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 25 saints share a similar story: They escaped their lives as women and lived as men, joining monasteries or becoming religious hermits. Often they were...
Bayard Rustin: Gay saint of racial justice and non-violence
Bayard Rustin was a black gay activist and the genius behind the civil rights movement. He became the chief organizer of the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington where where Martin Luther King gave his historic “I Have a Dream Speech.” A follower of the Quaker faith...
Day of (No) Silence Prayer: Stop bullying God’s LGBTQ youth
A prayer by Q Spirit founder Kittredge Cherry is one of the few religious voices supporting Day (No) of Silence, a global student-led protest of anti-LGBTQ bullying and harassment on April 4, 2025. The annual Day of Silence protest was renamed Day of (No) Silence in...
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 and art will be shared online daily from Palm Sunday through Easter (March 29 - April 5, 2026). All 24 paintings in the original version of Douglas Blanchard’s “The Passion of...
Transgender Day of Visibility celebrated with Christian art, books and resources
Transgender Day of Visibility (March 31) is celebrated at Q Spirit with transgender Christian books, art and other resources. They include trans Christ figures in art and books such as “Trans Biblical,” “Transfaith,” “Transforming” and “Transfigured.” International...
Anne Lister had historic lesbian church wedding in 1834
Historical lesbian Anne Lister married Ann Walker on March 30, 1834 at Holy Trinity Church in York, England. It is considered the first recorded lesbian wedding in the history of Britain and perhaps even the world. Her wedding anniversary falls right before the...
Adrienne Rich: lesbian poet with spiritual impulses
Adrienne Rich was a lesbian feminist with spiritual impulses and one of the most influential poets of the 20th century. She died on March 27, 2012 at age 82. Her writing was a guiding light to me and countless others, both people of faith and secular readers. The...
Theodore “Ted” Jennings: LGBTQ-affirming Biblical theologian
Theodore “Ted” Jennings is a Chicago Theological Seminary professor who wrote “The Man Jesus Loved” and other landmark books affirming queer people the Bible. He died on March 25, 2020, at age 77 after suffering a stroke. Theodore Wesley Jennings Jr. was born Oct. 24,...
“Prodigal Son and his husband,” “Prodigal Transgender Daughter” and other LGBTQ resources on the Prodigal
“Prodigal Son and His Husband Receive a Blessing” and “The Prodigal Transgender Daughter” are among new resources that reveal LGBTQ-positive meanings in the well-known Bible story. The parable of the Prodigal child from Luke 15 will be read at many churches worldwide...
Sandra Robinson: Black lesbian MCC clergywoman educated and inspired
I celebrate the life of my mentor and friend Rev. Dr. Sandra Robinson of Denton, Texas. She passed away March 19, 2023, from COVID at age 74. She is survived by her wife of 30 years, Janai Buentello. As a clergywoman in Metropolitan Community Churches, Robinson headed...
John Boswell: Historian of gays and lesbians in Christianity
John Boswell was a Yale professor who revealed centuries of LGBTQ Christian history in groundbreaking books such as “Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality” and “Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe.” John Eastburn “Jeb” Boswell was born on March 20, 1947,...
2026 brings new LGBTQ Christian books
New LGBTQ Christian books are being published in 2026, including theology, Bible, history, memoir, church life and spirituality by diverse authors. Q Spirit presents summaries of LGBTQ Christian books released this year, plus lists of titles that are coming soon or...
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...
Marielle Franco: Brazilian LGBTQ activist fought for human rights
Marielle Franco was a queer Afro-Latina Brazilian politician and LGBTQ activist who fought for human rights. She was assassinated on March 14, 2018. Franco identified as bisexual. She and her partner, Mônica Tereza Benício, were planning to marry later that year....
Symeon the New Theologian wrote queer spiritual imagery
Symeon the New Theologian was an influential 10th-century monk who used homoerotic imagery to describe human connections with God. His feast day is March 12. He lived in Galatia (modern-day Turkey). Some scholars suggest that he was a eunuch, based on his writings and...
Feminist Forum: International magazine covered women in Japan and the world
“Feminist Forum: Feminism in Japan and the World” was an influential international monthly magazine covering women in politics, culture, religion and language. It was produced in Tokyo from 1979-86 and became a rare source of news on lesbians in Japan. Audrey...
Perpetua and Felicity: Patron saints of same-sex couples, early Christian martyrs and friends to the end
Perpetua and Felicity are 3rd-century North African paired saints who were executed together for their Christian faith. Some consider them lesbian saints or patrons of same-sex couples. Transgender people also draw inspiration from Perpetua because she had a queer...
Gay saint John Henry Newman and his “earthly light” Ambrose St. John shared romantic friendship
John Henry Newman, a 19th-century British scholar, theologian and cardinal, was canonized by the Pope as a Roman Catholic saint in 2019 amid widespread speculation that he was gay. Newman’s feast day is Oct. 9 in the Roman Catholic church, Feb. 21 in the Episcopal...
Peter Gomes: Gay black Harvard minister preached “scandalous gospel”
Peter Gomes was a gay black Baptist minister at Harvard and one of America’s most prominent spiritual voices for tolerance. He came out in 1991 and used his national celebrity as a “gay minister” to make the religious case for LGBTQ people, even though he reportedly...
Malcolm Boyd: Pioneering gay Episcopal priest who ran with Jesus
Malcolm Boyd is a pioneering gay Episcopal priest, activist and author who died at age 91 on Feb. 27, 2015. His best-known book is “Are You Running with Me, Jesus?” a collection of conversational prayer-poems with a million copies in print. The 1965 classic includes...
Saint Avertanus and Blessed Romeo: Monks shown as AIDS patrons
Saint Avertanus and Blessed Romeo are 14th-century French monks, traveling companions and “patrons of the AIDS pandemic” who died together of the plague and share the same coffin. They can also provide inspiration during other public health emergencies, such as the...
Andy Warhol: Pop artist inspired by hidden Catholic faith and queer sexuality
Pop artist Andy Warhol kept his homosexuality hidden and his Christian faith even more secret. The truth is coming out since his death on Feb. 22, 1987. Warhol is famous for painting Campbell's soup cans, but he made hundreds of other works, including avant-garde...
Ash Wednesday: Queer martyrs executed for homosexuality rise from the ashes
(Trigger warning: violience.) On Ash Wednesday queer martyrs rise from the ashes as Q Spirit recalls the thousands who were executed for homosexuality throughout history. Many executions were fueled by religion-based hate. This is not just a historical issue. The...
Marcella Althaus-Reid: Queer theology pioneer
Marcella Althaus-Reid was a queer theologian who sparked controversy and opened minds with books such as “Indecent Theology” and “The Queer God.” Born and raised in Argentina, she became the first woman appointed to a chair in the School of Divinity at the University...
Sylvia Rivera: Latina transgender woman at Stonewall Uprising
Sylvia Rivera was a Latina transgender woman activist and one of those credited with starting the Stonewall Rebellion that propelled the LGBTQ liberation movement forward. She was a founding member of the Gay Liberation Front, which sprang up quickly in 1969 as a...
All-time favorites at Q Spirit
Top 22 LGBTQ Christian books of 2025 named
Check out the top 22 LGBTQ Christian books of 2025 — 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. “Creativity was this year’s hottest...
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 25 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 2025 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 and art will be shared online daily from Palm Sunday through Easter (March 29 - April 5, 2026). All 24 paintings in the original version of Douglas Blanchard’s “The Passion of...
Black Jesus, Latinx Jesus, Asian 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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| The Passion of Christ:
A Gay Vision
Meet Jesus as a gay man in a modern city "Accessible but profound" |
Art That Dares
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| Art That Dares:
Gay Jesus, Woman Christ, And More
By Kittredge Cherry Packed with color art by 11 contemporary artists "An amazing, disconcerting, and sacred book" |
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