicts, and trying to become ex-gay before reaching wholeness and a happy LGBTQ-Christian ending.  Stacey Chomiak is a Canadian artist in the animation industry, getting her start on the well-loved series “My Little Pony” and currently art-directing for DreamWorks.  Published by Beaming Books in 2021.

 

“The God Box” by Alex Sanchez.

Small-town gay Christian teen boys fall in love and struggle with the Bible’s teachings on homosexuality in a young-adult romance novel from a Lambda Literary Award-winning author. Published by ‎Simon and Schuster in 2007.

 

Books on ministry with LGBTQ youth

“Welcoming and Affirming: A Guide to Supporting and Working with LGBTQ+ Christian Youth” by Leigh Finke (editor).

Learn to affirm LGBTQ Christian teens as God does with this comprehensive guide. Topics include Biblical arguments, creating an affirming church culture, recognizing one’s own biases, definitions, dealing with parents, sex education, and much more. It is edited by religion writer Leigh Finke and written by a team of LGBTQ adults, with personal stories from queer youth. A section on “Queer People in the Early Church” has profiles of Aelred, Augustine of Hippo, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Bernard of Clairvaux, Hildegard of Bingen, and Joan of Arc. Foreword by bishop Kevin Strickland of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. This is the companion book to “Queerfully and Wonderfully Made: A Guide for LGBTQ+ Christian Teens.” Published by Broadleaf Books in 2020.

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BESTSELLER AT JESUS IN LOVE / Q SPIRIT
“A Brief Guide to Ministry with LGBTQIA Youth” by Cody J. Sanders.

How can a church’s youth ministry have a positive impact on adolescents who struggle to live out their faith and their LGBTQIA orientation/identity? This guide for affirming congregations includes practical advice and a glossary. The author is pastor of Old Cambridge Baptist Church in Harvard Square. Published by Westminster John Knox Press.

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“Making Space for Queer-Identifying Religious Youth” by Yvette Taylor.

A scholar charts the experiences, choices and identities of LGBTQ youth in inclusive churches. Sexuality and religion are seen as mutual paths that can help youth manage marginalization, discrimination and other issues. The author is education professor at the University of Strathclyde in the United Kingdom and has held posts at universities in Australia, Canada and the United States. Published by Palgrave.

Links related to Spirit Day and LGBTQ youth bullying and suicide

Trevor Project national suicide prevention group for LGBTQ young people
Visit thetrevorproject.org or call 866 4U TREVOR

Day of Silence Prayer: Stop bullying God’s LGBTQ youth (Q Spirit)
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Top image credit:
LGBTQ youths driven to suicide appear as Jesus is laid in the tomb in Station 14 from “Stations of the Cross: The Struggle For LGBT Equality” by Mary Button

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This post is part of the LGBTQ Calendar series by Kittredge Cherry. The series celebrates religious and spiritual holidays, events in LGBTQ history, holy days, feast days, festivals, anniversaries, liturgical seasons and other occasions of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people of faith and our allies.

This article was originally published on Q Spirit in October 2017, was expanded with new material over time, and was most recently updated on Oct. 19, 2023.

Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
Qspirit.net presents the Jesus in Love Blog on LGBTQ spirituality.

The post Spirit Day: Stand up to bullying of LGBTQ youth appeared first on Q Spirit.

Spiritual resources honor National Coming Out Day

Last Updated on October 10, 2023 by

Every year on Oct. 11, National Coming Out Day encourages LGBTQ people and allies to be open about who you are and your support for LGBTQ equality. Oct. 11 also happens to be the feast day of Saint Philip the Evangelist, who welcomed a queer black man into the church in the Biblical story of the Ethiopian eunuch.

Coming-out cartoons affirm God’s all-inclusive love

God’s affirmation of the LGBTQ coming-out process is revealed with witty artistry the cartoons of David Hayward, also known as “Naked Pastor.”

“Heroes of the Faith Who Came Out” by nakedpastor David Hayward

The Canadian artist uses gentle humor to open hearts, minds and church doors to everybody — not only for LGBTQ people, but also for women, racial minorities, immigrants, abuse survivors and others who have been excluded.

His cartoon “Heroes of the Faith Who Came Out” includes Moses who came out of Egypt, Jesus who came out of the tomb — and Pat who came out of the closet.

A hundred of his LGBTQ-themed cartoons are collected in his book “The Art of Coming Out: Cartoons for the LGBTQ Community.” They are also available as prints (and some originals) at the Nakedpastor Etsy shop.

Books explore the spirituality of coming out

Books that explore the spiritual aspects of coming out include:

“Coming Out as Sacrament” by Chris Glaser.

A gay Christian activist / minister tells how LGBTQ people can access the sacred by coming out of the closet. He uses Biblical illustrations to show that coming out, like other sacraments, can become a way to experience God’s grace.

“Coming Out Spiritually: The Next Step” by Christian de la Huerta. A gay spirituality author synthesizes many religious traditions and archetypes to invite the LGBTQ community to keep building on the spiritual foundation of coming out. Foreword by Matthew Fox.

Coming-out video by Q Spirit founder Kittredge Cherry

Coming out of the closet as a lesbian had a huge impact on my life, so I celebrate National Coming Out Day with a short video of my personal story, an excerpt from my coming-out guidebook, and worship resources.

“I dared to come out, and suddenly the world seemed much bigger and full of beautiful colors,” I say in the video as I step out of a real closet wearing a quilt of rainbows. “Telling the truth transformed my life. I’m free!”

One viewer at YouTube left this comment: “Oh this is a beautiful video. I’m glad you have been living in this colored world for many years. I have been for 6 months by now, and I’ll never regret to have came out. You’re so inspiring, thank you for that.”

I created the video for the Human Rights Campaign’s 2007 National Coming Out Day video contest, where it was one of the most viewed of many videos submitted. A decade later, it’s still one of my all-time most popular videos.

My coming-out experience inspired me to write Hide and Speak: A Coming Out Guide. The book offers a powerful program of self-acceptance and appropriate disclosure for LGBTQ people — and anyone else with a story to tell.

History of National Coming Out Day

National Coming Out Day was founded in 1988 to promote equality by encouraging lesbian and gay people to come out and be proud of their sexual orientation.

National Coming Out Day Logo by Keith Haring

Since then the scope has broadened to include self-disclosure of a bisexual orientation, transgender or queer identity, or support as an ally of LGBTQ people.

The goal was to raise awareness and change society based on the feminist and gay liberation idea that the personal is political. The first National Coming Out Day was observed on the one-year anniversary of the 1987 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights.

It was founded by gay activist and psychologist Robert Eichberg and lesbian activist and ex-nun Jean O’Leary. In 1990 they merged their efforts with the Human Rights Campaign, which continues to manage the event.

Artist Keith Haring designed the original logo for National Coming Out Day in 1987. The colorful image shows one of his typical generic people practically dancing out of a dark closet.

“Hide and Speak: A Coming-Out Guide”

I wrote about the process in depth in my book Hide and Speak: A Coming Out Guide[image error], which is also available in a Polish translation.

My book Hide and Speak tells positive ways to come out to yourself, create a circle of supporters and deal with family, job and school. Each chapter includes real-life examples and tested, highly effective exercises that I used in coming-out workshops nationwide. Readers will learn how to live proud, free and balanced. Here is an excerpt from Hide and Speak:

“Many people, myself included, assumed that LGBT visibility would make books like this obsolete. That day is still well in the future. The difficulties of coming out in the twenty-first century hit home for me recently when a younger relative finally told me he was gay. His big sister, a lesbian activist, had come out to the family twenty years before, but her example didn’t seem to make it any easier for her brother. “It was something I had to figure out and deal with on my own terms,” he explained to me. The newly visible LGBT community is no more appealing to him than the old stereotypes had been to me and my peers.”

Hide and Speak is not just about homosexuality. The book is useful for all people who struggle with secrets and their consequences. Originally published in 1991, Hide and Speak was updated and released in 2006 by AndroGyne Press, a new queer studies press based in Berkeley, CA. The joy of coming out is what inspired me to write Hide and Speak.

Worship resources for National Coming Out Day

A variety of worship resources have been created for National Coming Out Day, such as those from the Religious Institute and Unitarian Universalist Association.

A Coming-Out Liturgy by gay Episcopal priest Malcolm Boyd is featured in Equal Rites: Lesbian and Gay Worship, Ceremonies, and Celebrations[image error], which I co-edtied. Boyd’s liturgy includes these lines:

“Leader: Have you been forced to play a dishonest role in order to survive?

Participant: I have. My family seemed often to require it, at least to desire it. At school it was necessary, and whenever I dropped my mask I was punished. The same was true of my life at work where I sought acceptance and advancement. What I had to confront made me feel confused, emotionally fatigued, and often worthless. Any kind of a relationship posed a threat and a danger. I wondered how much rejection I could stand. When I reached out for understanding or help, I usually received yet another rebuke. However, I just could not be who I’m not. It nearly killed me when I tried so hard and found it hopeless.

Community: We offer you validation for yourself as you have been created and celebration of your gayness as a gift of God.”

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This post is part of the LGBTQ Calendar series by Kittredge Cherry. The series celebrates religious and spiritual holidays, events in LGBTQ history, holy days, feast days, festivals, anniversaries, liturgical seasons and other occasions of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people of faith and our allies.

This article was originally published on Q Spirit in October 2017 and was most recently updated on Oct. 10, 2023.

Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
Qspirit.net presents the Jesus in Love Blog on LGBTQ spirituality.

The post Spiritual resources honor National Coming Out Day appeared first on Q Spirit.

Jesus in Love Blog moved to Qspirit.net

The Jesus in Love Blog has moved to Qspirit.net, a new website on queer spirituality with LGBTQ saints, history and books.



Please visit Qspirit.net/blog/ and save the link to keep up with future posts from the Jesus in Love Blog.



People who currently get posts by email will need to sign up again to continue their email subscription.  There is no need to update subscriptions to the monthly newsletter.



The new Qspirit.net website will make the Jesus in Love blog much more accessible to people through mobile devices, social media and search engines. Q Spirit has a new Facebook page at facebook.com/qspiritual.



The Q Spirit project comes from lesbian Christian author Kittredge Cherry, who founded Jesusinlove.org in 2005 and launched Q Spirit in November 2016.



The Jesus in Love Blog expands the meaning of holiness by presenting diverse historical people, events and books of spiritual and religious significance to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people of faith and allies. It promotes LGBTQ spirituality and religious freedom by teaching love for all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.



“Q Spirit means queer spirituality. It also stands for questioning spiritual traditions,” she said. “The name Q Spirit is a more accurate reflection of the content on my blog, which has grown beyond my initial focus on just Jesus to include many LGBTQ spiritual figures and other religious traditions. Don’t worry, my Jesusinlove.org website will continue to emphasize LGBTQ visions of Christ. Q Spirit provides extra room to grow.”



The Q in LGBTQ can mean “queer” or refer to people who are “questioning” their gender identity or sexual orientation.



“The Q Spirit website is about questioning spiritual and religious assumptions,” Cherry explained. “It questions standard Bible interpretations and conventional history. I bring a spirit of questioning authority and checking facts to my website. Q Spirit is on a quest for spirituality beyond all boundaries.”



The Q Spirit logo symbolizes the universal Spirit expressed in a unique way through queer experience. Cherry worked with queer Welsh artist Andrew Craig Murphy-Williams to design the logo. The rainbow colors of the contemporary LGBTQ flag create a colorful “Q” with a long tail that cradles and uplifts the Spirit. Basic black text conveys the fundamental, all-inclusive quality of the Spirit.



Cherry is passionately committed to Jesus in Love and Q Spirit because they grew out of her own personal journey as an author, minister and historian. She considers her work at Jesus in Love and Q Spirit to be a calling that she aims to pursue with grace even in the face of bigotry.



“I will keep faith with my responsibilities as a writer who seeks to know and reveal the all-inclusive nature of God,” she said.



Cherry has earned the trust of thousands of readers. At this time of transition, she reaffirms that she will continue bringing them cutting-edge LGBTQ spiritual articles. “I promise to keep doing what I believe in: presenting LGBTQ spirituality so that people can make up their own minds."



Jesusinlove.org was launched almost exactly 11 years ago on Nov. 17, 2005 with a news release titled “New website dares to show gay Jesus.” The very first blog post here at jesusinlove.blogspot.com was “Introduction” on June 26, 2007. Nine years later, the Jesus in Love Blog must change with the times and adopt a better blogging platform.



Q Spirit will become an online home for past and future articles from the Jesus in Love Blog and Newsletter. Readers call it inspiring, informative, courageous, “truly a light in the darkness for gay Christians” and “always fabulous."

Allen Schindler: Gay martyr in the military

The Murder of Allen Schindler by Matthew Wettlaufer


Allen Schindler (1969-1992) brought international attention to anti-gay hate crimes and gays in the military when he died on this date (Oct. 27) in 1992.



Maybe Allen Schindler is resting more peacefully now that the U.S. military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy against gays and lesbians in the military ended on Sept. 20, 2011.



Today also happens to be Navy Day in the United States. Remembering the service of Allen Schindler is a fitting way to mark the day.





Allen R. Schindler, Jr.

Schindler was a U.S. naval petty officer who was brutally beaten to death because he was gay by two of his shipmates in a public restroom in Sasebo, Japan. Schindler’s murder was cited by President Bill Clinton and others in the debate about gays in the military that culminated in the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. The crime is portrayed in an epic painting by gay artist Matthew Wettlaufer, who makes connections between anti-gay violence and other human rights struggles in his art.



At first the Navy tried to cover up the circumstances of Schindler’s death. The movie “Any Mother’s Son” tells the true story of how his mother, Dorothy Hadjys-Holman, overcame her own homophobia and Naval cover-up attempts to get justice for her gay son. She also spoke at the 1993 March on Washington for LGBT Rights.



Wettlaufer discusses his painting of Schindler and his other gay-related political art in my previous post “New paintings honor gay martyrs.”



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Related link:



American Veterans for Equal Rights

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This post is part of the GLBT Saints series at the Jesus in Love Blog. Saints, martyrs, heroes and holy people of special interest to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) people and our allies are covered on appropriate dates throughout the year.



Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.

http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/

Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts

Invite a friend: Free newsletter on LGBT spirituality and the arts

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Readers call it inspiring, empowering, courageous, “always informative” and “always fabulous.”



The newsletter covers LGBTQ saints and the queer Christ, with an emphasis on visual art and books. Cutting-edge artists, authors and theologians are introduced.



The LGBTQ Saints series expands the meaning of holiness with a diverse group of contemporary and historical figures on appropriate dates throughout the year.



Jesus in Love promotes artistic and religious freedom and teaches love for all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.



Publisher Kittredge Cherry is passionately committed to the Jesus in Love Newsletter because it grew out of her own personal journey as a lesbian Christian author, historian and minister.



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JL News: Aug 2016  (8/8/2016)
Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Eberhard Bethge: anti-Nazi theologians and soulmates, pioneering lesbian minister Nancy Wilson retires, bearded woman saint Wilgefortis, holy fool Symeon of Emesa loved hermit John, Kuan Yin as queer Buddhist Christ figure, four women reformers honored from Seneca Falls to Selma to Stonewall, sisters Mary and Martha as lesbian couple, Russian saints Boris and George, Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi paints strong Biblical women.
JL News: July 2016  (7/4/2016)
Clergyman Robert Wood picketed for LGBT equality in Fourth of July 1965-69 Annual Reminder protests, Pulse Orlando shooting kills 49 at gay nightclub, “I first saw the rainbow flag in a church” reflection, Virgin Mary's lesbian kiss on Spanish poster,

artist Stephen Mead seeks suggestions for LGBT history series, 32 killed in UpStairs Lounge arson fire, civil rights champion / queer priest Pauli Murray, preacher Jemima reborn in 1776 as “Publick Universal Friend,” saints of Stonewall inspire LGBT justice and artists, homosexuality of Jesus explored by 18th-century philosopher Jeremy Bentham
JL News: June 2016  (6/5/2016)
Rainbow Christ Prayer translated to 10 languages, LGBTQ Methodist protest art, Julian of Norwich, Harvey Milk, Joan of Arc, Uganda Martyrs, Madre Juana de la Cruz, Pentecost, congrats to new grads, Painter Rosa Bonheur honored “androgyne Christ,” new books.
JL News: May 2016  (5/1/2016)
First-ever LGBTQ religious books for children, LGBT activists murdered in Bangladesh, Biblical same-sex love in “David and Jonathan” painting by Edward Hicks, Christina Rossetti wrote Christmas carols and lesbian poetry, Day of Silence Prayer to stop bullying God's LGBTQ youth, 1992 LGBT protest at National Council of Churches, Nun Sor Juana de la Cruz who loved a countess in 17th-century Mexico City, RIP Bill Rosendahl (early supporter of LGBT Christians through TV “God Squad”), Italian translations.
JL News: Easter/April 2016  (3/27/2016)
Happy Easter with risen rainbow Christ, gay Passion of Christ series ends, Facebook ad rejection, Perpetua & Felicity, John Boswell, gay Centurion.
JL News: Good Friday 2016  (3/25/2016)
JL News Palm Sunday 2016  (3/20/2016)
JL News: March 2016  (3/4/2016)
Gay love stops hiding from church oppression in new music video: “Hiding” by Ray Isaac, Advocate.com covers gay Passion of Christ censorship on social media, Level Ground Fest uses art for LGBT faith dialogue, RIP queer theologian Ibrahim Farajaje, paired male saints Polyeuct and Nearchus, pioneering gay priest Malcolm Boyd, queer theologian Marcella Althaus-Reid, Valentine list of 15 ways to celebrate LGBT Christian love, Harvard minister Peter Gomes taught "scandalous gospel."
JL News: Feb 2016  (2/4/2016)
Saint Walatta Petros was a nun who shared a lifetime bond with a female partner in 17th-century Ethiopia, Saint Sebastian, history's queer martyrs rise for Ash Wednesday, David Bowie as queer messiah, Holocaust remembrance, Celtic saint Brigid and her female soulmate Darlughdach,gay saint of friendship Aelred, Ugandan LGBT activist David Kato, PFLAG founder Jeanne Manford, books.
JL News: New Year's Eve / Jan 2016  (12/31/2015)
Jesus in Love January Newsletter is out! Gay wedding of Jesus and beloved disciple John at Cana in art by Christopher Olwage, Bridge of Light ceremony honors LGBT culture on New Year's Eve, David and Jonathan, queer Epiphany.
JL News Christmas 2015  (12/24/2015)
Rainbow baby Jesus, queer Kwanzaa, Lazarus as beloved disciple, Ruth and Naomi, John of the Cross, Guadalupe, straight allies, new books.
JL News Dec 2015  (12/6/2015)
Gay Jesus appears in photo from Brazilian performance group Transeuntes, Top 25 LGBTQ books of 2015, intersex trial of Thomas(ine) Hall in colonial America, Bernardo de Hoyos' mystical same-sex marriage with Jesus, queer Nativity scenes, LGBTIQ guide to American Academy of Religion / Society of Biblical Literature annual meeting (AAR - SBL), spiritual resources for World AIDS Day, Mexico's Dance of the 41 Queers, St. Malachy of Armaugh, Advent, queer cheer for Christmas.
JL News Nov 2015  (11/1/2015)
New art film on St Sebastian, queer saints and homophobic violence by British artist Tony O'Connell, why we need LGBT saints, 8 new LGBT saints added, LGBT-friendly memorial for All Saints/All Souls Day
JL News Oct 2015  (10/14/2015)
Cosmic Christ art with LGBT symbols by Doyle Chappell, gay saints Sergius & Bacchus, Kim Davis cartoon by David Hayward, Pope’s visit has mixed messages for LGBT people, RIP pioneering gay priest John McNeill, lesbian saint Vida Dutton Scudder, historic photos for 47th anniversary of Metropolitan Community Churches, queer Francis of Assisi, LGBT martyrs (Matthew Shepard, FannyAnn Eddy, Tyler Clementi), two-spirit Native Americans bridge genders on Columbus Day, Henri Nouwen struggled with his homosexuality, Sufi poet/mystic Rumi inspired by same-sex love, Hildegard of Bingen and her beloved Richardis, good (gay?) King Wenceslas, new LGBTQ Christian books. 
 
JL News Sept 2015  (9/9/2015)
Divine love transforms presidents Obama and Putin into gay saints in art by Jim Lyngvild, gay saint of 9/11 Mychal Judge, black gay civil rights leader Bayard Rustin, Mary’s lesbian goddess roots with Artemis, Blessed John Henry Newman’s romantic friendship with priest Ambrose St. John, Black Madonna becomes lesbian defender: Erzuli Dantor and Our Lady of Czestochowa, the Jesus kiss of medieval friar John of La Verna, love between Saints Bernard of Clairvaux and Malachy, and Christ and Krishna.
JL News August 2015  (8/7/2015)
Erotic gay soul explored in new books "HomoEros" and "Internal Landscapes," Christa art show, queer 1776 preacher Jemima Wilkinson reborn as Public Universal Friend, holy fool Symeon of Emesa and John, sisters Mary and Martha as lesbian couple, bearded holy woman Wilgefortis, Russian saints Boris and George, Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi paints strong Biblical women.
JL News July 2015  (7/2/2015)
Gay Vatican art tours, seminary course on queer Christ in art, UpStairs Lounge fire and poem, Pauli Murray, motorcycle blessing at gay leather bar, Uganda martyrs
JL News June 2015  (6/4/2015)
“Queer Icons” show LGBTQ people of color today in art by Gabriel Garcia Roman, Joan of Arc, Harvey Milk, resurrection song, Rainbow Christ Prayer, saints of Stonewall, Julian of Norwich, Rosa Bonheur, new books
JL News May 2015-B  (5/5/2015)
New queer martyrdom book discussed by author Dominic Janes, Ethiopian eunuch, new queer Christ videos, Christina Rossetti, green LGBT theology on Earth Day, new LGBTQ Christian books, Day of Silence Prayer re anti-LGBT bullying, Madre Juana de la Cruz of Spain, Sor Juana de la Cruz of Mexico, Kuan Yin as a queer Buddhist Christ figure.
JL News Easter/April 2015  (4/5/2015)
Happy Easter with murals of Los Angeles, gay Passion of Christ series ends, blasphemy debate, Perpetua & Felicity, John Boswell, Esther & Vashti, gay Centurion, Adrienne Rich.
JL News Palm Sunday 2015  (3/29/2015)
JL News March 2015  (3/1/2015)
Sacred gay union with Christ evoked by music of New-Age “Passion of Mark” by Christopher Flores and Adrian Ravarour, gay Jesus painting by Christopher Olwage shown in New Zealand, pioneering gay priest Malcolm Boyd dies at 91, Queer Clergy Trading Cards feature Kittredge Cherry, queer martyrs rise from the ashes on Ash Wednesday, paired saints Polyeuct and Nearchus served as Roman soldiers, queer theologian Marcella Althaus-Reid, gay black Harvard minister Peter Gomes preached "scandalous gospel,” latest LGBTQ Christian books.
JL News Feb 2015  (2/8/2015)
Top LGBT spiritual arts stories of 2014, Queer Clergy Trading Cards, Je Suis Charlie. queer black Jesus icon by David Hayward, Saint Sebastian, Saint Brigid and Darlughdach, Holocaust Remembrance, Beloved Disciple John the Evangelist, David Kato, and David and Jonathan.
JL News Xmas 2014 / Jan 2015  (12/24/2014)
Merry Christmas with minimalist Nativity scene, queer holiday cheer, Lazarus, Ruth and Naomi, Bridge of Light ceremony honors LGBT culture on New Year's Eve, three kings or three queens on Epiphany.
JL News December 2014  (12/14/2014)
Top 25 LGBT Christian books of 2014, LGBTIQ scholars meet at American Academy of Religion, AIDS saints Vivaldo and Bartolo, queer art showing Our Lady of Guadalupe, John of the Cross, book video for "The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision."
JL News November 2014  (11/20/2014)
Alan Turing pilgrimage by artist Tony O'Connell, Mexico's Dance of the 41 Queers, Facebook censors gay Passion of Christ book, why we need LGBT saints, St. Malachy of Armaugh, LGBTIQ guide to American Academy of Religion / Society of Biblical Literature annual meeting (AAR - SBL)
Passion Book Announcement  (10/16/2014)
JL News October 2014  (10/15/2014)
Gay Passion of Christ book published, modern gay martyr Matthew Shepard, paired saint Sergius and Bacchus, 19th-century lesbian saint Vida Dutton Scudder, Francis of Assisi’s queer side revealed, medieval nuns Hildegard of Bingen and Richardis, Henri Nouwen struggled with his homosexuality, Africa’s lesbian martyr FannyAnn Eddy, Good (Gay?) King Wenceslas,. 1000th newsletter subscriber.
JL News September 2014  (9/14/2014)
Radclyffe Hall's queer Christianity in her life and 1928 novel “The Well of Loneliness.” Gay saint of 9/11 Mychal Judge, Mel White stands for LGBT justice at National Council of Churches, black gay civil rights leader Bayard Rustin, Mary’s Feast of Assumption has lesbian goddess roots, Blessed John Henry Newman’s romantic friendship with priest Ambrose St. John, Black Madonna becomes lesbian defender: Erzuli Dantor and Our Lady of Czestochowa, love between Saints Bernard of Clairvaux and Malachy, Christ and Krishna.
JL News August 2014  (8/9/2014)
Blessed John of La Verna (medieval Italian friar kissed by Jesus), queer Jesus poem by Louie Clay (ne Louie Crew), "Art That Dares" on Advocate.com, Mary and Martha as lesbian couple, Jacob wrestling with angel symbolizes sexuality struggles, bearded holy woman Wilgefortis, Russian saints Boris and George, Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi paints strong Biblical women, artist David Wojnarowicz mixed gay and Christian imagery, Holy fool Symeon of Emesa and John
JL News July 2014  (7/9/2014)
Rainbow Crucifix and Rainbow Madonna by Richard Stott, Rainbow Christ Prayer goes nationwide, queer 1776 preacher Jemima Wilkinson reborn as Public Universal Friend, UpStairs Lounge fire martyrs recalled in new film etc, queer saint Pauli Murray
JL News June 2014  (6/3/2014)
Uganda Martyrs, LGBT Pride / saints of Stonewall, Joan of Arc, religious role of gay bars described in new book "Baby You Are My Religion" by Marie Cartier
JL News May 2014  (5/15/2014)
Homosexuality of Jesus explored by 18th-century philosopher Jeremy Bentham, Madre Juana de la Cruz as genderbending saint of 16th-century Spain, Sacred Heart icon of bearded drag queen Conchita Wurst, Julian of Norwich celebrates "Mother Jesus," Easter photo of MCC founder Troy Perry and Jesus in Love founder Kittredge Cherry
JL News, Easter 2014  (4/20/2014)
JL News April 2014  (4/13/2014)
Gay Passion of Christ series begins on Palm Sunday, mystical same-sex marriage affirmed in Renaissance art, black Jesus appears in liberating Way of the Cross, Jesus heals a centurion’s boyfriend, Kuan Yin as a queer Buddhist Christ figure, lesbian poet Adrienne Rich, LGBT Stations of the Cross by Mary Button
JL News March 2014  (3/12/2014)
Art museums explore queer Christian themes ("In His Own Likeness" in Florida and "Sinful Saints" in Los Angeles), remembering queer theologian Marcella Althaus-Reid, LGBT martyrs rise on Ash Wednesday, Brian Day poetry book explores "lust for the holy." Peter Gomes, Saints Polyeuct and Nearchus
JL News Feb 2014  (2/12/2014)
Top 10 stories of 2013, spiritual art supports Russian LGBT people during Olympics, 3 recent deaths (Robert Nugent, Otis Charles and Mark Shirilau), Saint Sebastian, Saint Brigid and Darlughdach, Holocaust Remembrance, Beloved Disciple John the Evangelist, David Kato, and David and Jonathan.
JL News Xmas 2013 / Jan 2014  (12/24/2013)
Christmas chant honors Christ the bridegroom: Cum ortus fuerit sol de Caelo; Some children see Him queer or gay: New rainbow version of Christmas carol "Some Children See Him," queer Nativity debate, Queer Lady of Guadalupe, Lazarus as Jesus' beloved disciple, Ruth and Naomi, John of the Cross
JL News Dec 2013  (12/8/2013)
Gay Israeli artist Adi Nes humanizes Bible stories, queer Advent, cartoon on how LGBT people know God loves us, mystical marriage of Bernardo de Hoyos, World AIDS Day, Harvey Milk, gay and lesbian Nativity cards, list of Christmas favorites
JL News Nov 2013  (11/7/2013)
Photos of same-sex kisses in church censored (Gonzalo Orquin), All Saints Day, Bible and homosexuality, lesbian saint and teacher Vida Dutton Scudder, same-sex soulmate St. Malachy of Armagh
JL News Oct 2013  (10/7/2013)
Sergius and Bacchus, queer creation, Francis of Assisi' queer side, Hildegard of Bingen and Richardis, Henri Nouwen's gay struggle, Rumi insipred by another man
JL News Sept 2013  (9/12/2013)
Gay artist Richard Stott paints "Intimacy with Christ," Saints Bernard of Clairvaux and Malachy, Proud Jesus blesses LGBT Pride parades, gay saint of 9/11 Mychal Judge, John Henry Newman and Ambrose St. John, lesbian goddess roots of Mary's Feast of the Assumption, civil rights champion Bayard Rustin, Christ and Krishna
JL News August 2013  (8/4/2013)
Black Madonna and lesbian defender Erzulie Dantor, gay Russian saints Boris and George, Wojnarowicz art and religion, LGBT resurrection by Mary Button, new translator at Santos Queer, bearded woman saint Wilgefortis
JL News July 2013  (7/6/2013)
Queer religious art list resource list: (Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Paganism), UpStairs Lounge fire 40 years later, Pauli Murray (queer saint and first black woman ordained as an Episcopal priest), Saint Symeon and John (holy fool and hermit who loved each other), Jemima Wilkinson (queer preacher reborn in 1776 as “Publick Universal Friend”)
JL News June 2013  (6/5/2013)
Will Roscoe on Jesus and the shamanic tradition of same-sex love, cross-dressing painter Rosa Bonheur honors "androgyne Christ," Hidden Perspectives interviews Kittredge Cherry on LGBT religion, Adam and Steve welcome marriage equality, Joan of Arc, Rainbow Christ Prayer, Julian of Norwich
JL News May 2013  (5/2/2013)
Photos of LGBT saints today by Tony O'Connell, LGBT vs Christian cartoon by Carlos Latuff for Day Against Homophobia, LGBT Litany, Christina Rossetti, Sor Juana de la Cruz, new books
JL News Easter / April 2013  (3/31/2013)
Happy Easter, gay Passion of Christ series ends when Jesus rises and appears to Mary, marriage equality vigil, queer Buddhist Christ figure Kuan Yin, lesbian poet Adrienne Rich
JL News: Palm Sunday 2013   (3/24/2013)
Gay Passion of Christ paintings by Douglas Blanchard with text by Kittredge Cherry, LGBT Stations of the Cross by Mary Button, right-wing rants against queer Christ
JL News Mar 2013  (3/2/2013)
Artist Ria Brodell paints history's butch heroes, queer martyrs rise on Ash Wednesday, Polyeuct and Nearchus, Queen Esther, new books
JL News Feb 2013  (2/9/2013)
Top 10 LGBT spiritual arts stories of 2012, LGBT clergy at Inauguration, Saint Sebastian, Lesbian Virgin Mary poster protested in Croatia, Beloved Disciple, Holocaust Remembrance with pink triangle art, Brigid and Darlughdach, David and Jonathan, Ugandan LGBT maryr David Kato
JL News Xmas 2012 / Jan 2013  (12/24/2012)
Queer baby Jesus, gay Nativity in Columbia, artist Eric Martin paints naked young man from Mark's gospel, John of the Cross, ad shows Pope blessing same-sex marriage, Bridge of Light holiday for New Year
JL News December 2012  (12/4/2012)
Divine lesbian art by Verlena Johnson, Advent, blasphemy charges for Greek gay Jesus play, Top 20 gay Jesus books, gay King Wenceslas, mystical same-sex marriage of Bernardo de Hoyos, queer Christmas gift ideas
JL News November 2012  (11/1/2012)
More LGBTQ saints added for All Saints Day, LGBTQ guide to American Academy of Religion - Society of Biblical Studies meeting, Cardinal John Henry Newman loved Ambrose St. John, Angela Yarber paints portrait of Kittredge Cherry, gay martyrs Sergius & Bacchus, We Wha of Zuni, Jesus in Love's 7th anniversary
JL News October 2012  (10/4/2012)
Queer Saint Francis of Assisi, Henri Nouwen struggles with his homosexuality, Dr. Hildegard of Bingen loved women, Jesus in rainbow shroud, Rumi inspired by same-sex love, Leviticus and religion-based violence
JL News September 2012  (9/3/2012)
Tony De Carlo's art (gay saints, Adam and Steve, marriage equality), gay Christ by Latuff, gay civil-rights saint Bayard Rustin, Mary's lesbian goddess roots
Kittredge Cherry Update, Sept 2012  (9/25/2012)
Sample issue of KC Update, a monthly e-newsletter with timely reflections on LGBT spirituality and art plus a report on her latest activities. KC Update is available only to paid subscribers for $25 per month.
JL News August 2012  (8/2/2012)
Queer grace with art by Felicia Follum, marriage of Jesus and Freddie Mercury by Mr. Fish, Pauli Murray voted into sainthood, blasphemy charge from Americans for Truth, queer saints Wilgefortis, Boris & George, Artemisia Gentileschi
July 2012  (7/1/2012)
Queer saint for Independence Day: Jemima Wilkinson was reborn in 1776 as “Publick Universal Friend,” Rainbow Christ Prayer by Kittredge Cherry and Patrick Cheng, cartoon shows Jesus walking on dangerous waters carrying LGBT kid, my first LGBT Pride march
June 2012  (6/6/2012)
Stonewall paintings by Sandow Birk, Sweden's first LGBT altar by Elisbeth Ohlson Wallin, resurrection images from Gay Passion of Christ with art by Doug Blanchard and text by Kittredge Cherry, 2 new gay Jesus books, Joan of Arc, LGBT Pride prayers
May 2012  (5/3/2012)
Ethiopian eunuch shows early church welcomed queers, gay teen wins right to wear "Jesus is not a homophobe" shirt on Day of Silence, lesbian poet Christina Rossetti, gay Jesus makes news in the Guardian, Sor Juana de la Cruz loved a countess
Easter 2012  (4/8/2012)
Happy Easter with Queer Resurrection by Andrew Craig Wiliams, Gay Passion of Christ series by Douglas Blanchard ends, Queer Christ article in Huffington Post by Kittredge Cherry -- and conservative attacks on it
April 2012  (4/1/2012)
Gay Passion of Christ series with art by Douglas Blanchard and new text by Kittredge Cherry, gay Jesus kiss behind the scenes at "Corpus Christi," Queens Esther and Vashti, gay centurion, new queer Christ book by Patrick Cheng
March 2012  (3/1/2012)
Angela Yarber paints holy lesbian icons and other women, "Most Fabulous Story Ever Told" protested, executions for sodomy, closeted Jesus in "Dark Knowledge," Polyeuct and Nearchus, St. Valentine: marriage-equality role model
February 2012  (2/3/2012)
Top 10 LGBT spiritual arts stories of 2011, police investigate attack on gay / lesbian Nativity scene at California church, Ugandan LGBT rights activist David Kato remembered one year later, St. Brigid and her female soulmate, Kittredge Cherry starts writing for Huffington Post
Christmas 2011 / New Years 2012  (12/24/2011)
Christmas greetings, LGBT Nativity contest, queer saints on Huffington Post, Clinton tells UN that gay rights are human rights, Bridge of Light LGBT New Year ceremony
December 2011  (12/7/2011)
History's gay couples by artist Ryan Grant Long, mystical same-sex marriage of Blessed Bernardo de Hoyos and Jesus, LGBT Nativity contest, LGBTQ guide to American Academy of Religion
November 2011  (11/1/2011)
All Saints Day reflection on why we need LGBT saints, new LGBT spirituality resource pages, All Saints / All Souls memorial, author Hartman on gay Jesus, We'wha of Zuni (two-spirit Native American)
October 2011  (10/7/2011)
Sergius and Bacchus in new art, Rumi inspired by same-sex love, Tyler Clementi and bullying of LGBT youth, Hildegard of Bingen, Francis of Assisi
September 2011  (9/10/2011)
Gay saint of 9/11 Mychal Judge, civil-rights hero Bayard Rustin, Mary's lesbian-goddess roots with Artemis, Cardinal John Henry Newman, innovative icons.
August 2011  (8/6/2011)
Gay angel weeping and other art by Wes Hempel, conservatives attack our lesbian/gay Nativity scenes, same-sex marriage saints Boris and George, Artemisia Gentileschi paints strong Biblical women, Jacob wrestling, Mary Magdalene
July 2011  (7/6/2011)
Sensuous gay saints by artist Ted Fusby, blasphemy charges against Our Lady by Alma Lopez, John McNeill and LGBTs vs. the Vatican, reimagining God the Father.
June 2011  (6/7/2011)
Lady Gaga's queer spirituality, gay priest John McNeill shakes up Rome, Joan of Arc, Hunky Jesus contest, Pentecost, saints of Stonewall, LGBT pride prayers and hymns
May 2011  (5/8/2011)
Julian of Norwich celebrates Mother Jesus, Holocaust remembrance, Gay Passion of Christ series climax.
Easter 2011  (4/24/2011)
Gay Passion of Christ series (art by Douglas Blanchard, text by Kittredge Cherry), Easter videos
April 2011  (4/8/2011)
Gay Passion of Christ series, female Christa, queer martyrs rise from ashes
March 2011  (3/4/2011)
Erotic Christ interview with Hunter Flournoy, Bible's "Unprotected Texts" on sex, LGBT affirming poetry contest, Saints Polyeuct and Nearchus
February 2011  (2/8/2011)
Top LGBT spiritual arts stories of 2010, Uganda's gay martyr David Kato, Queer Lady of Guadalupe, Smithsonian censorship, acrobats strip for Pope
Christmas 2010  (12/24/2010)
December 2010  (12/2/2010)
Rethinking Sin and Grace for LGBT People: Liberator Christ and Out Christ, LGBT Jerusalem photos, protests end queer Jesus exhibit in Spain, banned photo of gay Christ, gay King Wenceslas, Christmas video message brings hope
November 2010  (11/1/2010)
LGBT-friendly memorial for All Saints All Souls, It Gets Better video for LGBT youth, inclusive art built from anti-gay DVDs, LGBT church history photos, Sally Gearhart on fighting the right with love, Saints Sergius and Bacchus, blog birthday, gay and lesbian Nativity scene cards, holiday gift ideas
October 2010  (10/4/2010)
St. Francis with Islamic sultan and gay Jesus, church fires artist for transforming anti-gay DVD, John Henry Newman's queer path to sainthood, Dirk Vanden's gay Jesus vision, Hildegard of Bingen's love for women, pet portraits, memorial candles
September 2010  (9/2/2010)
Krishna and Christ, Queer disciples in the Bible, Pride photo with gay Jesus sign, women's spirituality art book by Janet McKenzie, gay saint of 9/11 Mychal Judge
August 2010  (8/5/2010)
Ex-gay movement as genocide, To Anne Rice: You can be pro-gay AND Christian, St. Wilgefortis (bearded woman), St. Boris and George, Mary and Martha: sisters or lesbian couple?
July 2010  (7/9/2010)
Queer spiritual art in Tikkun magazine, saints of Stonewall, If Jesus Were Gay poems, LGBT Pride songs and prayers, Hands around the God Box
June 2010  (6/4/2010)
How to unite sexuality and spirituality, Jesus has male lover in Marien Revelation, International Day Against Homophobia, transgressing gender in the Bible, spirit-centered male nudes by Peter Grahame
May, 2010  (5/1/2010)
Black lesbian prayers and art, gay Holocaust, Mexican nun who loved a countess (Sor Juana), Houston Chronicle gay Jesus interview, is this a sexy Jesus?
Easter 2010  (4/4/2010)
Happy Easter, Foreplay to Eternity prayer, Kuan Yin as androgynous spirit of compassion
April 2010  (4/1/2010)
GLBT Holy Week series, Sts. Perpetua and Felicity, AIDS crucifixion, Twitter
March 2010  (3/2/2010)
Paintings honor gay martyrs, lesbians infiltrate anti-gay church in documentary, homoerotic Jesus poems, Sts. Polyeuct & Nearchus, great sermon says "We ARE light"
February 2010  (2/1/2010)
Top GLBT spiritual art stories of 2009, St. Brigid & Darlughdach, blasphemy charge aids queer Jesus photo project, Epiphany, David & Jonathan, 2009 fundraising goal met
Christmas 2009  (12/24/2009)
Good (gay?) King Wenceslas, GLBT nativity video, Xmas excerpt from new trans Jesus play, Jesus tells Xmas story to animals, lesbian Madonna art
JL News, Dec 2009  (12/1/2009)
World AIDS Day, Advent, 300 protest transsexual Jesus play, Harvey Milk, Thanksgiving
JL News, Nov 2009  (11/4/2009)
Noah's gay wedding cruise, erotic encounter with the divine, Equality March video, transvestite Jesus, Saints Sergius and Bacchus, animal blessing, gay-friendly Jesus billboards
JL News, Sept 2009  (9/11/2009)
Gay saint of 9/11, National Equality March video, Jesus as lover, Mary's ecstasy, queer poem, cool new T-shirts, $185 needed, new books
JL News, Summer 2009  (7/1/2009)
Comic video jests about gay Jesus, Ruth and Naomi painting, "Jesus Never Married" poster, same-sex marriage not new, Eros & Christ series starts soon
JL News, April 2009  (4/5/2009)
Easter video with wildflowers, Gay Holy Week series, gay Passion photos by Recker, lesbian poet laureate, reflection on love and loss
JL News, Feb 2009  (2/10/2009)
Erotic angel art, video valentine on same-sex marriage, gay bishop prays at inauguration, Prayers for Bobby, Milk & coming out, Ted Haggard, gay Holy Week, new books & DVDs
Special alert: AltXmasArt, Dec 2008  (12/25/2008)
Alternative Christmas Art (all 12 images), top 5 stories of 2008.
JL News, Dec 2008  (12/1/2008)
Protests for same-sex marriage, AltXmasArt (alternative Christmas art), AIDS art, GLBT history, video faves based on Bible, donors honored, holiday gift idea
JL News, Oct 2008  (10/1/2008)
God politics art, GLBT Buddhists, lesbian folksinger, Jesus novels
JL News, Aug 2008  (8/12/2008)
Gay spirituality vs everybody spirituality, nursing Madonna, homoerotic Jesus T-shirt
JL News, July 2008  (7/9/2008)
Gay artist paints inspiring Jesus, Polish coming-out guide, gay pride march, video of 2 queer authors
JL News, June 2008  (6/5/2008)
Lammy Awards, funny gay Jesus music video, gay marriage stamp censored, video of Kitt Cherry on glbt Christian art, new glbt books
JL News, May 2008  (5/3/2008)
Austria censors gay Last Supper, Join Kitt at Lammy finalist reading 5/8, A lesbian Christian visits Israel, Art That Dares up for award, new glbt spirituality titles
JL News, April 2008  (4/8/2008)
Lammy finalists, Black Jesus & Obama, Kitt does reading May 8, Gay Easter bonnets, Holy Week blog, Top 5 glbt arts books
Special Alert: Holy Week readings  (3/16/2008)
A queer version of Christ’s Passion covers Palm Sunday, the Last Supper and the 1st Easter.
JL News, March 2008  (3/5/2008)
Gay Mohammad art, Queer Christian art in Tikkun, Video prayer by author, Holy Week blog, At the Cross on sale
JL News, Feb 2008  (2/4/2008)
"At the Cross" is published, Conservatives blast Christmas card, see video of progressive spiritual fest
JL News, Jan 2008  (1/12/2008)
2007's top 5 stories, Happy new year video, Queering the Last Supper, Sex & spirit mix on German book cover
JL News, Dec 2007  (12/7/2007)
Gay Jesus art sparks violence in Sweden, See new videos on glbt rights, Give "Art That Dares" for Christmas, New vision statement

Matthew Shepard: Modern gay martyr and hate-crime victim

Matthew Shepard brought international attention to anti-gay hate crimes when he died on Oct. 12, 1998 (18 years ago today). He was a 21-year-old gay student at the University of Wyoming at the time.



Shepard (1976-1998) was brutally attacked near Laramie, Wyoming, on Oct. 6-7, 1998 by two men who later claimed that they were driven temporarily insane by “gay panic” due to Shepard’s alleged sexual advances. Shepard was beaten and left to die.



Now the Matthew Shepard Foundation seeks to replace hate with understanding, compassion and acceptance. U.S. President Obama signed "The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act" into law on Oct. 28, 2009. It broadens the federal hate-crimes law to cover violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity.






“Matthew Shepard” by Tobias Haller


Shepard has become a cultural icon, inspiring dozens and dozens of paintings, films, plays, songs and other artistic works -- with more still being created every year. Among the new images is a sweet portrait of him with a rainbow halo by Tobias Haller, an iconographer, author, composer, and vicar of Saint James Episcopal Church in the Bronx. He is the author of “Reasonable and Holy: Engaging Same-Sexuality.” Haller enjoys expanding the diversity of icons available by creating icons of LGBTQ people and other progressive holy figures as well as traditional saints. He and his spouse were united in a church wedding more than 30 years ago and a civil ceremony after same-sex marriage became legal in New York.



Shepard’s martyrdom gives him the aura of a Christ figure. His torturous death evokes the Good Shepherd who was crucified. The officer who found Shepard said that he was covered with blood -- except for the white streaks left by his tears. Based on this report, Father William Hart McNichols created the striking icon at the top of this post. McNichols dedicated his icon The Passion of Matthew Shepard to the 1,470 gay and lesbian youth of commit suicide in the U.S. each year, and to the countless others who are injured or murdered.



McNichols is a New Mexico artist and Catholic priest who has been rebuked by church leaders for making icons of saints not approved by the church, including one of Matthew Shepard. McNichols’ own moving spiritual journey and two of his icons are included in the book Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ, and More by Kittredge Cherry. His Matthew Shepard icon appears in his book “Christ All Merciful,” which he co-authored with Megan McKenna.



Another new project inspired by Shepard is “Matthew Shepard Meets Coyote,” a play that blends Christianity, queer experience and Native American folklore. In the final moments of Shepard’s life he encounters Coyote, the trickster god of the American West, who urges him to move beyond the cruel tricks that life has played on him. It was written by Harry Cronin, a priest of Holy Cross and professor in residence at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. In 2014 it was performed at the San Francisco Fringe Festival and at Bay Area churches as a way to spark dialogue. Cronin currently writes plays about redemption in alcoholic and queer experiences.







Several works were released in 2013 for the 15th anniversary of Shepard’s death.  They include the musical tribute “Beyond the Fence,” the film “Matt Shepard was a Friend of Mine” and the book “The Book of Matt: Hidden Truths About the Murder of Matthew Shepard.”



"Matthew Shepard: Beyond the Fence," a musical tribute celebrating a life that helped change the world, premiered in October 2013 in a production by the South Coast Singers, a LGBTQ performance troupe in Long Beach, California. Written by SCC creative director Steve Davison, it incorporates existing music by gay composers Levi Kreis, Ryan Amador and Randi Driscoll. Videos from “Beyond the Fence” are posted on YouTube, including the poignant song “Hello,” sung by Julian Comeau.



The documentary film “Matt Shepard was a Friend of Mine” is directed by Michele Josue, who indeed was a close friend of Shepard. She takes a personal approach, exploring his life and loss by visiting places that were important to him and interviewing his friends and family. View the trailer below or at this link.





Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine: Teaser #2 from Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine on Vimeo.



Award-winning gay Journalist Stephen Jimenez does extensive research into the circumstances of the crime in “The Book of Matt.” He finds that Shepard was not killed for being gay, but for reasons far more complicated.



Other books about Shepard include “The Meaning of Matthew: My Son's Murder in Laramie” and “A World Transformed” by his mother (Judy Shepard) and “October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard” by Lesléa Newman, a novel in verse about the murder.








“Saint Sebastian and Matt Shepard Juxtaposed” by JR Leveroni


“Saint Sebastian and Matt Shepard Juxtaposed” by JR Leveroni is a painting that makes an important connection between a gay Christian martyr from history and the gay victims of hate crimes today. Leveroni is an emerging visual artist living in South Florida. Painting in a Cubist style, he matches Shepard’s death with the killing of another gay martyr, Saint Sebastian. The suffering is expressed in a subdued style with barely a trace of blood. A variety of male nudes and religious paintings can be seen on his website (warning: male nudity).





“The Murder of Matthew Shepard” by Matthew Wettlaufer



The grim scene of Matthew’s death is vividly portrayed in “The Murder of Matthew Shepard,” above, by gay artist-philosopher Matthew Wettlaufer. He lived in El Salvador and South Africa before returning to California. For an interview with Wettlaufer and more of his art, see my previous post “New paintings honor gay martyrs.”





“The Last of Laramie” by Stephen Mead

Above is a lyrical painting dedicated to Matthew Shepard: “The Last of Laramie” by gay artist Stephen Mead.of New York. It appears in his book “Our Book of Common Faith.” For more about Mead and his art, see my previous post “Gay Artist Links Body and Spirit.”






"The Candlelight Vigil for Matthew Shepard (NYC Oct. 19, 1998)” by Sandow Birk


California artist Sandow Birk painted a candlelight vigil for Shepard. With a drummer and a rainbow flag, it seems to echo “The Spirit of 76,” a famous patriotic painting of Revolutionary War figures by Archibald MacNeal Willard. But it is based on the 1889 painting (“The Conscripts” by Pascal Adolphe Jean Dagnan-Bouveret, a work that takes a hard look at the toll of war, especially the conscription of young people into the military during the Franco-Prussian War.



For more about Sandow Birk’s art, see my previous post Stonewall's LGBT history painted: Interview with Sandow Birk.



The play “The Laramie Project” by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project has been performed all over the world since it premiered in 1998. Many American performances were picketed by Westboro Baptist Church members, who appear in the play picketing Shepard’s funeral as they did in real life. “The Laramie Project” draws on hundreds of interviews with residents of Laramie conducted by the theater company. A film version of The Laramie Project was released in 2002.



Matthew’s story has also been dramatized in biopic movies such as “The Matthew Shepard Story” with Sam Waterson and Stockard Channing as the grieving parents.



More than a 30 songs inspired by Matthew Shepard are listed in “Cultural Depictions of Matthew Shepard” at Wikipedia. They come from a variety of singers, including Melissa Etheridge, Janis Ian, and Elton John.






The Altar Cross of LGBTQ Martyrs from Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco


The Altar Cross of LGBTQ Martyrs from Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco features photos of Matthew Shepard, Harvey Milk, Gwen Araujo and others. In the center of the cross is the fence where Shepard was tortured and murdered in Laramie, Wyoming.



The tendency to acclaim Shepard as a martyr is analyzed in a scholarly paper that won the 2014-15 LGBT Religious History Award from the LGBT Religious Archives Network. “The Martyrdom of Matthew Shepard” was written by Brett Krutzsch, religion professor at the College of Wooster in Ohio. It is an excerpt from his Ph.D dissertation, “Martyrdom and American Gay History: Secular Advocacy, Christian Ideas, and Gay Assimilation,” which examines how religious rhetoric and gay martyr discourses facilitated American gay assimilation from the 1970s through 2014. He finds that secular gay advocates invoked Shepard as a gay martyr, using Christian ideas to present gay Americans as similar to the dominant culture. He questions the politics of martyrdom and analyzes why the deaths of a few white, middle-class, gay men have been mourned as national tragedies.



The award announcement explains: “The paper argues that Shepard’s appeal was connected to constructions of him as Christ-like and as an upstanding young, Christian man. His posthumous notoriety reveals a historical moment when Christian ideas significantly shaped arguments for American gay social integration. In turn, Matthew Shepard became an icon of the apparently ideal late twentieth-century gay citizen: a white, nonsexual, practicing Protestant.”



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Related links:

Cultural Depictions of Matthew Shepard (Wikipedia)



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Top image credit: “The Passion of Matthew Shepard” by William Hart McNichols



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This post is part of the GLBT Saints series at the Jesus in Love Blog. Saints, martyrs, heroes and holy people of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and our allies are covered on appropriate dates throughout the year.



Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.

http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/

Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts

Two-spirit Native Americans bridge genders on Columbus Day

Almost all Native American tribes traditionally recognized “two-spirit” people of mixed gender. Sometimes they played a spiritual role.  They appear as sacred figures in Native American rituals and myths. Two-spirit Native Americans are honored today for Columbus Day, which commemorates the arrival of European explorer Christopher Columbus in the Americas on Oct. 12, 1492.



Before Columbus arrived, most Native American societies valued people who mixed male and female roles or characteristics.  Their languages had words for third and sometimes even fourth genders. “Two spirit” is one of the many and varied Native American terms for alternative genders because one body housed both feminine and masculine spirits. Sometimes they served as spiritual guides who mediated between the realms of body and spirit, male and female. From a Western cultural viewpoint, the two-spirited people have been seen as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) or queer.



Contemporary artists have tried to re-envision the freedom of two-spirit people before the Europeans arrived. In the image above, Wisconsin artist Ryan Grant Long includes an unknown Mayan couple enjoying a playful moment together in his series “Fairy Tales” series of same-sex love throughout history. For more info, see my article Artist paints history’s gay couples: Interview with Ryan Grant Long.



“Employments of the Hermaphrodites,” engraving based on a watercolor by Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues (State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory)

The earliest known European depictions of Native Americans include two-spirit people. “Employments of the Hermaphrodites” is based on a watercolor made by Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues while exploring Florida in the 1560s. It illustrates his report that two-spirit people’s duties included caring for the sick and carrying the dead on stretchers.



Two-spirit people were not only accepted in many Native American societies, but also appear as sacred figures in Native American sacred rituals and mythology. For example the Zuni have a two-spirit god called Ko'lhamana, and Hopi and Acoma-Laguna myths tell about a whole tribe of two-spirit people called the Storoka.



“Dance to the Berdache” by George Catlin (Wikipedia)

George Catlin, famous artist who specialized in portraits of Native Americans in the Old West, sketched the “Dance to the Berdache” in the 19th century while on the Great Plains with the Sac and Fox Nation. He depicted a ceremonial dance to celebrate the Berdache, a European term for two-spirit people. But Catlin refused to give two-spirit people a place in his paintings of “traditional” Indian life.



“Jesus and the Beloved Disciple” by John Giuliani, 1996

While Europeans were mostly hostile to two-spirit people among the Native Americans whom they converted to Christianity, a contemporary icon offers hope of reconciliation by showing holy same-sex love with both Christian and Native American imagery. For example, John Giuliani's “Jesus and the Beloved Disciple” shows Jesus and his male beloved in the native dress of the Aymara Indians, descendants of the Incas who still live in the Andean regions of Chile, Peru and Bolivia. Giuliani is an Italian-American artist and Catholic priest who is known for making Christian icons with Native American symbols. He studied icon painting under a master in the Russian Orthodox style, but chose to expand the concept of holiness to include Native Americans, the original inhabitants of the Americas.



“Warharmi and Madkwahomai” by Brandon Buehring

Artist Brandon Buehring included several two-spirit groupings in his “Legendary Love: A Queer History Project.” In one sketch he portrays Warharmi, a “half-man, half-woman” and twins named Madkwahomai from the creaton myth of the Tipai tribe of the Kumeyaay people in California’s Imperial Valley.



Buehring uses pencil sketches and essays “to remind queer people and our allies of our sacred birthright as healers, educators, truth-tellers, spiritual leaders, warriors and artists.” The project features 20 sketches of queer historical and mythological figures from many cultures around the world. He has a M.Ed. degree in counseling with an LGBT emphasis from North Carolina State University in Raleigh. He works in higher education administration as well as being a freelance illustrator based in Northampton, Massachusetts.



Executions for homosexuality were common in Europe for centuries, and Europeans soon imported homophobic violence to the Americas. For example, the Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa found homosexuality among the Native American chiefs in 1594 at Quarqua in Panama. He ordered 40 of these two-spirited people thrown to his war dogs to be torn apart and eaten alive to stop the “stinking abomination.”



Balboa executing two-spirit Native Americans for homosexuality in 1513 in Panama -- engraving by Théodore De Bry, 1594 (Wikimedia Commons).  

Despite the violence, some two-spirit individuals are still remembered in history and contemporary art. They include We’wha of Zuni and the Woman Chief known as Pine Leaf. Their portraits and stories are posted for Columbus Day on the Jesus in Love Blog.



“We’wha of Zuni” by Br. Robert Lentz OFM, TrinityStores.com

We’wha of Zuni



We’wha was a two-spirit Native American Zuni who served as a cultural ambassador for her people, including a visit with a U.S. president in 1886. We’wha (pronounced WAY-wah) was the most famous “lhamana,” the Zuni term for a male-bodied person who lived in part as a woman. Lhamanas chose to specialize in crafts instead of becoming warriors or hunters.



We’wha (1849-1896) was a skilled weaver and potter who helped Anglo-American scholars studying Zuni society. In 1886 We’wha traveled from her home in New Mexico to Washington DC, where she met president Grover Cleveland. She was welcomed as a celebrity during her six months in Washington. Everyone assumed that the 6-foot-tall “Indian princess” was female.



The spiritual side of We’wha is emphasized in the above icon by Brother Robert Lentz, is a Franciscan friar known for his innovative and LGBT-positive icons. She is dressed for a religious ceremony as she prepares to put on the sacred mask of the man-woman spirit Kolhamana.



We’wha is the subject of the book “The Zuni Man-Woman” by gay anthropologist Will Roscoe. He also wrote “Changing Ones: Third and Fourth Genders in Native North America” and “Jesus and the Shamanic Tradition of Same-Sex Love.” Roscoe’s website willsworld.org offers resources in the Native American two-spirit tradition, third genders in the ancient world, and studies in early Christianity.



“We’wha” by Jim Ru

Jim Ru painted We’Wha with a dramatic blue background  His icon was included in his show “Transcendent Faith: Gay, Lesbian and Transgendered Saints” in Bisbee Arizona in the 1990s.  He discusses it in a video.









“Biawacheeitche or Woman Chief aka Barcheeampe or Pine Leaf” by Ria Brodell

Pine Leaf or Woman Chief



“Woman Chief” is one of the names for the two-spirit tomboy born around 1800 to the Gros Ventre tribe. She was captured by the Crow nation when she was 10 and was so adept at hunting and warfare that she rose to become their chief.



Historical accounts say that she wore women’s clothes but had “all the style of a man and chief,” with “her guns, bows, lances, war horses, and even two or three young women as wives.”



“Pine Leaf, Indian Heroine” from “The Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth,” 1856 (Wikipedia)

She was killed in 1854 by the Gros Ventre tribe, but her story lived on in the popular memoirs of a freed slave and fur trader named James Beckwourth. He called her Pine Leaf because he refused his multiple marriage proposals by saying she would wed him “when the pine leaves turn yellow.” Later he figured out that pine leaves never turn yellow.



She is portrayed in the “Butch Heroes” series by genderqueer Boston artist Ria Brodell. For more on Brodell’s work, see my article “Artist paints history’s butch heroes.”

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Related links:



Two Spirit People at the Legacy Walk



Kent Monkman (Canadian artist of Cree ancestry whose work has strong queer or gay male imagery dealing with sexuality and Christianity)



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Top image credit: “Unknown Mayan Couple” by Ryan Grant Long





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This post is part of the GLBT Saints series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. Saints, martyrs, mystics, heroes, holy people, deities and religious figures of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) and queer people and our allies are covered on appropriate dates throughout the year.



Icons of We’wha and many others are available on cards, plaques, T-shirts, mugs, candles, mugs, and more at Trinity Stores

Vida Dutton Scudder: Lesbian saint, reformer and teacher

Vida Dutton Scudder, c. 1890 (Wikipedia)


Vida Dutton Scudder is an American social reformer, professor, prominent lesbian author -- and an officially recognized saint in the Episcopal Church. Her feast day is Oct. 10.



Her ideas on economic inequality are especially relevant amid the financial crises of our times. Born in India to missionary parents in 1861, Scudder studied at Oxford and became a professor at Wellesley College, where she taught English literature for 41 years. All her primary relationships were with women. For 35 years from 1919 until her death in 1954, Scudder lived with author Florence Converse in a lesbian relationship.



Scudder’s spirituality went hand in hand with her social conscience and love of learning. She was active in the Social Gospel movement, co-founding a Boston settlement house to reduce poverty, promoting Christian socialism and backing trade unions. Scudder wrote 16 books, including her autobiography “On Journey,” plus numerous articles on religious, political, and literary subjects.



Converse (1871-1967), a New Orelans native and Wellesley graduate, served on the editorial staff of the Atlantic Monthly and The Churchman magazine.  She wrote many novels with titles such as “The Story of Wellesley” and “The Holy Night.”



The couple's lesbian life is documented in the books “Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers, A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America” by Lillian Faderman and “Passionate Commitments: The Lives of Anna Rochester and Grace Hutchins” by Julia M. Allen. Their long-term relationship lasted until Scudder died at age 91 on Oct. 9, 1954.



The two women are buried near each other at Newton Cemetery and Crematory in Newton, Massachusetts. The Internet makes it possible to visit to the graves of Scudder and Converse online.



The Episcopal Church added Scudder to its book of saints several years ago. She expressed her belief in the power of prayer when she wrote, “If prayer is the deep secret creative force that Jesus tells us it is, we should be very busy with it.” Here is the official prayer that the Episcopal Church offers in memory of this lesbian saint:

Most gracious God, you sent your beloved Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: Raise up in your church witnesses who, after the example of your servant Vida Dutton Scudder, stand firm in proclaiming the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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Related links:



Vida Dutton Scudder, American Lesbian Saint for Our Times (Queering the Church)



Vida Dutton Scudder, Educator and Witness for Peace (Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music of the Episcopal Church)



Vida Dutton Scudder (Wikipedia)



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This post is part of the GLBT Saints series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. Saints, martyrs, mystics, prophets, witnesses, heroes, holy people, humanitarians, deities and religious figures of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) and queer people and our allies are covered on appropriate dates throughout the year.



Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.

http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/

Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts