John T. Graves: Black gay clergyman was founding president of nation’s first LGBTQ group in 1924 (Society for Human Rights)
John T. Graves was a black gay clergyman and first president of the Society for Human Rights, the oldest documented LGBTQ-rights organization in the United States. It was founded 100 years ago in 1924 in Chicago. Graves’ historic role proves that the LGBTQ-rights...
Top 24 LGBTQ Christian books of 2024 named
Check out the top 24 LGBTQ Christian books of 2024 — including theology, Bible, memoir, church life and history by diverse authors. The list was announced today by lesbian Christian author Kittredge Cherry, founder of Qspirit.net. “Literary books were this year’s...
Matthew Shepard: Modern gay martyr inspired hate-crime laws
Matthew Shepard is a modern gay martyr whose unusually cruel murder in October 1998 got international attention and inspired laws against anti-LGBTQ hate crimes. He was a 21-year-old openly gay student at the University of Wyoming at the time. [Update: The Washington...
Gay centurion: Jesus heals a soldier’s boyfriend in the Bible
Jesus praised a gay centurion in the Roman army as a model of faith and healed his male lover in the gospels, according to some Bible experts. The centurion’s story has gotten surprisingly little attention throughout history considering that Jesus himself was...
Queer cheer for Christmas: Make the Yuletide gay
Find queer cheer in this round-up of LGBTQ Christmas highlights from the Jesus in Love Blog at Q Spirit. Clicking the headlines below for queer Christmas songs, a gay baby Jesus, love between good King Wenceslas and his page, lesbian Madonnas, carol composer Christina...
Queer Nativity scenes show love makes a family
I create my own queer Nativity scenes for the Christmas season. One has two Marys at the manger with the baby Jesus, and the other features two Josephs with the Christ child. I put Mary with Mary and Joseph with Joseph—just like putting two brides or two grooms on top...
John of the Cross: Dark night of a gay soul honored in art and poetry
“The Dark Night of the Soul,” a spiritual classic with homoerotic overtones, was written by 16th-century Spanish mystic Saint John of the Cross, also known as San Juan de la Cruz. His feast day is Dec. 14. It always near the winter solstice, the longest night of the...
Gay and lesbian Nativity cards and ornaments available
Gay and lesbian Nativity scenes are available on Christmas cards and ornaments now at the Q Spirit / Jesus in Love Store. What if the child of God was born to a same-sex couple? Because, after all, LOVE makes a family, including the Holy Family. The images are true to...
Queer Lady of Guadalupe: Artists re-imagine an icon
Our Lady of Guadalupe brings a message of holy empowerment that speaks to LGBTQ people -- and angers Christian conservatives. Queer art based on Guadalupe is shown here for her feast day today (Dec. 12). She is an Aztec version of the Virgin Mary that appeared to...
Adele Starr and others: Patron saints for straight allies of LGBTQ people
After her son came out in 1974, Adele Starr helped launch the group that became PFLAG, formerly known as Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. She overcame her negative perceptions about homosexuality to become an unflagging champion for LGBTQ rights...
Tibira do Maranhão: First indigenous gay martyr of Brazil
LGBTQ activists in Brazil launched a campaign for the sainthood of Tibira do Maranhão, the first gay martyr of Brazil. The indigenous man was baptized and then executed for sodomy by French missionaries on Dec. 8, 1614. Tibira is the first documented case of a person...
Pavel Florensky and Sergei Troitsky: Russian theologian of same-sex love and his soulmate
Pavel Florensky was a Russian Orthodox priest and scientist who wrote a groundbreaking theology of same-sex love in the early 20th century. He was executed on Dec. 8, 1937 on false charges as part of a Soviet anti-religious campaign. Florensky (1882-1937) is...
Freda Smith: LGBTQ activist, first woman ordained by Metropolitan Community Churches
Freda Smith was a pioneering lesbian pastor, LGBTQ activist and the first woman ordained in Metropolitan Community Churches. She died on Dec. 3, 2019, at age 84 after suffering a stroke. She was known for her memorable speeches advocating for and affirming women and...
Charles de Foucauld: Saint of the Sahara had gay connections | Canonized May 15, 2022 by Pope
Charles de Foucauld was a French priest and desert hermit in early 20th-century Algeria who had gay connections. He is one of 10 new saints canonized by Pope Francis on May 15, 2022. His feast day is Dec. 1. Sometimes called the saint of the Sahara, he created the...
AIDS spiritual resources: Art and books connect Christ, saints and HIV on World AIDS Day
AIDS spiritual resources for World AIDS Day include prayers, artwork, books, and icons such as patron saints of the AIDS pandemic and Jesus wearing a red ribbon. They are presented here for World AIDS Day, Dec. 1. More than 40 years have passed since AIDS was first...
Advent: Waiting for the queer face of God
Advent celebrates the mystery of the Word made flesh -- an important concept in queer spirituality. A favorite Advent theme for lesbian artists is Mary and her female lovers, sometimes with references to the virgin birth and its and its similarity to artificial...
Trans Saints? Early cross-dressing monks and martyrs share similar lives
Early Christian cross-dressing monks are being reclaimed as possible transgender or LGBTQ saints. More than 20 saints share a similar story: They escaped their lives as women and lived as men, joining monasteries or becoming religious hermits. Often they were...
Transgender Day of Remembrance: Spiritual resources
Transgender Day of Remembrance (Nov. 20) commemorates those who were killed due to anti-transgender prejudice. Spiritual and religious resources that affirm transgender people are presented here. The annual event serves the dual purpose of honoring the dead and...
Club Q martyrs: Five killed in shooting at LGBTQ bar in Colorado Springs
Five people were killed in a mass shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Nov. 19-20, 2022. Police identified the dead as Daniel Davis Aston, 28; Kelly Loving, 40; Ashley Paugh, 35; Derrick Rump, 38; Raymond Green Vance, 22. At least...
Dance of the 41 Queers: Police raid Mexican drag ball in 1901
Police arrested 41 people at a Mexico City drag ball known as the Dance of the 41 Queers in a notorious police raid on Nov. 17-18, 1901. Now the Dance of the 41 is being reclaimed by the LGBTQ community, and same-sex marriage is legal in Mexico City. Cross-dressing...
Pauli Murray: Queer saint who stood for racial and gender equality
Human rights champion and queer saint Pauli Murray is a renowned civil rights pioneer, feminist, author, Episcopal priest and lawyer whose legal arguments were used in landmark Supreme Court decisions outlawing racism and sexism. Murray was arrested and jailed for...
Harvey Milk: LGBTQ rights pioneer stood for equality
Pioneering LGBTQ rights activist Harvey Milk is the first and most famous openly gay male elected official in California. His birthday (May 22) is a state holiday. He has been called a martyr for LGBTQ rights -- and for all human rights. “If a bullet should enter my...
Oscar Wilde: Gay martyr with complex faith journey recalled in art
Oscar Wilde is a 19th-century Anglo-Irish writer whose reputation as a gay literary martyr and LGBTQ role model often overshadows his spiritual journey as a follower of Christ and Anglican convert to Catholicism. He died on Nov. 30, 1900, after a deathbed conversion....
Blessed Bernardo de Hoyos: Mystical same-sex marriage with Jesus
Blessed Bernardo Francisco de Hoyos y de Seña is an 18th-century Spanish priest who wrote vividly of his mystical gay marriage to Jesus. This queer saint was beatified in 2010 and his feast day is Nov. 29. On Nov. 28, 2020, Q Spirit presented a new,...
Louie Crew Clay: LGBTQ church activist, founder of Integrity, Rutgers professor
Louie Crew Clay was a longtime LGBTQ church activist who founded of the Episcopal LGBTQ group Integrity in 1974. He died on Nov. 27, 2019 at age 82, peacefully at a hospital in Newark, New Jersey, with his husband by his side, a few days after suffering a stroke. As...
Richard Sibbes: Queer Puritan theologian for the LGBTQ community?
Richard Sibbes was a 17th-century English Puritan who never married, nurtured close male friendships, wore extravagantly lacy clothing and preached a rather queer theology. Puritans have a (somewhat undeserved) reputation for being distinctly puritanical, but Sibbes...
Walatta Petros: African nun and saint with a female partner in 17th-century
Walatta Petros is a 17th-century Ethiopian nun and saint who had an intense lifelong friendship with another nun and led a successful movement to drive out foreign missionaries. Her feast day is Nov. 23. Her biography, written by her disciples just 30 years after her...
Books discuss Kittredge Cherry from many viewpoints
A wide variety of books discuss Q Spirit founder Kittredge Cherry’s work as an LGBTQ minister, activist and author. This bibliography covers eight books that address her work in the context of history, theology and worship. “When I began putting together a...
Michael B. Kelly: Queer theologian, author and “Erotic Contemplative” teacher
Michael Bernard Kelly was an internationally renowned queer theologian, author, educator, activist, retreat leader and spiritual counselor based in Melbourne, Australia. He died on Nov. 14, 2020 at age 66. He is best known as creator of the “Erotic Contemplative”...
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Nun who loved a countess in 17th-century Mexico City
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was a 17th-century Mexican nun whose critically acclaimed writings include lesbian love poetry. She is considered one of the greatest Latin American poets, an early advocate of women’s rights, and some say, North America's first lesbian...
Grant-Michael Fitzgerald: Pioneering black gay Catholic brother advocated LGBTQ rights in 1970s
Grant-Michael Fitzgerald was an openly gay African American Roman Catholic brother who advocated for LGBTQ rights in the 1970s and ‘80s. He was diagnosed with AIDS and died in a Wisconsin hospice on Nov. 10, 1986 at age 39. Renowned black gay professor and minister...
Queer saint Matrona / Babylas of Perge founded 5th-century convent of nuns who dressed as men
Saint Matrona of Perge, who lived as a eunuch named Babylas, founded a convent where nuns dressed as men in 5th-century Constantinople. The feast day of Matrona / Babylas is Nov. 9. Nuns under the leadership of Matrona / Babylas were granted a unique privilege by the...
Thomas(ine) Hall: Intersex in colonial America
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...
Malachy of Armagh: Same-sex soulmate to Bernard of Clairvaux
Malachy of Armagh is an 11th-century Irish saint who died in the arms of his more famous soulmate, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. Their monastic community honored the male couple as “two stars of such surpassing brightness” and a “twofold treasure.” Bernard showered...
Litany of Queer Saints
LGBTQ saints and martyrs are remembered in the Litany of Queer Saints from Q Spirit. The prayer was created by Q Spirit founder Kittredge Cherry. She also wrote a major essay on why we need LGBTQ saints. Both traditional and alternative saints are featured. It is a...
Why we need LGBTQ saints: A queer theology of sainthood
It’s time to welcome the queer saints. Many believe that saints and other souls will visit for Halloween, All Saints Day, All Souls Day, and Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos). The LGBTQ saints are important because people are searching for alternative ways to lead...
LGBTQ Christian cartoons reveal God’s love for all
God’s love for LGBTQ people is revealed at Q Spirit in an ongoing series of cartoons by David Hayward, known as nakedpastor. Prints and other items are available at the Nakedpastor Etsy shop and the Nakedpastor store. Hayward, a Canadian artist, uses gentle humor to...
All-time favorites at Q Spirit
Top 24 LGBTQ Christian books of 2024 named
Check out the top 24 LGBTQ Christian books of 2024 — including theology, Bible, memoir, church life and history by diverse authors. The list was announced today by lesbian Christian author Kittredge Cherry, founder of Qspirit.net. “Literary books were this year’s...
Top 23 LGBTQ Christian books of 2023 named
Check out the top 23 LGBTQ Christian books of 2023 — including theology, Bible, memoir, church life and history by diverse authors. The list was announced today by lesbian Christian author Kittredge Cherry at Qspirit.net. “Inflation and book bans didn’t stop readers...
Trans Saints? Early cross-dressing monks and martyrs share similar lives
Early Christian cross-dressing monks are being reclaimed as possible transgender or LGBTQ saints. More than 20 saints share a similar story: They escaped their lives as women and lived as men, joining monasteries or becoming religious hermits. Often they were...
Litany of Queer Saints
LGBTQ saints and martyrs are remembered in the Litany of Queer Saints from Q Spirit. The prayer was created by Q Spirit founder Kittredge Cherry. She also wrote a major essay on why we need LGBTQ saints. Both traditional and alternative saints are featured. It is a...
Why we need LGBTQ saints: A queer theology of sainthood
It’s time to welcome the queer saints. Many believe that saints and other souls will visit for Halloween, All Saints Day, All Souls Day, and Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos). The LGBTQ saints are important because people are searching for alternative ways to lead...
Kittredge Cherry: Christianity inspired me to come out as a lesbian
I am celebrating my birthday on Oct. 21 by re-posting this reflection on my coming-out story and life journey as a lesbian Christian. During my birthday month, I try to appreciate my own accomplishments and reflect on my dreams for the future. My 2024 birthday wish:...
Rainbow Christ Prayer: LGBTQ flag reveals the queer Christ
Colors of the LGBTQ rainbow flag reveal the many faces of the queer Christ in the following Rainbow Christ Prayer by lesbian Christian author Kittredge Cherry and gay theologian Patrick S. Cheng. The Rainbow Christ Prayer honors the spiritual values of the LGBTQ...
Gay Passion of Christ blog series starts Palm Sunday at Q Spirit
A gay vision of Christ’s Passion will run during Holy Week here at Q Spirit. Reflections will be posted daily from Palm Sunday through Easter (March 24-31, 2024). All 24 paintings in the original version of Douglas Blanchard’s “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision”...
Black Jesus, Latinx Jesus, female Christ and other liberating visions join the gay Passion of Christ
Liberating visions of Jesus as black, Latinx, Native American or female join with the gay Passion of Christ series to help people experience God more fully. “All people are made in God’s image, so it is important to envision Jesus as queer, black, brown, female and...
Queer Nativity scenes show love makes a family
I create my own queer Nativity scenes for the Christmas season. One has two Marys at the manger with the baby Jesus, and the other features two Josephs with the Christ child. I put Mary with Mary and Joseph with Joseph—just like putting two brides or two grooms on top...
Sign up: Free newsletter on LGBTQ spirituality and the arts
You are invited to sign up for a free subscription to the monthly Q Spirit newsletter on LGBTQ spirituality and the arts from Jesus in Love. The e-newsletter covers LGBTQ saints and the queer Christ, with an...
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Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision
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Litany of Queer Saints- Ruth and Naomi: Biblical women who loved each other
Queer Nativity scenes show love makes a family
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Trans Saints? Early cross-dressing monks and martyrs…