New Cosmic Christ art includes LGBT symbols

October 14, 2015, 11:13 am

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“Cosmic Christ” by Doyle Chappell

A Cosmic Christ appears with subtle LGBT symbolism in the work of Chicago artist Doyle Chappell.

He has done variations on the Cosmic Christ theme for years -- most recently in colorful windows dedicated Sept. 20, 2015 at A Church 4 Me Metropolitan Community Church where he is a member. The phrase “Cosmic Christ” refers to Christ who is continually incarnated in all creation.

“In the windows for A Church 4 Me in Chicago, the Christ wears a diamond earring on the left ear which for me is a bit of a gay reference,” Chappell told the Jesus in Love Blog.

People are inspired by the new “Cosmic Christ” window at A Church 4 Me MCC in Chicago (Photo by Carl Krysa)

Multiple intersecting and nested pink triangles within triangles repeat a symbol imposed on gay prisoners in Nazi Germany and later reclaimed by the LGBT community.

“The triangle is more than a gay symbol,” Chappell explained. “It is to me a symbol of ancient wisdom that points to a higher level of consciousness toward the ‘Omega Point’ as expressed by the philosopher and Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, one of the first theologians to show interest in the ‘Cosmic Christ.’”

Chappell’s art is also inspired by the book “The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance” by Matthew Fox, a Dominican friar who became an Episcopal priest and helped launch the Creation Spirituality movement.

Ultimately Chappell used LGBT imagery to enhance his vision of a Cosmic Christ for everybody. “My main intent was to honor the idea that ‘The Cosmic Christ’ is in all that has been created since the Big Bang and beyond our concepts of Christianity...in all particles of creation and certainly all life and honors all who seek to connect with the sacred wisdom,” he said.

He reiterated the concept of an all-inclusive Christ by making one eye blue and the other brown. “The hair of many colors explodes beyond the box and not only expresses absolute diversity but also the fire of the Holy Spirit,” Chappell added.

The 15-by-15-foot Cosmic Christ windows at A Church 4 Me were constructed with watercolor paper on clear acetate and painted with acrylic glazes. The technique results in a spectacular stained-glass effect.

The Chicago windows are the latest of several Cosmic Christ artworks that Chappell created for MCC, a denomination ministers primarily in the LGBT community.

“Cosmic Christ” mural by Doyle Chappell, MCC of the Rockies, Denver

At MCC of the Rockies in Denver he did a 20-foot-tall Cosmic Christ with the reflection of a rainbow on his left leg. The monumental mural is located directly behind the church’s altar. “I used LGBT male, female and straight models to build a composite image that crosses over all sexualities,” Chappell said.

He also painted the Cosmic Christ as a live performance before a crowd at an MCC conference in Chicago. That painting now belongs to MCC founder Troy Perry.

Artist Doyle Chappell stands outside his “Cosmic Christ” window in Chicago

While the Cosmic Christ is one of his favorite subjects, Chappell is best known for his portraits. From the beginning of his art studies at the University of Texas, Chappell liked painting people. He uses layers of bright colors and painterly brushwork to express the inner qualities and outward appearance of each individual. Serious art collectors value his work and his portraits are included in many private collections. Some of his favorite portraits are of “just plain folks,” but his well known subjects include actress Daryl Hannah nd Lynda Johnson Robb, daughter of President Lyndon Johnson.

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Special thanks for photos and info to Rev. Jennie Kitch, pastor of A Church for Me MCC, and Rev. Gordon McCoy.

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This post is part of the Queer Christ series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. The series gathers together visions of the queer Christ as presented by artists, writers, theologians and others. More queer Christ images are compiled in my book Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ, and More.

Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/
Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts

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Bayard Rustin: Gay saint of civil rights and non-violence

August 24, 2015, 8:08 am

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Detail from “Bayard Rustin” art quilt by Sabrina Zarco

“Bayard Rustin and Walter Naegle” by Ryan Grant Long

Bayard Rustin (Wikipedia)

Bayard Rustin was a black gay man and chief organizer of the influential 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington. A follower of the Quaker faith with its pacifist tradition, he brought Gandhi-style non-violent protest techniques to the movement for racial equality and become a close advisor to Martin Luther King. Today is the anniversary of his death on Aug. 24, 1987 at age 75.

Rustin was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in a White House ceremony in 2013. “For decades, this great leader, often at Dr. King's side, was denied his rightful place in history because he was openly gay. No medal can change that, but today, we honor Bayard Rustin's memory by taking our place in his march towards true equality, no matter who we are or who we love,” President Obama said when he presented the medal for Rustin.

Pushed into the background because he was openly gay in a more homophobic era, Rustin has been called “an invisible hero,” “a lost prophet” and “Brother Outsider.”  He summed up his philosophy when he said, “We need, in every community, a group of angelic troublemakers.”  He is honored here as a gay saint.

Rustin (Mar.17, 1912 - Aug. 24, 1987) rarely served as a public spokesperson for civil rights because he was openly gay at a time when homosexuality was criminalized and stigmatized. His sexuality was criticized by both segregationists and some fellow workers in the peace and civil-rights movements. In the 1970s he began to advocate publicly for lesbian and gay causes.

From 1955-68 Rustin was a leading strategist for the African American civil rights movement. His decades of achievements include helping launch the first Freedom Rides in 1947, when civil disobedience was used to fight racial segregation on buses. He helped organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and much more.

Rustin’s sexual orientation became publicly known in 1953, when he was arrested for homosexual activity in Pasadena, California. He pleaded guilty to a charge of consensual “sex perversion” (sodomy) and served 60 days in jail. It was not his first stint in jail. He had been arrested before for his pacifist refusal to participate in World War II and he served on a chain gang for breaking Jim Crow laws requiring racial segregation on public transportation.

Mug shot of Bayard Rustin (Wikimedia Commons) taken for failure to report for his Selective Service physical exam

Rustin saw the connections between racial justice, women’s equality and LGBT rights. He made it vividly clear in a controversial speech to the Philadelphia chapter of Black and White Men Together on March 1, 1986. The speech, titled “The New ‘N*s’ are Gays,” is one of several pieces about LGBT rights in his book Time on Two Crosses: The Collected Writings of Bayard Rustin. Rustin states:

“Today, blacks are no longer the litmus paper or the barometer of social change. Blacks are in every segment of society and there are laws that help to protect them from racial discrimination. The new “n*s” are gays. … It is in this sense that gay people are the new barometer for social change. … The question of social change should be framed with the most vulnerable group in mind: gay people.”

The following year Rustin died of a ruptured pancreas on Aug. 24, 1987. Late August is also significant for him because the March on Washington held on Aug. 28, 1963. Organized by Rustin, the March was where King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. An estimated 250,000 people attended, making it the largest demonstration held in the U.S. capital until that time. The full synthesis of Rustin’s black and gay identities -- the “two crosses” of his book title -- came as the culmination of a life well lived.

A campaign is underway to convince the U.S. Postal Servie to honor Rustin with a postage stamp.

Walter Naegle was Rustin’s life partner from 1977 until his death a decade later. As executor and archivist for the Bayard Rustin estate, Naegle continues to promote Rustin’s legacy by organizing programs and providing materials for books and exhibits on Rustin’s amazing life.

Rustin’s biography is told in the film Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin and books such as Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin by historian John D’Emilio. The book "I Must Resist: Bayard Rustin’s Life in Letters", edited by Michael Long was a 2013 finalist for a Lambda Literary Award.  A chapter on Bayard Rustin by Patricia Nell Warren is included in the 2015 book “The Right Side of History: 100 Years of LGBTQI Activism.”

Rustin appears against a quilted background reminiscent of a rainbow flag in a tapestry portrait by queer Chicana autistic artist Sabrina Zarco. “The implied rainbow and words in the clouds in this work speak to the many causes for which he worked and his love of all things hand made by marginalized artists,” Zarco said in her artist’s statement. “His necktie with musical notes is a nod to his love of music and time as a musician. He wears the 2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom on his chest.” The original artwork was unveiled at a National Black Justice Coalition event after Naegle accepted Bayard's medal. It is now in the private collection of black LGBT activist Mandy Carter, cofounder of the coalition. The image is available for purchase at the artist’s online store.

In the another image, Rustin and Naegle hold hands as an interracial gay couple on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. It was created by artist Ryan Grant Long for his “Fairy Tales” series of gay historical figures. For more on Long, see my previous post Artist paints history’s gay couples: Interview with Ryan Grant Long.

“Bayard Rustin - Pride” by Sean J. Randall

A different kind of rainbow portrait created by Portland artist Sean J. Randall. He adds rainbow colors to Rustin’s mug shot to emphasize his gay pride.
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Related links:
Bayard Rustin at Qualia Encyclopedia of Gay Folklife

Rustin.org

Walter Naegle, Activist Bayard Rustin’s Partner, On Rustin’s Enduring Legacy (Lambda Literary)

For Bayard Rustin’s partner, an effort to preserve legacy (Washington Post)

Bayard Rustin: One of the Tallest Trees in Our Forest by Irene Monroe (Huffington Post)
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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, 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

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

October 19, 2015, 8:36 am

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

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

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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

Allen Schindler: Gay martyr in the military

October 27, 2015, 8:25 am

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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

Icons honor queer saints for All Saints Day

October 29, 2015, 12:09 am

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“Saints Polyeuct and Nearchus” by Robert Lentz

       

Sergius and Bacchus; Harvey Milk; and Perpetua and Felicity

Innovative Religious Art

from TrinityStores.com

It’s fun and enlightening to look at icons of queer saints as All Saints Day (Nov. 1) approaches. Reader favorites are posted today at the Jesus in Love Blog. All are available from TrinityStores.com.

Click the icons to browse and buy cards, plaques, T-shirts, mugs, candles, and framed prints with these images and many more at TrinityStores.com. 

              

Polyeuct and Nearchus; Brigid and Darlughdach; Boris and George

            

Jonathan and David; Hildegard and Richardis; and Wenceslas and Podivan

All icons from TrinityStores.com by Robert Lentz or Lewis Williams

Robert Lentz is a Franciscan friar based in New York. Known for his innovative icons, he was rebuked by the church for making icons of LGBT saints and female images of God. Colorado artist Lewis Williams of the Secular Franciscan Order (SFO) studied with Lentz and has made social justice a theme of his icons.

Why we need LGBT saints

October 30, 2015, 12:04 am

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Rainbow detail from St. John Altarpiece by Hans Memling (Wikipedia.com)

It’s time to welcome the queer saints. Many believe that saints and other souls will visit this weekend for Halloween, All Saints Day, All Souls Day, and Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos). LGBT saints are important because people are searching for alternative ways to lead loving lives.

Churches have tried to control people by burying queer history. The LGBT saints show us not only THEIR place in history, but also OUR place -- because we are all saints who are meant to embody love. We can tap into the energy of our ancestors in faith. For some they become friends and helpers, working miracles as simple as a reminding us that “you are not alone.”

At first I thought that LGBT saints were rare. Gradually I came to see that they are everywhere throughout all time and they are among us now. We have all met saints in our lives. They are ordinary people who are also extraordinary.

Calling someone a “queer saint” is a liberating act in two ways: The most obvious one is that revealing the hidden queer sexual orientation or gender identity of traditional saints liberates people from sex-negative, oppressive church dogmas. In addition, revealing the “saintliness” of LGBT people ignored by the church liberates people from the tyranny of the sacred/secular dichotomy. Phrases like “queer saint” make a nice shorthand for headlines -- neatly challenging the assumption that sainthood and LGBTQ identity are mutually exclusive.

As All Saints Day approaches, I offer reflections on what I have learned by writing more than 70 profiles in the LGBT Saints Series over the past eight years. This is my queer theology of sainthood.

Sergius and Bacchus by Robert Lentz TrinityStores.com

Who are the LGBT and queer saints? If you want some specific names of this rainbow tribe, visit the LGBT Saints page at http://jesusinlove.org/saints.php.

One of the greatest challenges has been to figure out who is a “saint” and who is “LGBT.” If the boundaries of sainthood are slippery, then the definition LGBT is even more fluid.

Most mainstream churches would not canonize any saints who were openly LGBT, so we must claim our own saints. It’s important to re-evaluate familiar figures as well as to recover those who have been lost and recognize the saints of our own time. The church may seem to have the power to decide who is a saint, but each individual can also choose for themselves. Paul urges us to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12).

Mitch Gould, a historian of queer and Quaker subjects, summed up the dilemma well when he told me, “Sainthood is a devilishly nuanced accusation.” Traditional stories of the saints tend to be overly pious, presenting idealized super-heroes who seem distant and irrelevant. Saints have been used to get people to passively accept oppressive situations. Too often the saints have been put on a pedestal to glorify virginity and masochistic suffering. The emphasis on miracles disrespects nature, the ongoing miracle of life.

Feminists have criticized saints as tools of the dominant morality, but with LGBT saints the opposite is true: They saints can shake up the status quo. We can restore the complex reality of saints whose lives are being hijacked by  hagiograpahies and hierarchy to enforce the status quo. Queer saints can help reclaim the wholeness, connecting sexuality and spirituality for the good of all.

Perpetua and Felicity by Robert Lentz TrinityStores.com

I began writing about LGBT saints after finishing a series of books on the queer Christ (Jesus in Love novels and Art That Dares). Many people told me that they couldn’t relate to a gay Jesus, but they liked the idea that LGBT people were among his followers. Church leaders have used saints to impose control from the top down, but the desire for saints springs naturally from the grassroots. People are drawn to the presence of spiritual power in the lives of the saints, and their willingness to use that power for others, even at great cost to themselves. Saints attract others with the quality of their love, even though their personal lives may not be “saintly.”

I was aware of new research and art about LGBT saints, so I was shocked to discover that it was not easily available online. Largely due to the church’s crackdown on LGBT spirituality, much of it was buried under obscure code names like “images that challenge” -- if it was available on the Internet at all.

As an independent blogger, I am free to put LGBT saints out there where more people can find and benefit from them. I decided to uncover and highlight holy heroes and role models to inspire LGBT people of faith and our allies. The positive response quickly affirmed that people are hungry to connect with queer people of faith who have gone before.

“The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs” by Fra Angelico, 1428-30, Wikimedia Commons

What is a saint?

My definition of who qualifies as a “LGBT saint” continues to expand. First I included saints officially canonized by the church, but I soon discovered that many have achieved “sainthood” by popular acclaim. The church didn’t even have a formal canonization process for its first 1,000 years.

Ultimately all believers, living and dead, can be called “saints,” a practice that began in the early church. In the New Testament, Paul used the word “saint” to refer to every member of the Christian community, a practice continued by Rev. Troy Perry, founder of Metropolitan Community Churches. One of my memories from working with him was that whenever he wrote a letter to MCC members, he addressed it as "Dear Saints." We always got back some responses from people protesting, "I'm not a saint!" But in a very real sense, we are all saints.

Dictionaries define a saint as “a holy person” or “an extremely virtuous person.” I rather like the concept of sainthood that emerged in comments on this blog during a discussion of the post “Artist shows sensuous gay saints.” Atlanta artist Trudie Barreras wrote: “My definition of saint has absolutely nothing to do with what the hierarchical church defines, and everything to do with the quality of love displayed.” Or, as gay author Toby Johnson commented, “Being a saint means creating more love in the world.”

Joan of Arc by Robert Lentz TrinityStores.com

Sainthood comes in many different forms. Some become saints by leading an exemplary life, but the surest path to sainthood is to risk or lose one’s for the good of others. As Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13). Martyrs, from the Greek word for “to bear witness,” are a common type of saint.

Sometimes readers object that my LGBT saints series includes modern martyrs whose lives were not “saintly.” My understanding is that martyrs need not be role models, but they are honored simply because they were killed for a particular cause. Therefore I include people such as Harvey Milk and Matthew Shepard because they were killed for being gay and their deaths furthered the cause of LGBT rights, regardless of their flaws.

Whether or not they died as martyrs, the lives of the saints were indeed difficult. Our lives are difficult too -- and that can become a point of connection. Like today’s LGBT Christians, the saints sometimes faced opposition from within the church. Some martyrs, including cross-dresser Joan of Arc, were killed not FOR the church, but BY the church!

What is LGBT?

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer did not exist as categories throughout most of the history in which the saints lived. A convenient way around this dilemma is to say that LGBT saints are those of special interest to LGBT people and our allies. The term “queer” is increasingly used to describe gender-variant people of the past, so I often use the phrase “queer saints.”

Harvey Milk by Robert Lentz TrinityStores.com

Some deny the existence of historical LGBT saints because it’s almost impossible to prove their sexual activity. However, same-sex love does not have to be sexually consummated for someone to be honored as an LGBT saint. Deep love between two people of the same gender is enough.

Homosexuality is more than sexual conduct. The American Psychological Association defines sexual orientation as “an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions.” The dominant Christian culture tried to suppress overt homosexuality, so any hint of homosexuality that survives in the historical record should be given extra significance. Many official saints were nuns or monks living in same-gender convents or monasteries.  Naturally their primary emotional attachments were to people of the same gender. Soon almost all saints seem LGBT!

Let us be inspired by the LGBT saints who surround us as a “great cloud of witnesses” and commit ourselves to our own queer paths toward sainthood.

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Image credit: God is enthroned in concentric rainbows with 24 elders seated within the outer rainbow in a detail from the 15th-century St. John Altarpiece by Hans Memling (Wikipedia.com). The image is based on John’s vision of the Apocalypse from the Book of Revelation.

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Related links:

I have expanded on the ideas presented here by writing theological reflections based on feminist and queer theology at the following two blogs:

Feminism and Religion Blog: Feminism leads to a queer theology of sainthood by Kittredge Cherry

99 Brattle (Episcopal Divinity School blog): A queer theology of sainthood emerges by Kittredge Cherry

To read this post in Spanish / en español, go to Santos Queer:
¿Por qué necesitamos santas y santos LGBT?

Who are the "Queer Saints and Martyrs"? by Terence Weldon (Queering the Church)
LGBT-friendly memorial for All Saints, All Souls and Day of the Dead

An All Hallows' Eve Vigil to Begin Transgender Awareness Month by H. Adam Ackley (Huff Post)

LGBT litany of the saints: Harvey Milk, pray for us; Joan of Arc, pray for us... by Rachel Waltz

Queering All Saints and All Souls, Celebrating the Queer Body of Christ by Adam Ackley (Huff Post)

A Litany of All the Saints by James Kiefer
All Saints Day: Why We Need LGBT Saints by Kittredge Cherry (Believe Out Loud)

Sanctity And Male Desire: A Gay Reading Of Saints by Donald Boisvert
Spitting at Dragons: Towards a Feminist Theology of Sainthood by Elizabeth Stuart

Passionate Holiness: Marginalized Christian Devotions for Distinctive People by Dennis O’Neill

Special thanks to CJ, Sage, Terence, Dennis, Liz, Trudie, Toby, Mitch, Adam and Eric for comments and conversation that helped me develop this queer theology of sainthood.

LGBTQ saints and martyrs added at Jesus in Love

October 31, 2015, 12:17 am

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

Eight new profiles have been added to the LGBTQ Saints page at JesusInLove.org in preparation for All Saints Day on Nov. 1.

They include both traditional saints and alternative figures not recognized by the institutional church.

In addition the Jesusinlove.org website was updated with 14 new articles in the Queer Christ series, six new entries in the Artists series, five holidays added to the LGBT calendar, and nine new  Spanish translations.

LGBT Saints page

With these new saints, the LGBT Saints series has grown to more than 70 profiles.  Along with official saints, there are martyrs, mystics, prophets, witnesses, heroes, holy people, humanitarians, deities and religious figures of special interest to LGBTQ people and our allies.

Here is a list of new saints who are welcomed to the LGBT Saints page today.

Traditional Christian

Malachy of Armagh

Blessed John of La Verna: Kissed by Jesus

Madre Juana de la Cruz: Transgender saint of 16th-century Spain?

Malachy of Armagh: Same-sex soulmate to Bernard of Clairvaux

Uganda Martyrs raise questions on homosexuality, religion and LGBT rights

New and alternative

Radclyffe Hall

Jeremy Bentham: Homosexuality of Jesus explored by 18th-century philosopher

Malcolm Boyd: Pioneering gay Episcopal priest

Radclyffe Hall: Queer Christian themes mark banned book "Well of Loneliness"

Alan Turing: Codebreaker honored in queer spiritual art

Queer and LGBT saints are important because people are searching for alternative ways to lead loving lives. Churches have tried to control people by burying queer history. The LGBTQ saints show us not only their place in history, but also our own place -- because we are all saints who are meant to embody love. We can tap into the energy of our ancestors in faith. For some they become friends, helpers and miracle-workers. I created the LGBT Saints page to give people an easy way to find the spiritual resources that they seek. For more info, see my essay Why we need LGBT saints.

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This article is illustrated with the Altar Cross of LGBTQ Martyrs. It was constructed by a congregant at Metropolitan Community Church of San Franscico for All Saints Day (All Hallows) worship services there. The cross features newspaper photos of Matthew Shepard and Harvey Milk. In the center of the cross is the fence where Shepard was tortured and murdered in Laramie, Wyoming.  He died on 10/12/88.

Other LGBTQ martyr named on the cross are:
Brian Wilmes – Hate Crimes Slaying 09/08/99 in San Francisco
Lawrence King – Hate Crimes Murder 02/12/08 in Oxnard, Ca.
Roxanne Ellis and Michelle Abdill – Murdered 12-04-95 in Medford, Oregon
Harvey Milk – Assassinated - 11/27/78
Tyra Hunter – Medical Care Denied – 08/07/95 in Washington D.C.
Gwen Araujo – Hate Crimes Murder – 10/03/02 in Newark, Calif.
Thank you to Lynn Jordan for the photo and information about the Altar Cross of LGBTQ Martyrs.

Let us be inspired by the LGBT saints who surround us as a “great cloud of witnesses.”  May we commit ourselves to our own queer spiritual journeys.
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Related links:

Why we need LGBT saints by Kittredge Cherry

An All Hallows' Eve Vigil to Begin Transgender Awareness Month by H. Adam Ackley (Huff Post)

A queer theology of sainthood emerges (99 Brattle blog of Episcopal Divinity School)

Feminism leads to a queer theology of sainthood (Feminism and Religion Blog)

Who are the "Queer Saints and Martyrs"? by Terence Weldon (Queering the Church)

LGBT-friendly memorial for All Saints, All Souls and Day of the Dead

LGBT litany of the saints: Harvey Milk, pray for us; Joan of Arc, pray for us... by Rachel Waltz

A Litany of All the Saints by James Kiefer

Sanctity And Male Desire: A Gay Reading Of Saints by Donald Boisvert

Passionate Holiness: Marginalized Christian Devotions for Distinctive People by Dennis O’Neill

Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/
Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts

LGBT-friendly online memorial for All Hallows' Eve, All Saints, All Souls and Day of the Dead

October 31, 2015, 8:03 am

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Rainbow candles on the altar for the LGBT Service of Remembrance at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Sacramento

Welcome to Jesus in Love’s LGBTQ-friendly online memorial. Many believe that the souls of the dead are visiting this weekend for All Hallow’s Eve (Halloween), All Saints Day, All Souls and Day of the Dead. Everyone is invited to add names by leaving a comment.

Religion and society have often dishonored and desecrated queer lives. May all saints and all souls be restored to wholeness and holiness as we remember them.

We give thanks for the lives lost, and carry them in our hearts with the hope that we shall see them again. May perpetual light shine upon them as they rest in peace and in power. More info is at the end of the memorial.

Compassionate Spirit of God, unite us with the lives and visions of lesbian and gay heroes of our time… Unite us with all the souls living and dead, especially those souls taken by violence and AIDS. Unite us with all who boldly pioneered a way of pride and justice.
--from “Invocation for All Saints Day” by James Lancaster, published in Equal Rites

In memory of: Tyler Clementi, Leelah Alcorn, Haylee Fentress, Paige Moravetz, Seth Walsh, Jeanine Blanchette, Chantal Dube and all other LGBTIQ youths who have committed suicide. Gwen Araujo, Rita Hester, Brandon Teena and all others who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. Harvey Milk, Matthew Shepard, FannyAnn Eddy, David Kato, Alan Schindler, and all others who were murdered in homophobic violence. Marcella Althaus-Reid, John Boswell, Peter Gomes, Bayard Rustin and all others who came out and supported LGBT people during their lifetimes. Mychal Judge, Henri Nouwen, Pauli Murray and all other religious leaders who worked for justice while keeping quiet about their sexual orientation. For Jeanne Manford, Adele Starr, and all others who stood as allies to LGBT family and friends. Rock Hudson, Freddie Mercury, Keith Haring, Alvin Ailey, Rev. Ron Russell-Coons, Rev. Jim Sandmire, Rev. Howard Wells and all others who died of AIDS. And for all saints and all souls, named and unnamed.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
--Hebrews 12:1

I sing a song of the saints of God,
patient and brave and true,
who toiled and fought and lived and died
for the God they loved and knew.
And one was a doctor, and one was a queen,
and one was a shepherdess on the green;
they were all of them saints of God, and I mean,
God helping, to be one too.
-- from “I Sing a Song of the Saints of God” by Lesbia Scott, 1929

All Saints Day (Nov. 1) used to be called All Hallows Day, and the preceding evening was the Eve of All Hallows, now celebrated as Halloween. In Catholic and Protestant Christianity, the Feast of All Saints commemorates all saints, known and unknown. The following day, the Feast of All Souls, pays respect to the faithful departed who have not yet reached heaven. Prayers are offered to ask the saints to help the living, and to offer help to the souls of deceased friends and family.

All Souls Day is celebrated in Latin America as the Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos). The holiday is especially popular in Mexico, where the happy celebration is one of the biggest events of the year. These holidays are associated with the Celtic Festival of the Dead (Samhain). They grow out of the pagan belief that the souls of the dead return to visit at this time of year.

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Related links:

LGBT Saints Series

Why we need LGBT saints: A queer theology of sainthood by Kittredge Cherry

LGBT litany of the saints: Harvey Milk, pray for us; Joan of Arc, pray for us... by Rachel Waltz

Queering All Saints and All Souls, Celebrating the Queer Body of Christ by Adam Ackley (Huff Post)

A Litany of All the Saints by James Kiefer

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This post is part of the LGBT Calendar series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. The series celebrates religious and spiritual holidays, 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.

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New art film highlights queer saints, Sebastian and homophobic violence for All Saints Day

November 1, 2015, 9:12 am

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Tony O'Connell prepares to kiss St Sebastian in his new film

Prayers to queer saints and a re-enactment of Saint Sebastian’s martyrdom make a strong statement against homophobic violence in a new short film for All Saints Day by queer British artist Tony O’Connell.

He sculpted a life-size statue of Sebastian and filmed his dramatic interactions with the figure, who is widely recognized as the patron saint of homosexuality.

The 12-minute video film of his performance art premieres today for All Saints Day at a private viewing in Liverpool and also on YouTube. The multimedia event includes an art exhibit of the Sebastian statue and related “relics” -- small sculptural assemblages fashioned by O’Connell from props in the film.



O’Connell’s script can serve as a model prayer for people of faith, while sharply criticizing church leaders who incite violence against LGBTQ people. He calls upon Sebastian “not to punish but only to humble those who dedicate themselves to oppression and evil,” listing more than a dozen of them by name.

Then he invites Sebastian to “be glorified with the host of our own queer saints,” who are also named. They include a wide variety of LGBTQ leaders and martyrs throughout history as well as traditional saints who broke gender taboos.

The text is reprinted below in full with O’Connell’s permission.

Sebastian was an early Christian martyr who was shot with arrows and executed in 288 on orders from the Roman emperor. In addition to his longstanding but unofficial status as patron saint of gay men, he is known as a protector against plague and a patron saint of soldiers, archers and athletes.

Hinting at a love-hate relationship and the complexity of the queer spiritual path, O’Connell plays three different roles in the film: A priest who kisses Sebastian on the lips and then spits on the ground. The police executioner who strips Sebastian and shoots arrows into his chest. A queer activist/devotee who honors the martyr with prayers and offerings.

The action occurs in the Bridewell, a former police station that has been converted to art studios in Liverpool. The film is titled “Sancte Sebastian ora pro nobis.” The Latin words mean “Saint Sebastian, pray for us,” a phrase that recurs many times in O’Connell’s voice-over narration.

St Sebastian is martyred by arrows in O'Connell's film

This is O’Connell’s first film, but he has spent years creating art on themes of queer sainthood, democratizing sacredness, and reclaiming the holiness in ordinary life, especially in LGBT experience, His ongoing series include pilgrimages to LGBT historical sites and photos of people with haloes formed by round objects from daily life.

The new film weaves together aspects of O’Connell’s own queer and religious background. He was raised in the Roman Catholic church, but has been a practicing Buddhist since 1995. While playing a priest in the film, he spreads smoky incense with a golden thurible like the one he remembers from his childhood stint as an altar boy. Later in the film he wears the 25-year-old T-shirt that he wore  during the early years of the radical British LGBT-rights group Outrage!

“I feel like making this sculpture has not only taken me back to my roots as a sculptor but allowed for genuine spiritual practice,” O’Connell told the Jesus in Love Blog. “I am careful never to work with unwashed hands or not to start touching him before I have made incense offerings to him.”

Filming finished in late October, but the project is far from done. For today’s premiere, O’Connell transformed his Sebastian sculpture by filling him with fragrant oils so he smells like roses, covering his face with gold leaf and building him a halo to indicate that he is now a saint.

Later Sebastian may be reincarnated as a Buddha. “After he has been Saint Sebastian it is possible he will be broken down and reused to build a seated Buddha Shakyamuni for our Liverpool Centre,” O’Connell said. “It would be suitable for me to see becoming a Buddha as a symbol for spiritual evolution -- or even a reward for martyrdom.”

O’Connell worked with many camera people on the film. They include another Liverpool queer artist, Colin Cairns, who is exhibiting his art about pagan deities at the premiere today. Others on the camera crew include Claire Martin, Heather Snow Gum, Kelsang Tenwang, Damian Cruikshank (who also shot O’Connell’s Alan Turing pilgrimage), Dave Elis and Fiona Filby.



Sancte Sebastian ora pro nobis
By Tony O’Connell

Welcoming the saint when others do not
 
Saint Sebastian, Glorious martyr, I invite you and welcome you to this space. Please bless us with your presence. My father was born in your parish and I knew you from childhood. Now it seems images of your sacrifice are no longer in currency in church shops. Statues, rupas and paintings of you are disappearing. Our Poets and artists have always adored you. Perhaps your association with us has led to removal. If this is true and others turn away from you, know that I do not and we do not, therefore I offer you this litany in celebration and remembrance.


Offerings to the saint and prostrations at his lotus feet

Saint Sebastian, Pray for us.

Invincible Martyr, Pray for us.

Knight, noble by birth and fame, Pray for us.

Glorious warrior and martyr of Christ, Pray for us.

Patron and mirror of soldiers, Pray for us.

Despiser of the world, Pray for us.

Conqueror of Satan, Pray for us.

Comfort of the dying, Pray for us.

Consoler of the afflicted, Pray for us.

Announcer of the truth, Pray for us.

St. Sebastian, perfect in virtue and wisdom, Pray for us.

St. Sebastian, mighty in word and work, Pray for us.

St. Sebastian, who strengthens the persecuted Pray for us.

St. Sebastian, who by example gives courage to the down-trodden Pray for us.

St. Sebastian, empowered to avert pestilence and contagious diseases, Pray for us.

St. Sebastian empowered to protect from plague and AIDS, Pray for us

St. Sebastian, surrounded by celestial light, Pray for us.

St. Sebastian, instructed by holy Angels, Pray for us.

St. Sebastian, giving speech to those without a voice, Pray for us.

St. Sebastian, lover of God and men, Pray for us.

St Sebastian, loved and then abandoned by the Roman Emperor, Pray for us.

St. Sebastian, loved and increasingly abandoned by the Roman Church, Pray for us

St. Sebastian, Loved by our people, Pray for us.

St. Sebastian, who, inflamed with love despised the pains inflicted by the tyrant, Pray for us.

St. Sebastian, unafraid of worldly authority or law, Pray for us.

St. Sebastian, unbowed by physical violence, Pray for us.

St. Sebastian, with the courage to defy your abusers, Pray for us.

St. Sebastian, who was wounded by arrows, Pray for us.

St. Sebastian, who was murdered with clubs, Pray for us.

St. Sebastian, who was crowned with eternal glory, Pray for us.


Protection by the saint from enemies

Glorious Martyr and undefeated warrior, we ask that you protect the persecuted from tyrants and enemies. Use your unstoppable energy not to punish but only to humble those who dedicate themselves to oppression and evil.

Please humble all members of Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church

Please Humble Anne Coulson, speaker of hate and supporter of the WBC

Please humble Grindr using Rev Matthew Makela, who drove Tyler Kish to consider suicide by saying “he was going to hell either way”

Please humble Westcity Bible Baptist Church pastor Logan Robertson who called a gay Christian author a "filthy child molesting fag".

Please humble hypocrite Clerk of Rowan County, Kim Davis

Please humble Steven Anderson, Baptist pastor in Arizona who called for the death of all gays.

Please humble televangelist Pat Robertson who has dedicated his life to poison and hate.

Please humble Pope Benedict and Pope Francis who failed our people beyond measure.

Please humble Hate preacher Scott Lively to stand trial for crimes against humanity

Please humble Pastor James David Manning, who’s homophobic sign oppresses the vulnerable

Please humble Hull vicar Melvin Tinker who compares homosexuality to paedophilia and adultery

Please humble Brian Brown of the National Organisation for Marriage who spread hate as far as Russia

Please humble Vitaly Milonov sponsor of legislation criminalizing "homosexual propaganda.” who dedicates his life to hate.

Please humble Ugandan Dictator, Yoweri Museveni, whose law condemns homosexuals to life imprisonment.

And causing these enemies to fall from public grace, allow them the shame to recognise the harm they have caused and repent it.


Litany of the Queer Saints

Seeing that your image seems increasingly sanitised from church shops but knowing that we have not forgotten your name, we invite you and welcome you to sit and be glorified with the host of our own queer saints. Take your place with the brave, the gentle and the fierce to be honoured for ever and ever in knowing that we have never abandoned you.

Saint Derek Jarman of Dungeness, hero, artist, Disciple of St Sebastian, martyred by deliberate lack of funding into HIV, Pray for us.

Saint Peter Tatchel, fierce protector of the west, unbowed in the face of violence and hate, Pray for us.

Saint Nikolay Alexeyev, fierce protector of the East, resistant to tyranny, Pray for us.

Saint Uncumber, gender defiant bearded lady, patron of purity and refusal, Pray for us.

Saint Joan of Arc, Fearless warrior and gender-queer martyr, Pray for us.

Saints Boris and Saint George of Russia united in love and death, Pray for us.

Saint Sergius and Saint Bachus united in love and death, Pray for us.

Saints Perpetua and Saint Felicity: Patron saints of same-sex couples, Pray for us

Saint Aderonke Apata, protector of Nigeria, courageous in the face of humiliation and violence, Pray for us.

Saint Mark Ashton LGSM, hero of solidarity with the miners, Pray for us.

Saint David Kato: Ugandan activist and resilient martyr, Pray for us.

Saint Matthew Shepard, crucified by hateful men, young forever, Pray for us.

Saint Mychal Judge, Fire-brigade chaplain and First martyr of 9/11, ordained but un-canonised by the church on account of your queer spirit, Pray for us.

Saint Alan Turing, who ended war, saved millions and changed the world- martyred by the judiciary, Pray for us.

Saint Oscar Wilde, our saint of humour, grace and elegance, whose gentle hands were put to hard labour, Pray for us.

Saint Harvey Milk, courageous and compassionate, mayor and martyr of San Francisco, Pray for us.

Holy Innocents of the Nazi death camps, Pray for us.

Holy Innocents martyred by ISIS, Pray for us.

Holy Innocents driven to death by the church, Pray for us.

Daughters of Stonewall, Pray for us.

Martyrs of the Upstairs Lounge, Pray for us.

Saint Leelah Alcorn, our sister who walked into the oncoming tide for the benefit of others, Pray for us.

Saint Sebastian we prostrate to you and thank you. Empowered by the benison of your protection we go forward with courage and grace to face the arrows of oppressors and tyrants, and to defeat them.

Amen

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Related link:

Why we need LGBT saints by Kittredge Cherry

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This post is part of the Artists series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. The series profiles artists who use lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and queer spiritual and religious imagery. It also highlights great queer artists from history, with an emphasis on their spiritual lives.

Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/
Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts

Malachy of Armagh: Same-sex soulmate to Bernard of Clairvaux

November 3, 2015, 7:41 am

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“Malachy of Armagh” by Rowan Lewgalon

Malachy of Armagh is an 11th-century Irish saint who died in the arms of his more famous soulmate, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. Bernard showered Malachy with kisses during his lifetime and they are buried together, wearing each other’s clothes. Malachy’s feast day is today (Nov. 3).

Malachy is also the attributed author for the “Prophecy of the Popes,” which predicted that there would be 112 more popes before the Last Judgment. Most scholars dismiss the document as an elaborate 16th-century hoax. Still it’s sobering that the 112th and final pope in the prophecy is the current pontiff, Pope Francis. The prophecy remains popular with doomsday fanatics.

Malachy (1094 - Nov. 2, 1148) was born in Armagh in northern Ireland and rose to become archbishop.In Middle Irish his name is Máel Máedóc Ua Morgair. He became Ireland’s first native-born saint to be canonized.

He was primate of all Ireland when he first visited the French monastery at Clairvaux around 1139. The abbott in charge was Bernard (1090-1153), a mystical author, advisor to five Popes and a monastic reformer who built the Cistercian order of monks and nuns. Bernard is considered to be the last of the Church Fathers. They soon became devoted, passionate friends. Malachy even asked the Pope for permission to become a Cistercian, but the Pope refused.

Malachy traveled to see Bernard again in 1142. They were so close that Bernard covered him with kisses in a scene that is described well by Orthodox priest Richard Cleaver in “Know My Name: A Gay Liberation Theology”: “Bernard's account makes deeply romantic reading for a modern gay man. “Oscula rui,” Bernard says of their reunion: “I showered him with kisses.”

Their relationship had lasted almost a decade when Malachy reunited with Bernard for the third and final time. Malachy fell sick when he arrived in Clairvaux in 1148. He died in Bernard’s arms on All Soul’s Day, Nov. 2. Again Cleaver tells the details based on accounts by Geoffrey, Bernard’s secretary and traveling companion:

“Geoffrey of Auxerre tells us what happened later. Bernard put on the habit taken from Malachy's body as it was being prepared for burial at Clairvaux, and he wore it to celebrate the funeral mass. He chose to sing not a requiem mass but the mass of a confessor bishop: a personal canonization and, incidentally, an example of using liturgy to do theology. Bernard himself was later buried next to Malachy, in Malachy’s habit. For Bernard, as for us today, this kind of passionate love for another human being was an indispensable channel for experiencing the God of love.”

After Malachy’s death Bernard lived on for another five years. During this time he wrote “Life of Saint Malachy of Armagh,” which is his idealized tribute to the man he loved.

Bernard forbid sculptures and paintings at the monastery during his lifetime, but by the late 15th century the altarpiece at the Clairvaux Abbey had a painting of Christ’s baptism -- being jointly witnessed by Bernard and Malachy.

The Irish archbishop comes back to life in the striking contemporary portrait of Saint Malachy as a young man at the top of this post. It was created by Rowan Lewgalon, a spiritual artist based in Germany and a cleric in the Old Catholic Apostolic Church.

Malachy and Bernard were men of their time who supported church teachings on celibacy. People today might say that they had a homosexual orientation while abstaining from sexual contact. Medieval mystics created alternative forms of sexuality that defy contemporary categories, but might be encompassed by the term “queer.” They directed their sexuality toward God and experienced God’s love through deep friendship with another human being... such as the relationship between Malachy and Bernard.

A prayer written by Bernard’s secretary Geoffrey shows how the community at Clairvaux understood and celebrated the man-to-man love between Bernard and Malachy. He thanks God for these “two stars of such surpassing brightness” and “twofold treasure.”
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Related links:
Saints Bernard of Clairvaux and Malachy: Honey-tongued abbot and the archbishop he loved

To read this post in Spanish / en español, go to Santos Queer:
San Malaquías de Armagh: El alma gemela de Bernardo de Claraval

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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

Thomas(ine) Hall: Intersex in colonial America

November 8, 2015, 8:02 am

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“Thomas or Thomasine Hall” by the Corpse Debutante

Thomas(ine) Hall was an intersex person in 17th-century colonial America who caused controversy by switching back and forth between genders. The Jamestown court ruled that Hall was both “a man and a woman” and ordered him/her to wear male and female clothing simultaneously. Hall’s story is presented here for Intersex Day of Remembrance (Nov. 8), also known as Intersex Solidarity Day.

A baby was born in England around 1603, baptized by the name Thomasine and raised as a girl. Hall began alternating between male and female identities upon reaching adulthood. Hall cut his/her hair and served as a in the English military, fighting in France against Catholic persecution of the Protestant Huguenots.  Next Hall earned a living as a woman doing needlework and making lace.

Hall heard of job opportunities in North America. Around 1626 s/he switched to male attire and took a ship to Virginia, where he worked as a male servant. Gossipy neighbors noticed that Hall changed between male and female dress and mannerisms, and rumors spread that Hall had both male and female sex partners.

Neighbors tried to settle the gender question with careful inspections of Hall’s body during sleep and at other times. Results were indeterminate, since Hall lacked a “readable set of female genitalia" and had a “small penis” (one inch long). Apparently Hall had the condition that modern society calls hermaphrodite or intersex.

An official inquiry was begun and reached the court of Jamestown, Virginia in 1629. With Governor John Pott presiding, the court heard from Hall and several witnesses. In the first such decision in early colonial history, the court ruled on April 8, 1629 that Hall had a “dual nature” and was both “a man and a woman.”

In Europe such cases had been resolved by forcing the person to adopt one gender permanently. But Hall was ordered to pay a fine and wear a mixed-gender outfit men’s clothing with a woman’s s cap and apron. The court’s goal was to subject Hall to shame and ridicule with this hybrid attire. Nothing definite is known about what happened later in Hall’s later life.

A portrait of Hall in her/her unisex attire was sketched by an artist who blogs under the pen name Corpse Debutante. “All we can really know is that Tom Hall must have been the most alone soul in the world at that moment, and furthermore, that s/he looked ridiculous,” Debutante wrote when  posting the portrait on her blog.

There was no church yet in Jamestown at the time of Hall's trial, but Puritan theologians generally considered such people “abomination unto the Lord” (based on Deuteronomy 22:5) for threatening society’s use of clothing to distinguish men and women. Some contemporary theologians such as Susannah Cornwall see intersex people as providing a valuable challenge to rigid religious assumptions. Her books include “Sex and Uncertainty in the Body of Christ: Intersex Conditions and Christian Theology.”

Hall’s life is described in books such as “Founding Mothers and Fathers: Gendered Power and the Forming of American Society” by Cornell University history professor Mary Beth Norton,
a chapter by Kathleen M. Brown in “The Devil's Lane: Sex and Race in the Early South” and a  chapter by Mary Norton in “Through a Glass Darkly: Reflections on Personal Identity in Early America.” Journalist Don Floyd wrote a historical novel based on Hall’s life titled “The Captain and Thomasine: Jamestown's Intersexual Outcast Redeems A Patriot's Dream.”


Intersex Day of Remembrance, also known as Intersex Solidarity Day, occurs on 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.” Intersex Day of Remembrance tends to be celebrated in Europe, while North America emphasizes Intersex Awareness Day on Oct. 26. Some countries honor both events and the whole period between as “Fourteen Days of Intersex.”
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Thanks to Heath Adam Ackley for the tip.

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Related links:

Jemima Wilkinson: Queer preacher reborn in 1776 as “Publick Universal Friend” (Jesus in Love)

New LGBTQ Christian books: Nov. 2015: "Our Lives Matter,""Rescuing Jesus,""Messy Grace,""Sexuality, Ideology, and the Bible,""And God Saw It All was Very Good"

November 14, 2015, 8:55 am

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Five new LGBTQ Christian books in November include womanist queer theology, personal stories from Europe, a report on evangelicals becoming more progressive, a scholarly book on sexuality in the Bible, and the memoir of an evangelical pastor raised by lesbian moms.

Theology


“Our Lives Matter: A Womanist Queer Theology” by Pamela R. Lightsey.

With the “Black Lives Matter” protests as a backdrop, the book uses womanist and queer liberation theological approaches to explore the impact of oppression against Black LBTQ women. Contemporary debates such as same-sex marriage and ordination rights are covered. The author is assistant professor of contextual theology at Boston University and a queer lesbian ordained elder in the United Methodist Church.



LGBT people in the church


“Rescuing Jesus: How People of Color, Women, and Queer Christians are Reclaiming Evangelicalism” by Deborah Jian Lee.

Evangelical Christianity’s evolution into a more progressive faith is explored by a journalist who left that world because she was frustrated by its conservative politics. Now she sees evangelicalism changing fast due to diverse younger members, including openly LGBT people, women in leadership, and more people of color. This book is getting a lot of mainstream media buzz, and made Publishers Weekly's list of most-anticipated spirituality and religion books for November. The author has worked as a staff reporter for the Associated Press and taught journalism at Columbia University.




“And God Saw It All was Very Good: Catholic LGBT People in Europe Telling Their Stories” by Sandra Taylor and Hazel Barnes (editors).

This diverse collection gathers personal stories by 34 LGBT Catholics from 18 European countries. Their essays are divided into themes of family, Catholicism, religious vocation, long journeys, significant events, and working for acceptance. Prologue by Jeannine Gramick. Edited by Sandra Taylor and Hazel Barnes. The book results from a project of the European Forum of LGBT Christian Groups.



Bible


“Sexuality, Ideology, and the Bible: Antipodean Engagements” by Robert Myles and Carolyn Blyth (editors).

Queer interpretations of the Bible from scholars in Australia and New Zealand are gathered in this scholarly collection of essays. They recognize that cultural baggage shapes Bible-based understandings of sexuality and gender. Topics include Augustine and Paul on Adam’s ‘perfect penis,’ gender violence against the land in Jeremiah, queering binary categories in the Sermon on the Mount and the Song of Songs, imagining Christ who bore both male and female genitalia, and much more.



Memoir and biography


“Messy Grace: How a Pastor with Gay Parents Learned to Love Others Without Sacrificing Conviction” by Caleb Kaltenbach.

In a surprising new twist on the LGBT Christian journey, “Messy Grace” is the autobiography of a man who was raised by lesbian mothers.  He grew up marching in Pride parades and disliking Christians, but he converted to conservative Christianity during high school. As an adult he became an evangelical pastor who preaches love for all and acceptance of LGBT people. Warning: He still sees homosexuality as a sin. The author pastors Discovery Church in Simi Valley, California, and is finishing his doctorate at Dallas Theological Seminary.


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Related links:

New LGBTQ Christian books: Oct 2015

New LGBTQ Christian books: Sept 2015

New LGBTQ Christian books: Aug 2015

New LGBTQ Christian books: July 2015

New LGBTQ Christian books: June 2015

New LGBTQ Christian books: May 2015

New LGBTQ Christian books: March 2015

New LGBTQ Christian books: Feb 2015

Top 25 LGBTQ Christian books of 2014 named (Jesus in Love)

Top 20 Gay Jesus books (from Jesus in Love)

Queer Theology book list (from Patrick Cheng)

Queering the Church book list

Jesus in Love Bookstore (includes LGBT Christian classics)


Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/
Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts

Dance of the 41 Queers: Police raid on Mexican drag ball remembered

November 17, 2015, 8:40 am

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“Los 41 Maricones” (The 41 Queers) by Jose Guadalupe Posada, 1901 (Wikipedia)

One of the world’s most notorious police raids on a queer gathering occurred on this date (Nov. 17-18) in 1901, when police arrested 41 men at a drag ball in Mexico City.

The raid on the “Dance of the 41” caused a huge scandal with lasting repercussions against LGBT people. The incident was widely reported and was used thereafter to justify years of police harassment, including more raids, blackmail, beatings and imprisonment. The number 41 entered popular culture in Mexico and continues to be used as a negative way to refer to gay men, evoking shame.

About half of the men at the Dance of the 41 were dressed as women, with silk and satin dresses, elegant wigs, jewelry and make-up. Police raided the private house where the “transvestite ball” was underway. They never released the names of those arrested because they came from the upper class of Mexican society.

As punishment the 41 detainees were humiliated in jail and then forced into the army, where they dug ditches and cleaned latrines in the Yucatan. A lesbian gathering in Santa Maria was raided soon after on Dec. 4, 1901, but it received much less publicity.

The vivid reports of the Dance of the 41 included a famous series of caricatures by popular Mexican artist Jose Guadalupe Posada. These mocking images stand in contrast to the LGBT Stations of the Cross by Mary Button, whose paintings connect police raids of queer bars with the suffering of Jesus. The raid on the Dance of the 41 is an example of police harassment that happened in many countries and continues in some.

Today same-sex marriage is legal in Mexico City and the Dance of the 41 is being reclaimed and reinterpreted by LGBT activists and scholars. A non-profit organization called “Honor 41” honors and celebrates Latina/o LGBTQ individuals who are role models. Their English-language video on the Dance of the 41 gives an accessible overview of the history.

The event is known in Spanish as simply as “el baile de los cuarenta y uno” (the dance of the forty-one) or with an added anti-gay insult “el baile de los cuarenta y uno maricones” (the dance of the forty-one fags).

All the facts and the full context concerning the Dance of the 41 are examined in the scholarly book “The Famous 41: Sexuality and Social Control in Mexico” by Robert McKee Irwin, Edward J. McCaughan and Michelle Rocio Nasser.


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Related links:

Dance of the 41 (Wikipedia English)

Baile de invertidos (Homosexual balls) (Wikipedia Spanish)

To read this post in Spanish / en español, go to Santos Queer:
El baile de los cuarenta y uno: Recordando el momento en que la policía allanó un baile queer en México



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This post is part of the LGBT Calendar series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. The series celebrates religious and spiritual holidays, 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.

Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/
Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts

2015 LGBTQ guide to AAR (American Academy of Religion) and SBL (Society of Biblical Literature) Annual Meeting

November 18, 2015, 9:34 am

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An amazing variety of 40 LGBT and queer events are planned for the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) Nov. 20-23 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Presentations cover everything from Afro-cosmopolitan imagination to ex-gays in in the Dutch Bible Belt, from traditional topics such as Pauline Epistles to pop-culture phenomona like Comic-con and Conchita Wurst. Several presentation titles touch on the erotic with references to “divine enjoyment,” the “hard-body Christianity” behind body-building “muscle gods,” and “intimacy, ecstasy, and the lesbian relation of Annunciation.”

They present liberating new ideas about the Bible, the church, sexual ethics and the impact of Christianity on individuals. Scholars will also take a queer look at every major world religion from various racial, ethnic and cultural perspectives.

Reading the schedule provides a sneak-preview of the latest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, interesex and queer religious scholarship, even for those who can’t be there. 

The joint annual meeting is the largest gathering of biblical and religion scholars in the world with more than 11,000 attendees.

Books that are up for major LGBTQ discussion this year include "Intersex, Theology, and the Bible: Troubling Bodies in Church, Text, and Society" by Susannah Cornwall, “Rescuing Jesus: How People of Color, Women, and Queer Christians are Reclaiming Evangelicalism by Deborah Jian Lee and "Pray the Gay Away: The Extraordinary Lives of Bible Belt Gays" by Bernadette Barton.

One session is of special interest to readers of the Jesus in Love Blog because it focuses on LGBT Christian art. Three scholars from Europe will deliver presentations on "Queering Christ in Controversial Art: The stagings, effects and subversive potential of the Other Jesus."

It’s possible to do LGBTQ religious events almost non-stop for five days! Sometimes multiple events even overlap.

Getting access to this information is not easy. The Jesus in Love AAR-SBL guide offers a rare glimpse into the fairly private world of scholarship-in-the-making. I hours searching the conference program books with a fine-toothed comb to create this list.

As one reader wrote in response to this guide in a previous year, “Wow - that is so great that you will be consolidating all the LGBTQ sessions - very helpful! Your blog is going to become my go-to site for choosing where to go next :)”

Best wishes to the many friends of the Jesus in Love Blog who will be attending and presenting at AAR-SBL!

If you appreciate this list, please donate to support the Jesus in Love Blog.

Note: Session numbers begin with "A" for AAR, "S" for SBL and "M" for additional meetings. These events are subject to change.

Friday, Nov. 20

A20-100 AAR Status of LGBTIQ Persons in the Profession Committee Meeting
Patrick S. Cheng, Chicago Theological Seminary, Presiding
Friday - 9:00 AM-5:00 PM

P20-316 Book Discussion: "Divine Enjoyment: A Theology of Passion and Exuberance" by Elaine Padilla.
Jacob Erickson, St. Olaf College, Presiding
Friday - 6:00 PM-8:30 PM
The book includes interpretations of God as a queer lover.

M20-407 Word Made Fresh: Full Acceptance of LGBTIQ Christians in the Church: Should Evangelicals Change Their Minds?
Thomas Oord, Northwest Nazarene University, Presiding
Friday - 7:00 PM-9:00 PM
The Word Made Fresh lectures seek to stimulate creative dialogue among evangelical Christian scholars from diverse backgrounds about pressing issues in contemporary theology. Sponsored by Azusa Pacific University and Point Loma Nazarene University.
Panelists:
David P. Gushee, Mercer University
Responding:
Ronald J. Sider, Eastern University

A20-404 Film: "Al Nisa: Black Muslim Women in Atlanta's Gay Mecca"
Friday - 8:00 PM-10:00 PM
In this documentary by Red Summer, women discuss their triple identity as black Muslim lesbians.

A20-402 Film: "Pariah" about a black lesbian in Brooklyn, NY.
Friday - 8:00 PM-10:00 PM

Saturday, Nov. 21

A21-115. Honoring the Scholarship of Randall Bailey, who has advocated for queer,feminist and contextual Bible interpretations.
Saturday - 9:00 AM-11:30 AM.

A21-124 Progress and Perils in the Queer-Evangelical Sea Change
Deborah Jian Lee, author of “Rescuing Jesus: How People of Color, Women, and Queer Christians are Reclaiming Evangelicalism," Presiding
Saturday - 9:00 AM-11:30 AM
Panelists:
David P. Gushee, Mercer University
Joshua Wolff, Adler UniversityHaven Herrin, Soulforce, Abilene, TX
Paul Southwick, On God's Campus

A21-146 Status of LGBTIQ Persons in the Profession Committee Roundtable Lunch
Patrick S. Cheng, Chicago Theological Seminary, Presiding
Saturday - 11:45 AM-12:45 PM

S21-230 Queering Canons
James Hoke, Drew University, Presiding
11/21/2015 - 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Eric A. Thomas, Drew University on When Eunuchs Read: Black Queer Ambi-veil-ence, Matt 19:12, and Others.
Lynne Gerber, University of California-Berkeley, on Queering the Sacred, Sacralizing the Queer: The Bible and/as Gay Literature at the Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco, 1986–2001.
Teresa J. Hornsby, Drury University, on The Slender Man: A Trans Hermeneutic of the Apocalypse
LGBTI/Queer Hermeneutics Business Meeting

S21-252 Intersections of Gender, Race, and Class in Biblical Literature
11/21/2015 - 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Includes Caryn Tamber-Rosenau, Vanderbilt University, on Un-gendering Texts: A Queer Critique of Looking for “Male” and “Female” Voices

A21-227 Lesbians, Dykes, Feminists, and Queers: Who Really Is Part of the "L-Word" Today?
Jennifer Rycenga, San Jose State University, Presiding
Saturday - 1:00 PM-3:30 PM
Includes:
Raedorah Stewart, Washington, DC on Queer Femmes: Lipstick on My Dipstick and Other Womanist Feminist Lesbian Poems.
Amey Victoria Adkins, Duke University, on Hail, Mary: Intimacy, Ecstasy, and the Lesbian Relation of Annunciation
Sarah Bloesch, Southern Methodist University, on Lesbians in Space and Out of Time: Sexuality on Display from Museums to Prisons
Responding:
Amy Milligan, Elizabethtown College
Lesbian-Feminist Issues and Religion Group Business Meeting:
Marie Cartier, California State University, Northridge

A21-224 Unfamiliar Spaces: Critical Perspectives on Ethics, Sexuality, Pedagogy, and Erotics
Saturday - 1:00 PM-3:30 PM
Includes Jeremy Posadas, Austin College, on Queering and De-Protestantizing "Religion and Sex/uality” Courses

A21-222 Orthodoxy and Eros: Gender, Sexuality, and Embodiment in the Eastern Orthodox Tradition
Vera Shevzov, Smith College, Presiding
Saturday - 1:00 PM-3:30 PM
Includes Crystal Lubinsky, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, on What’s in a Name?: The Transvestite or Andromimetic Saints of Eastern Christendom

A21-308 Binding Practices: Relational Connection in Visual and Performing Art
Saturday - 4:00 PM-6:30 PM
Includes Anne-Marie Korte, Utrecht University, on Queer Iconoclasm and Queer Iconoclash: From the Christas to Madonna

A21-327Book discussion: The Relevance of Lynne Huffer's Mad for Foucault (Columbia University Press, 2009) and Are the Lips a Grave? A Queer Feminist on the Ethics of Sex (Columbia University Press, 2013) for Theology and the Study of Religion
Mary Keller, University of Wyoming, Presiding
Saturday - 4:00 PM-6:30 PM
Includes Jason Frey, Chicago Theological Seminary, on A Queer Vulnerability: Body Ethics and Foucauldian Relationality

A21-341 From Tolerance to Recognition: Recognition and the Acceptance of Otherness
Risto Saarinen, University of Helsinki, Presiding
Saturday - 4:00 PM-6:30 PM
Includes Elina Hellqvist, University of Helsinki, on Recognition, Toleration and Identity: LGBTQ in the Lutheran Church

A21-339 Global Perspectives on Religion and HIV/AIDS Seminar
Lynne Gerber, University of California, Berkeley, Presiding
Saturday - 4:00 PM-6:30 PM

A21-312 Guns, Climate, Contraception, and Marriage: How Religion is Shaping American Politics Heading into 2016
Robert P. Jones, Public Religion Research Institute, Washington, D.C., Presiding
Saturday - 4:00 PM-6:30 PM
Includes Marie Cartier, California State University, Northridge, on Spouses for Life: How the Fight for Gay Marriage is Changing Religion and Politics

A21-306 Engaging Trans Studies in Religion: Scholarship, Teaching, and the Intersectionalities of Trans Lived Experience
Cameron Partridge, Harvard University, Presiding
Saturday - 4:00 PM-6:30 PM
Panelists:
Robyn Henderson-Espinoza, Pacific School of Religion
Jacob Lau, University of California, Los Angeles
Max Strassfeld, University of Arizona
Justin Tanis, Graduate Theological Union
Erin Swenson, Atlanta, GA

A21-408 LGBTIQ Scholars / Scholars of LGBTIQ Studies Reception
Saturday - 9:00 PM-11:00 PM

Sunday, Nov. 22

S22-130 Book discussion on "Intersex, Theology, and the Bible: Troubling Bodies in Church, Text, and Society" by Susannah Cornwall (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015)
11/22/2015 - 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Joseph Marchal, Ball State University, Presiding
Sean Burke, Luther College
Megan DeFranza, Boston University School of Theology
Teresa Hornsby, Drury University
Candida Moss, University of Notre Dame
Max Strassfeld, University of Arizona
Susannah Cornwall, University of Exeter, Respondent

A22-102 Queer Disability Theory and Theology
Leigh Ann Hildebrand, Graduate Theological Union, Presiding
Sunday - 9:00 AM-11:00 AM
Deborah Creamer, Association of Theological Schools, Pittsburgh, PA, and Heike Peckruhn, Daemen College on Cripping Religion.
Max Thornton, Drew University on Trans/Criptions: Gender, Disability, and Liturgical Experience.
Brian Blackmore, Temple University, on Towards a Crip Theology: Biblical Foundations of the Queer Disability Drive.
Cassie Houtz, Harvard University, on Saving the Unsavable: A Queer Redemption.
Karen Bray, Drew University, on Willfully Unredeemed: The Mad Cripping of Liberal Queerdom.

A22-101 Critical Analysis of Gender and Transgender in Indigenous Cultures
Suzanne Owen, Leeds Trinity University, University of Chester, Presiding
Sunday - 9:00 AM-11:00 AM

A22-142 Yoga and Nationalism: Identity and Destiny
Andrew J. Nicholson, Stony Brook University, Presiding
Sunday - 9:00 AM-11:30 AM
Includes Andrea Jain, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis, on Where Yoga, Homophobia, and Nationalism Intersect: Baba Ramdev and the Sexual Politics of Yoga

M22-102 Struggling in Good Faith
Sunday - 11:45 AM-12:45 PM
An opportunity to discuss the forthcoming book "Struggling in Good Faith: LGBTQI Inclusion from 13 American Religious Perspectives" with its editors Rabbi Mychal Copeland and Rabbi D'vorah Rose.

A22-212 Violence against Women in Africa: Politics, War, and Religion
Dianna Bell, Vanderbilt University, Presiding
Sunday - 1:00 PM-2:30 PM
Includes Michelle Wolff, Duke University, on The “Corrective” Rape of Black Lesbians in South Africa: Locating the Failure of Progressive Politics within Secular Democracy

S22-203 African-American Biblical Hermeneutics
Shively Smith, Wesley Theological Seminary, Presiding
11/22/2015 - 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Includes Stacy Davis, Saint Mary's College (Notre Dame) on Beyond Male and Female: Same-Sex Imagery in Malachi 2

A22-210 Contesting Authority, Reclaiming Traditions: Religion and Gender in Southeast Asia
Emma Tomalin, University of Leeds, Presiding
Sunday - 1:00 PM-2:30 PM
Includes David Brian Esch, Florida International Univerity, on The World's First Transgender Mosque: Javanese, Gendered, and Religious Embodiments

A22-230 Book discussion: Erin Runions's "The Babylon Complex: Theopolitical Fantasies of War, Sex, and Sovereignty" (Fordham University Press, 2014)
Edward Silver, Wellesley College, Presiding
Sunday - 1:00 PM-2:30 PM
Scholars look at the book based on queer theorizing.

A22-275 Reimagining Religion as Queer Resistance
Linn Tonstad, Yale University, Presiding
Sunday - 3:00 PM-4:30 PM
Sonia Crasnow, University of California, Riverside, on Talking About Transition: Addressing Transgender Inclusion in Judaism.
Drake Konow, Meriden, CT, on The Cathedral Project: Protest, Liturgy, and AIDS Activism at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
Mara Block, Harvard University, on “Baudelaire’s Dream”: Queer Writing and Parodies of Clinical Discourse.
Responding:
Heather White, New College of Florida
Queer Studies in Religion Group Business Meeting:
Kent Brintnall, University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Thelathia Young, Bucknell University

A22-315 Male Aesthetics and Muscle Gods
Brett Krutzsch, College of Wooster, Presiding
Sunday - 5:00 PM-6:30 PM
This panel explores what the gym-built bodies such as bodybuilders known as "muscle gods" say about gay/hetero/bi men and religion.
Jeffrey F. Keuss, Seattle Pacific University, on Crossfit and Muscular Christianity Resurrected.
Jason Smith, Vanderbilt University, on Foucault for Heisman: Normalizing Power and the "Gym-Built" Amateur Athlete.
Scott Strednak Singer, Temple University, on From Muscular Christianity to Hard-Body Christianity: The Power Team and the Meaning of Muscle in Sports Evangelism.
Jared Vazquez, Iliff School of Theology, University of Denver, on When This Boy is Not a Bottom: Effeminate Men and the Failure of Masculine Performances.

Monday, Nov. 23

S23-117 Gender, Sexuality, and the Bible
11/23/2015 - 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Includes Katy E. Valentine, First Christian Church (Chico, CA) on Disrupting the Binary: Creating a GNC (Gender Non-Conforming) and Transgender Hermeneutic

A23-104 Queer Utopias and Dystopias
Roger A. Sneed, Furman University, Presiding
Monday - 9:00 AM-11:00 AM
Allison Covey, University of Toronto on Comic-Con International as Performance of Queer Utopia.
Christopher Ashley, Union Theological Seminary on A Kind Angel's Thesis: Religion, Technology, and Queer Humanism in Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Andrea Tucker, Vanderbilt University, on Desiring Earthseed: Teaching Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower behind the Gate.
Anthony Hoshaw, Chicago Theological Seminary, on Trash Animals, Queers, and the City.
Responding:
Marco Derks, Utrecht University
Gay Men and Religion Group Business Meeting:
W. Scott Haldeman, Chicago Theological Seminary

A23-101 Regulating Sexuality in Postwar American Jewish Communities: Navigating Queer Bodies, Heteronormativity, and Hegemonic Christianity
Laura S. Levitt, Temple University, Presiding
Monday - 9:00 AM-11:00 AM
Brett Krutzsch, College of Wooster on Jewish in Life, Christianized in Death: The Jewishness of Harvey Milk’s Gay Activism.
Gregg Drinkwater, University of Colorado, on AIDS Was Our Earthquake: American Judaism in the Age of AIDS.
Jonathan Jackson, Maxwell School of Syracuse University, on Useful and Inhuman: Inversions of Queer and Corrections of the Jewish Body.

A23-138 Sin, Suffering, and Spatiality: Exploring Culture, Caste, and Critique
Eboni Marshall Turman, Duke University, Presiding
Monday - 9:00 AM-11:30 AM
Includes:
Sailaja Krishnamurti, York University, on Hindu Religiosity at the Margins of Diaspora: Queer and Feminist Activism, South Asian Diaspora Communities, and the Critique of Caste.
Elyse Ambrose Minson, Drew University, on Liberative Ethics at "The Pier": Environmental Transphobia and the Christopher Street Pier, New York City.

S23-234 Queer Approaches to Pauline Epistles and Interpretations
Jeremia Punt, Universiteit van Stellenbosch - University of Stellenbosch, Presiding
11/23/2015 - 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Ben Dunning, Fordham University, on Romans 1, Queer Theory, and the History of Sexuality.
Robert Paul Seesengood, Albright College, on Queers, Jews, and Paul: Struggling with a Pauline "Universal Subjectivity."
Jay Twomey, University of Cincinnati, on Stranger in a Strange Pauline World.
Tyler M. Schwaller, Harvard University, on "A Slave to All": First Corinthians 9 and Paul's Performance in Slave Drag.
Timothy Luckritz Marquis, Moravian Theological Seminary, on Dionysus, Disidentifications, and Wandering Pauline Epiphanies.
Lynn Huber, Elon University, Respondent
Will Stockton, Clemson University, Respondent

A23-203 Latina/o Religious Iconoclasms
Chris Tirres, DePaul University, Presiding
Monday - 1:00 PM-3:00 PM
Includes Adrian Emmanuel Hernandez-Acosta, Harvard University, with On Queer Religion, Nationalism, and Sex: A Response by Caribbean (Theological) Bottoms.
Alejandro Escalante, Union Theological Seminary, on God in Drag: An Indecent Approach to the Sacrament of Protest.

A23-225 Book discussion: "Pray the Gay Away: The Extraordinary Lives of Bible Belt Gays" by Bernadette Barton (New York University Press, 2012)
Marie Cartier, California State University, Northridge, Presiding
Monday - 1:00 PM-3:30 PM
John Erickson, Claremont Graduate University, on The Power of Interview: Deconstructing the Geographical, Temporal, and Current Experiences of Gay Men and Lesbians in the Bible Belt.
Aaron Klink, Duke University, on Praying after the Gay Wouldn't Go: Ethnography, Theology, and Spiritual Practice.
Daniel Tidwell, Seattle University, on We Pray What Our Bodies Know: A Formational Response to Bernadette Barton's "Pray the Gay Away."
David Bos, University of Amsterdam, VU University, on Perseverance of the Saints: The Short but Meaningful Life of "the Ex-Gay" in the Dutch Bible Belt.
Responding:
Bernadette Barton, Morehead State University

A23-307 Protest, Performance, and Prophecy: Resisting Violence against Black Queer Bodies
Whitney Bond, Emory University, Presiding
Monday - 4:00 PM-6:00 PM
Adriaan van Klinken, University of Leeds, on Queer Prophecy and Afro-Cosmopolitan Imagination: Kenyan Writer Binyavanga Wainaina’s "Coming Out and Religious Critique."
Thelathia Young, Bucknell University, and Benae Beamon, Boston University, on "Dying" to Live: Protest and the Radical Performativity of Black Queer Bodies.
Jennifer Rycenga, San Jose State University, on Enraged Against Us: African-American Women Students Practicing Non-Violence at Prudence Crandall's Academy, 1833-34.
Indhira Udofia, Duke University, on Whoring the Madonna, Virginizing the Jezebel: Black Women’s Gender Performance.

Tuesday, Nov. 24

S24-130 Queering Christ in Controversial Art: The stagings, effects and subversive potential of the Other Jesus
David Stewart, California State University - Long Beach, presiding
11/24/2015 - 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
This session investigates art in which iconic Christian imagery is deliberately queered.
Anne-Marie Korte, Universiteit Utrecht on Queer Iconoclasm and Queer Iconoclash: From the Christas to Madonna
Mariecke van den Berg, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, on Setting the Table for a Queer Jesus: Ecce Homo in Sweden and Serbia
Srdjan Sremac, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, on Conchita Wurst: A “Jesus-like Figure” Between Blasphemy and Religious Innovation
Susannah Cornwall, University of Exeter, Respondent (25 min)

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Readers asked if the AAR-SBL presentations available in any way to people who can't attend?

The panels are usually not recorded or available in printed form, but abstracts of some of the papers are online now. Visit the AAR and SLB links below, go to the online program books and start searching. You can also try contacting the speakers directly.

For more info, visit:

American Academy of Religion
http://www.aarweb.org/

Society of Biblical Literature
http://www.sbl-site.org/default.aspx

Here’s another resource for those who want to follow the latest research and scholarship of various LGBT theologians (and others).
http://www.academia.edu/

Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/
Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts

Transgender Day of Remembrance: Spiritual resources

November 20, 2015, 8:56 am

≫ Next: Top 25 LGBTQ Christian books of 2015 named

≪ Previous: 2015 LGBTQ guide to AAR (American Academy of Religion) and SBL (Society of Biblical Literature) Annual Meeting

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  Christ's crucifixion is linked to the murder of transgender woman Rita Hester in “Stations of the Cross: The Struggle For LGBT Equality” by Mary Button, courtesy of Believe Out Loud

Transgender Day of Remembrance (Nov. 20) commemorates those who were killed due to anti-transgender prejudice. The Jesus in Love Blog also honors transgender visions in art, theater, music, religion and spirituality today.

Religious violence against transgender people goes back at least as far as Biblical times and continued in the Middle Ages.  A few of the many examples are Joan of Arc, who was burned at the stake for cross-dressing, and Saint Wilgefortis, who was crucified for being a bearded woman. The list of unlawfully killed transgender people is long and continues to grow.

Transgender Day of Remembrance serves the dual purpose of honoring the dead and raising public awareness of hate crimes against transgender people—that is, transsexuals, crossdressers, and other gender-variant people. It was founded in 1999 to honor Rita Hester, an African American transgender woman murdered in Massachusetts on Nov. 28, 1998. The outpouring of grief and anger over her death led to the "Remembering Our Dead" web project and a candlelight vigil in San Francisco. Since then it has grown into an international phenomenon observed around the world.

Hester’s murder is boldly identified with Jesus’ death in “Stations of the Cross: The Struggle for LGBT Equality” by Mary Button. The set of 15 paintings links the crucifixion of Christ with the history of LGBT people.

In the painting a banner carried by people at a Transgender Day of Remembrance march stretches over Jesus on the cross with a pointed question: “How many transgenders have to die before you get involved?” The text on the banner comes from an actual news photo.

Another high-profile murder case was transgender man Brandon Teena, whose 1993 murder is told in the popular movie “Boys Don’t Cry.” The ever-growing list of transgender victims calls to mind the words of Jesus: “Whatever you do to the least of these, you do to me.”

Transgender teenager Gwen Araujo’s murder in 2002 also got national attention and led to the passage of the Gwen Araujo Justice for Victims Act in California. The law restricts the use of the gay/trans panic defense by criminal defendants.



Araujo is commemorated in “The Transfigured Body: A Requiem in Celebration of Gwen Araujo” by New-Age composer Christopher A. Flores and gay lyricist/priest Adrian Ravarour.  They have joined forces on a variety of musical compositions on sacred LGBTQ themes. "The Transfigured Body" premiered in 2003 at Founders Metropolitan Community Church in Los Angeles.

Transgender Day of Remembrance by Mikhaela Reid

http://www.mikhaela.net/

Political cartoonist Mikhaela Reid pictures some of the more prominent victims of anti-transgender violence in the illustration above. Let us remember them by lighting a memorial candle here for them and others like them.

In memory of: Gwen Araujo, Rita Hester, Brandon Teena (subject of the movie “Boys Don’t Cry”), Leelah Alcorn, Chanelle Picket, Nakia Ladelle Baker, Debra Forte, Tyra Hunter, Joe Stevens, Logan Smith, Jessica Mercado, Terrianne Summers, Venus Xtravaganza, Chanel Chandler... and all others who died due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice.  And the deaths continue. New additions after this was originally posted: Leelah Alcorn.

The Altar Cross of LGBTQ Martyrs from Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco features photos of transwoman Gwen Araujo, Matthew Shepard, Harvey Milk, and others.

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Transgender Pride Flag

Other spiritual resources for Transgender Day of Remembrance are available at TransFaith Online, including this prayer by Rabbi Reuben Zellman, who became the first openly transgender person accepted to the Reform Jewish seminary Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati in 2003:

God full of mercy, bless the souls of all who are in our hearts on this Transgender Day of Remembrance. We call to mind today young and old, of every race, faith, and gender experience, who have died by violence. We remember those who have died because they would not hide, or did not pass, or did pass, or stood too proud. Today we name them: the reluctant activist; the fiery hurler of heels; the warrior for quiet truth; the one whom no one really knew.

As many as we can name, there are thousands more whom we cannot, and for whom no prayers may have been said. We mourn their senseless deaths, and give thanks for their lives, for their teaching, and for the brief glow of each holy flame. We pray for the strength to carry on their legacy of vision, bravery, and love.

And as we remember them, we remember with them the thousands more who have taken their own lives. We pray for resolve to root out the injustice, ignorance, and cruelty that grow despair. And we pray, God, that all those who perpetrate hate and violence will speedily come to understand that Your creation has many faces, many genders, many holy expressions.

Blessed are they, who have allowed their divine image to shine in the world.

Blessed is God, in whom no light is extinguished.

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Click the headlines below for more about transgender spirituality.  Not all of these people self-identified as transgender, but their stories of gender non-conformity are offered here as an inspiration for transgender people and their allies.

Jemima Wilkinson: Queer preacher reborn in 1776 as “Publick Universal Friend”
Jemima Wilkinson (1752-1819) was a Quaker preacher who woke from a near-death experience in 1776 believing she was neither male nor female. She changed her name to the “Publick Universal Friend,” fought for gender equality and founded an important religious community.

Ethiopian eunuch: A black gay man was the world’s first convert to Christianity

Pauli Murray: Queer saint / activist for civil rights and gender equality
Human rights champion Pauli Murray (1910-1985), a recent addition to the Episcopal books of saints, described herself as a man trapped in a woman’s body and took hormone treatments in her 20s and 30s.

Joan of Arc: Cross-dressing warrior-saint
Joan of Arc was a cross-dressing teenage warrior who led the medieval French army to victory when she was 17.

Image credit: Saint Joan of Arc by Brother Robert Lentz, OFM., www.trinitystores.com

We'wha of Zuni: Two-spirited Native American
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.

Image credit: “We’wha” by Jim Ru

Artist paints history’s butch heroes: Ria Brodell interview
"Butch Heroes" of history are painted by genderqueer artist Ria Brodell. She uses the format of traditional Catholic holy cards to present butch lesbians, queer women and female-to-male transgender people from many different times, places, and backgrounds.

Image credit: “James How aka Mary East and Mrs. How” by Ria Brodell

Religious threats to LGBT people exposed in Jerusalem photos
Religion-based oppression of LGBT people is revealed in “Jerusalem,” a photo exhibit by Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin. It includes “Tranny,” a portrait of a drag queen from Jerusalem. Biblical words against crossdressing are projected behind her.

Queer Lady of Guadalupe: Artists re-imagine an icon
Queer art based on Our Lady of Guadalupe includes a bearded drag queen version titled “Virginia Guadalupe” by Jim Ru.

St. Wilgefortis: Bearded woman saint
St. Wilgefortis prayed to avoid marriage to a pagan king -- and her prayers were answered when she grew a beard!

300 protest transsexual Jesus play
More than 300 conservative Christian protesters picketed the Scottish opening of “Jesus, Queen of Heaven,” a play about a transsexual Jesus by Jo (formerly John) Clifford.

 Transgressing gender in the Bible
“Transfigurations: Transgressing Gender in the Bible” is an LGBT-positive play by Peterson Toscano.

Transvestite Jesus appears in photo project
A transvestite Jesus appears in a series of alternative Christ photos by Colorado artist Bill Burch

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More transgender spiritual and religious resources include:

Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC) Transgender Day of Remembrance Resource Page

A Kaddish Prayer for International Transgender Day of Remembrance by H. Adam Ackley (HuffPost)

Prayers To and For the Transgender Community (thoughtsonblank.com)

An All Hallows' Eve Vigil to Begin Transgender Awareness Month by H. Adam Ackley (Huff Post)

Trans Martyrs (Queering the Church)

Book: Omnigender: A Trans-religious Approach by Virginia Mollenkott

Book: Trans-Gendered: Theology, Ministry, and Communities of Faith (Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry) by Justin Tanis

Book: Transgendering Faith: Identity, Sexuality, and Spirituality by Leanne Tigert (editor)

Call Me Malcolm (video)

Call me Malcolm Video and Training Guide (United Church of Christ)

Voices of Witness: Out of the Box (Episcopal film)
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This post is part of the LGBT Calendar series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. The series celebrates religious and spiritual holidays, 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.

Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/
Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts

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

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Top 25 LGBTQ Christian books of 2015 named

November 27, 2015, 12:19 am

≫ Next: Blessed Bernardo de Hoyos: Mystical same-sex marriage with Jesus

≪ Previous: Transgender Day of Remembrance: Spiritual resources

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Dozens of books with LGBTQ Christian themes were published in 2015. Here is a list of the top 25 – including, theology, memoir, Bible, history, art, film, fiction and church life.

The year's diverse group of authors approaches the subject in all different ways: from Biblical to biographies, institutional or individual, scholarly or simple, fiction and non-fiction, for young and old.

A few trends emerged. Queer theology is still going strong. New titles reveal that Christian conservatives who once preached against homosexuality are welcoming LGBT people or at least softening their tactics. Another development is the emergence of voices from people of color, especially African Americans.

Enjoy! And please let me know if I missed anything. I will keep adding to the list.

Theology


“Intersex, Theology, and the Bible: Troubling Bodies in Church, Text, and Society” by Susannah Cornwall (editor).

Intersex people have been considered troubling because they are not easily classified as male or female, challenging the binary sex system of Western societies. Here scholars suggest that intersex people provide positive value by challenging dubious assumptions in religion and society. Writers consider intersex conditions from a range of perspectives, including constructive and pastoral theologies, biblical studies of eunuchs, and sociology of religion. The book features essays by Megan Shannon DeFranza, Joseph A. Marchal, Nathan Carlin and more. Cornwall is an advanced research fellow in theology and religion at the University of Exeter.




BESTSELLER AT JESUS IN LOVE
“That We Might Become God: The Queerness of Creedal Christianity” by Andy Buechel, with a foreword by Mark D. Jordan.

A theologian reveals how queer Christianity already is. He argues that queer theory fits well with Christian faith, specifically the incarnation of “Christ’s queer body,” the sacraments, and eschatology. Buechel teaches theology at Xavier University in Cincinnati and Jordan is a Harvard professor of Christian thought. His foreword says, “"Andy Buechel's book exerts itself to avoid false certainties, easy algebras, in order to acknowledge the full queerness of Christianity. That effort is one of the queerest things about the book.”




BESTSELLER AT JESUS IN LOVE
“Sex Difference in Christian Theology: Male, Female, and Intersex in the Image of God” by Megan K. DeFranza.

Solid theological analysis challenges the gender binary with Biblical resources on eunuchs and critiques various models of sexuality and gender based on images of Christ and God. Author Megan K. DeFranza shows that all people are made in God’s image: male, female and intersex. She has taught at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. This is her first book, but it is published by a major academic religious press (Eerdmans) and endorsed by queer scholars such as Susannah Cornwall. Sometimes queer theology books are extremely expensive, but this one is only $18.




“The Courage to be Queer” by Jeff Hood.

A theology of God the Queer who speaks to everyone through the queerness of each individual context is revealed by a queer pastor/theologian/activist. He shakes the demons out of the Bible and leaves only love, making advanced queer theological concepts accessible with sound Biblical references. Ordained in the Southern Baptist Convention, he recently concluded a doctorate in queer theology at Texas Christian University. Published by Wipf and Stock with 39 endorsements!




“Our Lives Matter: A Womanist Queer Theology” by Pamela R. Lightsey.

With the “Black Lives Matter” protests as a backdrop, the book uses womanist and queer liberation theological approaches to explore the impact of oppression against Black LBTQ women. Contemporary debates such as same-sex marriage and ordination rights are covered. The author is assistant professor of contextual theology at Boston University and a queer lesbian ordained elder in the United Methodist Church.



Art and culture


“Hollywood Biblical Epics: Camp Spectacle and Queer Style from the Silent Era to the Modern Day” by Richard A. Lindsay.

Bible-themed movies are explored from an LGBT perspective by a communication professor from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. He addresses censorship in Hollywood, analyzes Bible films for gay characters and situations and much more as he asks, “If biblical epics are supposed to be adaptations of the Bible, why are they so campy and queer?”




BESTSELLER AT JESUS IN LOVE
“HomoEros: Meditations on Gay Love and Longing” by John Waiblinger and Chad Mitchell.

A collaboration between a poet and a digital artist, “HomoEros” sexualizes the sacred and elevates eroticism to the realm of the divine. The most direct Christian symbolism is expressed by Mitchell, whose poetry in “HomoEros” celebrates Christ the Bridegroom, the Sacred Heart, and the Son of Man, sometimes using phrases from the Roman Catholic Mass. Waiblinger’s artistic process transforms images from gay porn through cropping and layering with nature photos. The juxtaposition of extremes results in an effective effort to reconcile gay sexuality and spirituality.



Memoir and biography


“Messy Grace: How a Pastor with Gay Parents Learned to Love Others Without Sacrificing Conviction” by Caleb Kaltenbach.

In a surprising new twist on the LGBT Christian journey, “Messy Grace” is the autobiography of a man who was raised by lesbian mothers.  He grew up marching in Pride parades and disliking Christians, but he converted to conservative Christianity during high school. As an adult he became an evangelical pastor who preaches love for all without judgment. The author pastors Discovery Church in Simi Valley, California, and is finishing his doctorate at Dallas Theological Seminary.




“My Exodus: From Fear to Grace” by Alan Chambers.

Author Alan Chambers, the final president of huge ex-gay group Exodus International, shocked the world when he repudiated its mission and closed the organization with a public apology to the LGBT community in 2013. Still a committed believer in Christ, he now seeks to create welcoming communities. Here he tells his entire life story and faith journey of same-sex attraction and deepening understanding of God.




BESTSELLER AT JESUS IN LOVE
“A Disreputable Priest: Being Gay in Anti-Gay Cultures”by Ian Corbett.

A gay Anglican priest gives a personal account of his journey to accept his sexual orientation and minister to LGBT people while serving in Africa, Ireland and among the indigenous tribes of North America. Corbett was sustained by values learned from native peoples about the importance of the land, artistic expression, human relationships and contemplative reflection. In Botswana he established an AIDS hospice and cared for AIDS patients in the slums.




“Constance Maynard’s Passions: Religion, Sexuality, and an English Educational Pioneer, 1849-1935” by Pauline A. Phillips.

A successful evangelical religious woman leader’s effort to forge “a distinct same-sex sexual self-consciousness” is covered in this biography. She saw her passionate relationships with women as God’s gift and a test her faith. The author is a history/women’s studies professor at the University of Windsor in Canada.



LGBT people in the church


“Beyond Heterosexism in the Pulpit” by Emily Askew and O. Wesley Allen Jr.

Here is help for ministers who seek better strategies to speak from the pulpit in favor of LGBT rights while respecting congregants who disagree. The authors are both professors at Lexington Theological Seminary. Their approach combines critical theology and contemporary homiletics.




“Struggling in Good Faith: LGBTQI Inclusion from 13 American Religious Perspectives” by Mychal Copeland and D'vorah Rose (editors), with a foreword by Gene Robinson.

This interfaith collection shows how 13 religious groups face the challenge of including LGBTQI people. Faith traditions covered are the Black Church, Buddhist, Mormon, Episcopal, Native American, Hindu, Jewish, Lutheran, Muslim, Presbyterian, Protestant Evangelical, Roman Catholic and Unitarian Universalist. A stong line-up of contributors includes Cameron Partridge, Jane Litman and Jeannine Gramick. Editor Mychal Copeland is the Bay Area director of InterfaithFamily and her rabbinate includes having served Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, the world’s largest LGBTQI synagogue. Editor D'vorah Rose is a multifaith healthcare chaplain, rabbi and palliative care and hospice nurse who consults nationwide.




“Spiritual Friendship: Finding Love in the Church as a Celibate Gay Christian” by Wesley Hill.

A prominent evangelical scholar in the new celibate LGBT Christian movement writes about friendship as a spiritual path, offering practical ways for building stronger friendships. Wesley Hill. includes extensive discussion of classic writings on friendship by 12th-century saint Aelred of Rievaulx (who is often considered the patron saint  of LGBT people). Hill has many fans, but this book won't appeal to everybody. One chapter is titled “Friendship is a Call to Suffer.” The author is assistant professor of biblical studies at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania.




“Rescuing Jesus: How People of Color, Women, and Queer Christians are Reclaiming Evangelicalism” by Deborah Jian Lee.

Evangelical Christianity’s evolution into a more progressive faith is explored by a journalist who left that world because she was frustrated by its conservative politics. Now she sees evangelicalism changing fast due to diverse younger members, including openly LGBT people, women in leadership, and more people of color. This book is getting a lot of mainstream media buzz, and made Publishers Weekly's list of most-anticipated spirituality and religion books for November. The author has worked as a staff reporter for the Associated Press and taught journalism at Columbia University.




“Religion, Flesh, and Blood: The Convergence of HIV/AIDS, Black Sexual Expression, and Therapeutic Religion” by Pamela Leong.

Successful AIDS ministry by one black LGBT congregation in Unity Fellowship is the focus of a rich case study by a sociology professor. She describes how they blend African-American Christianity with the therapeutic ethic of American pop culture. The author focuses on the Los Angeles congregation through field work, interviews and analysis of sermons. Unity Fellowship founder Carl Bean is discussed in depth. Leong is assistant professor of sociology at Salem State University in Massachusetts.




“LGBT In The Name of God: The Black Church's Response to the LGBT Community” by Christopher James Priest, with a foreword by Benjamin L. Reynolds.

Pointed, witty essays aim at building honest dialogue in African American churches about LGBT issues. The author is a Baptist pastor with 50 years’ service in the black church – but he is best known as the first African American writer in the comic-book industry. Topics include same-sex marriage, the black church’s unwritten “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, and the roots of homophobia in traditional church doctrine. It includes a foreword by Benjamin L. Reynolds, former director of the LGBTQ Religious Studies Center at Chicago Theological Seminary.




“And God Saw It All was Very Good: Catholic LGBT People in Europe Telling Their Stories” by Sandra Taylor and Hazel Barnes (editors), with a prologue by Jeannine Gramick.

This diverse collection gathers rarely heard personal stories by 34 LGBT Catholics from 18 European countries. Their essays are divided into themes of family, Catholicism, religious vocation, long journeys, significant events, and working for acceptance. The book results from a project of the European Forum of LGBT Christian Groups.



History

“
“Visions of Queer Martyrdom from John Henry Newman to Derek Jarman”by Dominic Janes.

Closeted queer devotion to Christ has shaped the cultural expression of homosexuality since the 19th century. A professor from London’s University of the Arts begins with a chapter on Cardinal John Henry Newman as a queer martyr suffering in the ecclesiastical closet. Janes goes on to examine liturgical expressions of same-sex desire, the role of Victorian monasteries and other religious institutions in forming queer families, and how the Biblical story of Jonathan and David became a model for same-sex partnerships. He finds that Christianity has ongoing significance in homoerotic works such as the films of Derek Jarman and the literature of Oscar Wilde.




“After the Wrath of God: AIDS, Sexuality, and American Religion” by Anthony M. Petro.

The religious history of AIDS in America is examined by a Boston University religion professor. He goes way beyond the usual discussion of the Religious Right to cover a wide range of mainline Protestant, evangelical, and Catholic groups as well as AIDS activist organizations. The author reveals how the AIDS crisis prompted American Christians to start discussing homosexuality, fostering a moral discourse whose legacy includes abstinence education and same-sex marriage. This detailed and discerning history was published by the prestigious Oxford University Press. The section on Metropolitan Community Churches includes the ministry of long-time AIDS survivor Stephen Pieters.




“Reforming Sodom: Protestants and the Rise of Gay Rights” by Heather Rachelle White.

Religion tends to get downplayed in LGBT history. A religion professor challenges the prevailing LGBT secular narrative and recovers the forgotten history of liberal Protestants' role on both sides of the debates on sexual orientation and identity. White teaches in the religion department and gender and queer studies program at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington.



Bible


“Sexuality, Ideology, and the Bible: Antipodean Engagements” by Robert Myles and Carolyn Blyth (editors).

Queer interpretations of the Bible from scholars in Australia and New Zealand are gathered in this scholarly collection of essays. They recognize that cultural baggage shapes Bible-based understandings of sexuality and gender. Topics include Augustine and Paul on Adam’s ‘perfect penis,’ gender violence against the land in Jeremiah, queering binary categories in the Sermon on the Mount and the Song of Songs, imagining Christ who bore both male and female genitalia, and much more.



Fiction


“Between These Walls: A Novel” by John Herrick.

A young Christian man confronts his fears when his secret attraction to men is exposed in “Between These Walls: A Novel” by John Herrick. The author reveals the main character’s experiences in an accessible, neutral way for a mainstream audience. His goals include “to help readers find a friend, especially any readers who might be wrestling the same way the character does,” “to illustrate how hurtful judgment is” and “to show that his attraction to other men is no indicator whatsoever of his love for the Lord,” he said in an interview with the Jesus in Love Blog. Herrick promises a unique ending that allows readers to interpret it however they want. A news report about bullying of a gay teen helped motivate Herrick to write the novel.




“Inclination” by Mia Kerick.

A gay Catholic Korean high school student adopted into an Italian American family falls in love, gets bullied and faces opposition from his church in this young-adult novel by an author who focuses her fiction on the emotional growth of troubled young people.



Fun stuff


“Gay Jesus Cometh” by Alexander Flores.

In this graphic novel, “a messiah named Gay Jesus arrives on earth to save homosexuals from the evils of global homophobia,” according to its official description. The work is the latest installment in “LGBT Bible,” an entertaining comic book series that adds a queer perspective to Biblical stories It was written and illustrated by Pastor Alexander Flores, who was born in Colombia in 1966, raised in New Jersey and currently lives in Los Angeles.



Late Additions

The following are LGBTQ Christian books did not come to my attention until after this list was posted. Please leave a comment if you have more suggestions.  Keep checking back for new updates.


"God and Difference: The Trinity, Sexuality, and the Transformation of Finitude" by Linn Tonstad.

Queer and feminist theory are applied to Christian theology in a critical analysis of trinitarian discourse. The book argues that other theologians are inadvertently promoting gendered hierarchy while using queer theory or affirming same-sex relationships. The author is a theology professor at Yale Divinity School, and affiliate faculty in both Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and LGBT Studies at Yale University.




“Microaggressions in Ministry: Confronting the Hidden Violence of Everyday Church” by Cody J. Sanders and Angela Yarber

Microaggressions are a hot topic now, but this is the first book to look at these subtle insults in ministry and church life. It focuses on the indignities directed at LGBTQ folks, persons of color, and women within Christian contexts, offering realistic examples and guidance. Co-author Cody J. Sanders is pastor of Old Cambridge Baptist Church in Harvard Square, Massachusetts, and co-author Angela Yarber has taught in seminaries since 2006.



2015 bestsellers at Jesus in Love
(ranked by sales, including books published in previous years)

1. “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision” by Kittredge Cherry and Douglas Blanchard. (2014)

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

3. “HomoEros: Meditations on Gay Love and Longing” by John Waiblinger and Chad Mitchell. (2015)

4. “That We Might Become God: The Queerness of Creedal Christianity” by Andy Buechel. (2015)

5. “The Passion of Sergius and Bacchus: A Novel of Truth” by David Reddish. (2014)

6. “A Disreputable Priest: Being Gay in Anti-Gay Cultures” by Ian Corbett. (2015)

7. “Jesus in Love: A Novel” by Kittredge Cherry. (2006)



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Related links:

Top 25 LGBTQ Christian books of 2014 named (Jesus in Love)

Top 20 Gay Jesus books (from Jesus in Love)

Queer Theology book list (from Patrick Cheng)

Jesus in Love Bookstore (includes LGBT Christian classics)

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Image credit: LGBT Christian books with rainbow flag logo by Andrew Craig William


Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/
Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts

Blessed Bernardo de Hoyos: Mystical same-sex marriage with Jesus

November 28, 2015, 8:39 am

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“The Mystical Marriage of Blessed Fr. Bernardo de Hoyos y de Sena, SJ”

By William Hart McNichols © www.fatherbill.org

Blessed Bernardo Francisco de Hoyos y de Seña is an 18th-century Spanish priest who wrote vividly of his mystical gay marriage to Jesus. He was beatified in 2010 and his feast day is tomorrow (Nov. 29).

Bernardo (1711-1735) was 18 when he had a vision of marrying Jesus in a ceremony much like a human wedding. He described it this way:

Always holding my right hand, the Lord had me occupy the empty throne; then He fitted on my finger a gold ring.... “May this ring be an earnest of our love. You are Mine, and I am yours. You may call yourself and sign Bernardo de Jesus, thus, as I said to my spouse, Santa Teresa, you are Bernardo de Jesus and I am Jesus de Bernardo. My honor is yours; your honor is Mine. Consider My glory that of your Spouse; I will consider yours, that of My spouse. All Mine is yours, and all yours is Mine. What I am by nature you share by grace. You and I are one!”
(quoted from “The Visions of Bernard Francis De Hoyos, S.J.” by Henri Bechard, S.J.)

Bernardo’s vision inspired artist-priest William Hart McNichols to paint an icon of Bernardo’s wedding with Jesus.

“I was so taken with this profoundly beautiful account of Jesus’ mystical marriage with Bernardo, including all the symbols of a human wedding,” McNichols wrote.

Bernardo de Hoyos (Wikimedia Commons)

Official Roman Catholic accounts emphasize how Bernardo went on to become “the first apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Spain,” but the church downplays the queer vision that inspired him. Bernardo’s marriage with Christ can justifiably be interpreted as a “gay Jesus” story.

Bernardo spent nine years in the Jesuit formation process and was ordained in January 1735. His pastoral ministry was cut short later that same year when he died of typhus on Nov. 29, 1735. Some call him a “boy saint” because he only lived to be 24. His dying words indicate that he felt the presence of his Spouse Jesus at the end. Bernardo’s last words were, “Oh, how good it is to dwell in the Heart of Jesus!”

After his death Bernardo’s reputation for holiness continued to grow, but church politics slowed his path to sainthood until recently. His beatification ceremony was held in April 2010 in the northwestern Spanish province of Valladolid, where Bernardo spent his entire life.

While the Catholic church refuses to bless same-sex marriages, the lives and visions of its own saints tell a far different story -- in which Christ the Bridegroom gladly joins himself in marriage with a man.

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This article is available in Spanish at:

Beato Bernardo de Hoyos: El matrimonio místico entre personas del mismo sexo con Jesús (Santos Queer)
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This post is part of the LGBT 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.

It is also part of the Queer Christ series series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. The series gathers together visions of the queer Christ as presented by artists, writers, theologians and others.

Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/
Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts

Advent begins today: We seek your Word embodied

November 29, 2015, 8:31 am

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Today marks the first day of Advent, a time of expectant waiting for Christ’s birth.

Let’s celebrate the first Sunday of Advent with an excerpt from “Rite for Advent” by Chris Glaser, published in Equal Rites: Lesbian and Gay Worship, Ceremonies, and Celebrations:

One: The closet may be a fertile place:
creativity bursts out of a lonely hell,
and from a closet fertilized with hope,
the spirit leaps from a monastic cell.

Many: Those born in darkness
have seen life.

One: Out of dark soil sprouts new life,
from darkness springs embodied hope.
Both stretch for the illumination
of the cosmic landscape.

Many: Those born in darkness
have seen life.

One: Dear God,

Many: We seek your Word embodied
in life rooted in fertile darkness.
In life stretching for illumination,
we await your transforming Word.

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Image credit: Advent wreath from All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California by Susan Russell

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Related links:

Advent resources (NGLTF Institute for Welcoming Resources)

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Chris Glaser is a gay Christian minister, activist and author of LGBT spirituality books, including Coming Out to God: Prayers for Lesbians and Gay Men, Their Families and Friends. Here is an excerpt from his “Rite for Advent,” published in Equal Rites: Lesbian and Gay Worship, Ceremonies, and Celebrations:

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This post is part of the LGBT Calendar series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. The series celebrates religious and spiritual holidays, 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.

LGBTQ Christmas gifts and cards

November 30, 2015, 9:04 am

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Want to give a Christmas present that expresses LGBTQ spirituality? Looking for just the right gift or card for a LGBTQ loved one or ally? You don’t even have to be queer to love the innovative icons at TrinityStores.com.

And for the hard-to-please queer who already has everything, check out the Top 25 LGBTQ Christian books of 2015 and the Top 20 Gay Jesus books. Nobody has them all!

Don’t forget LGBTQ Christmas cards. They show two Marys and two Josephs at the manger with the baby Jesus. Right-wing religious blogs attacked the cards, so you know that they must be good! Click to visit the card shop or get info.

Lesbian Nativity

Icons of same-sex couples and queer saints from Trinity Stores appear all year long on the Jesus in Love Blog as part of the LGBT Saints series here at Jesus in Love. They have cards, plaques, T-shirts, mugs, candles, and framed prints with more than 850 images by world-class artists such as Robert Lentz and Lewis Williams. Nine favorites of Jesus in Love readers are shown here.  There are many more, from Joan of Arc to We-Wha of Zuni. Click the titles or click here to visit TrinityStores.com.

       

Sergius and Bacchus; Harvey Milk; and Perpetua and Felicity

From TrinityStores.com

              

Polyeuct and Nearchus; Brigid and Darlughdach; Boris and George

            

Jonathan and David; Hildegard and Richardis; and Wenceslas and Podivan

All icons from TrinityStores.com by Robert Lentz or Lewis Williams

Gay Nativity

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This post is part of the LGBT Holidays series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. The series celebrates religious and spiritual holidays, holy days, feast days, festivals, anniversaries, liturgical seasons and other occasions of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual, gegender and queer people of faith and our allies.

Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/
Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts

AIDS spiritual resources: Art connects Christ, saints and HIV on World AIDS Day

December 1, 2015, 9:00 am

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“Surely He Has Borne Our Griefs and Known Our Sorrows” by Tobias Haller

World AIDS Day on Dec. 1 supports everyone affected by HIV. The day is dedicated to prevention and treatment, and honors those who died of AIDS -- more than 25 million people worldwide. Started in 1988, it was the first global health day for any disease.

A variety of artworks connect AIDS with Christ and the saints. A traditional Jesus wears a red ribbon to show AIDS solidarity in “Surely He Has Borne Our Griefs and Known Our Sorrows” by Tobias Haller. He is an iconographer, author, composer, and vicar of Saint James Episcopal Church in the Bronx. He wrote “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.

Patrons of the AIDS Pandemic by Lewis Williams, SFO
www.trinitystores.com

The icon “Patrons of the AIDS Pandemic” by Lewis Williams shows two pairs of medieval male saints who faced disease epidemics together with friendship and faith. Their man-to-man bonds speak to the gay community, where AIDS has a disproportionately large impact. The couples stand on each side of a chestnut tree, a symbol of life after death.

“It is hoped that they offer solace to companions who have survived a loved one’s death, or to friends\family burdened by the death of two companions,” says the text accompanying the icon.

On the left are 13th-century Franciscans who ministered in an Italian leper colony: Blessed Bartolo Buonpedoni and Blessed Vivaldo. Bartolo got leprosy while caring for the sick, so he had to live in segregated housing. His loyal friend Vivaldo moved into the leper house with him, even though he himself had not contracted the disease. They lived together for 20 years until Bartolo’s death. Today there are effective treatments for leprosy, now known as Hansen’s disease. AIDS has taken its place as a dreaded and stigmatized disease.

On the right stand 14th-century Carmelite monks St.Avertanus and Blessed Romeo, traveling companions who died together of the plague. Avertanus felt inspired to go to Rome, so he got permission to take Romeo with him. They faced rain and snow as they made an adventurous pilgrimage over the Alps from France to Italy. No Italian city would let them in, for an epidemic of plague was raging. Avertanus died first, followed a week later by Romeo. For more info, see our previous post Vivaldo and Bartolo: Love stronger than death for AIDS patron saints.

The icon was painted by New Mexico artist Lewis Williams of the Secular Franciscan Order (SFO). He studied with master iconographer Robert Lentz and has made social justice a theme of his icons.

Station 10 from “Stations of the Cross: The Struggle For LGBT Equality”

 by Mary Button, courtesy of Believe Out Loud

AIDS is connected with the suffering of Christ in the painting of Station 10 from “Stations of the Cross: The Struggle For LGBT Equality” by Mary Button. Jesus is stripped of his garments beside images of the AIDS virus. The round structure of the human immunodeficiency virus forms a halo around Jesus’ head. Jesus being stripped is a scene of loss… and the LGBT community lost thousands of people due to AIDS. Button matches scenes from Christ’s journey to Calvary with milestones from the last 100 years of LGBT history in her LGBT Stations series. For an overview of all 15 paintings in the series, see my article “LGBT Stations of the Cross shows struggle for equality.”

Christ with Ants from the David Wojnarowicz video “A Fire in My Belly”

Another artist who used Christian imagery to express the suffering and holiness of the AIDS experience was David Wojnarowicz. A vocal critic of the church’s silence during the AIDS crisis, he mixed gay imagery with religious symbols from his Roman Catholic childhood. He was a frequent target of the religious right during the culture wars of 1980s. Controversy continued in 2010 when the Smithsonian removed his video "A Fire in My Belly" from exhibit because religious conservatives objected to his use of a crucifix to symbolize AIDS patients. For more info, see my article "Smithsonian censors gay artist when conservatives attack."

World AIDS Day holds great personal meaning for me. I lost many friends to AIDS when I was ministering in the LGBT community of San Francisco in the late 1980s. Back then there were no effective treatments and many gay men were dying of AIDS.

I wrote about some of my AIDS ministry experiences for Christian Century magazine in a now-classic article titled “We Are the Church Alive, the Church with AIDS.” The 1988 article, co-authored with Jim Mitulski, is reprinted in the book The Church with AIDS: Renewal in the Midst of Crisis, edited by Letty Russell.

I still keep a small brick on my desk that says, “We are the body of Christ and we have AIDS.” It is a treasured gift from a friend who lived through those years with me at Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco.

New books continue to be published about AIDS and religion. Two 2015 titles are especially important:


“Religion, Flesh, and Blood: The Convergence of HIV/AIDS, Black Sexual Expression, and Therapeutic Religion” by Pamela Leong. Successful AIDS ministry by one black LGBT congregation in Unity Fellowship is the focus of a rich case study by a sociology professor. She describes how they blend African-American Christianity with the therapeutic ethic of American pop culture. The author focuses on the Los Angeles congregation through field work, interviews and analysis of sermons. Unity Fellowship founder Carl Bean is discussed in depth. Leong is assistant professor of sociology at Salem State University in Massachusetts.


“After the Wrath of God: AIDS, Sexuality, and American Religion” by Anthony M. Petro. The religious history of AIDS in America is examined by a Boston University religion professor. He goes way beyond the usual discussion of the Religious Right to cover a wide range of mainline Protestant, evangelical, and Catholic groups as well as AIDS activist organizations. The author reveals how the AIDS crisis prompted American Christians to start discussing homosexuality, fostering a moral discourse whose legacy includes abstinence education and same-sex marriage. This detailed and discerning history was published by the prestigious Oxford University Press. The section on Metropolitan Community Churches includes the ministry of long-time AIDS survivor Stephen Pieters.

A book released in 2014, "Rebels Rebel: AIDS, Art and Activism in New York, 1979-1989" by Tommaso Speretta, looks at some of the many ways that AIDS sparked the creation of radical art demanding social change.

For those who want to learn about -- or remember -- what it was like, I recommend the 2011 documentary We Were Here. With honesty and grace, the film examines the arrival and impact of AIDS on San Francisco. It focuses on give people who were there before and during the AIDS crisis and has lots of film documenting the LGBT experience in the San Francisco over the decades. For me everyone in the movie looked like someone I knew. ALL the faces were familiar! It seemed like I recognized every face, even though they were strangers. Watching the video is both heartbreaking and inspirational.

A spiritual response it provided by the following AIDS prayer by Diann L. Neu, cofounder and codirector of the Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual (WATER). It was published in Equal Rites: Lesbian and Gay Worship, Ceremonies, and Celebrations:

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One Person: Compassionate Holy One, open our hearts and minds and hands so that we may connect ourselves to the global community of others responding to AIDS as we pray:
We remember all the women, men, and children in this country and around the world who are living with AIDS.

All: Justice demands that we remember and respond.

One: We remember all who care for people living and dying with AIDS in their homes, in hospices, and in support centers.

All: Justice demands that we remember and respond.

One: We remember all who are involved in research and hospital care that they may respect the dignity of each person.

All: Justice demands that we remember and respond.

One: We remember all partners who are left mourning for their beloved ones.

All: Justice demands that we remember and respond.

One: We remember all parents who learn the truth of their children’s lives through their process of facing death….
We remain vigilant,
Until a cure for AIDS is found,
Until those dying with AIDS are comforted,
Until truth sets us free,
Until love drives out injustice.
We shall not give up the fight.
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In memory of: Brian Dose, Rev. Ron Russell-Coons, Scott B, Stephen Clover, Richard O’Dell, Bruce Bunger, Scott Galuteria, Kevin Y, Harold O, Ric Hand, Paul Francis, Rev. Larry Uhrig, Rev. Jim Sandmire, David C, Wayne Mielke, Rev. Dan Mahoney, Bill Knox, Sue H, Tom, Jesse Oden, Jim Veilleux, John from Axios, Robert P, Daven Balcomb, Dave Eckert, Martin Lounsberry, Mark S, David Castagna, Kevin Calegari, Rev. Rick Weatherly, Don K, Michael Mank, David Ward, Rev. Howard Wells, Rev. Howard Warren, Ken Bland, Lanny Dykes, Rob Eichberg, Virgil Hall, Randy Cypherd, Charles Hosley... and all others who lost their lives to HIV and AIDS.

****

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More spiritual resources for World AIDS Day are available at:

World AIDS Day resources (Metropolitan Community Church)

World AIDS Day resources (United Church of Christ)

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Related links:

“We are the Church Alive, the Church with AIDS” by Kittredge Cherry and Jim Mitulski (Christian Century magazine, Jan. 27, 1988:
PDF or html

Christ’s torment and queer suffering: More on Wojnarowicz censorship (Jesus in Love)

Interfaith AIDS Memorial Chapel at Grace Cathedral with Altarpiece by Keith Haring

Confronting Echoes Of The AIDS Hysteria As We Battle Ebola by Irene Monroe

Timeline: 30 Years of AIDS in Black America (PBS)

Santos Avertanus, Romeo, Bartolo y Vivaldo: Patronos de la pandemia del VIH/SIDA (Santos Queer)

Another beautiful artwork supporting people with AIDS is “Il Martir (The Martyr)” by Armando Lopez (pictured at left). For the story behind the painting, see my previous post, “Art honors AIDS martyrs on World AIDS Day.”

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This post is part of the LGBT Calendar series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. The series celebrates religious and spiritual holidays, 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.

Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/
Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts

Patrons of the AIDS Pandemic and many other icons are available on cards, plaques, T-shirts, mugs, candles, mugs, and more at Trinity Stores