Calendar of LGBTQ Saints and Holidays
Q Spirit’s Calendar of LGBTQ Saints includes traditional and alternative saints, people in the Bible, LGBTQ martyrs, theologians, authors, activists, artists, spiritual and religious leaders, mystics, humanitarians, deities and other figures of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people of faith and allies. There is a saint for almost every day of the year.
Most saints are listed on the date of their death, in keeping with church tradition. Links lead to articles written by Kittredge Cherry for the LGBTQ Saints series at Q Spirit. Visit the saints page to see them listed by category. Saints without links are still under consideration for future articles. An announcement explains the process and theology behind the calendar. Visit the LGBTQ History page for a calendar of mostly secular figures and events.
LGBTQ saints include, clockwise from top left, Sergius and Bacchus icon from seventh-century Israel, Marsha P. Johnson by Kelly Latimore, Ruth and Naomi by Katy Miles-Wallace, and Joan of Arc by Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres.
Jan. 1 – Robert Nugent, co-founder of New Ways Ministry, died Jan. 1, 2014, at age 76. The Roman Catholic priest was silenced by the Vatican for his work with gay and lesbian Catholics. He was one of the first U.S. Catholic priests to publicly advocate for full inclusion of LGBTQ people in the church.
Jan. 1 – Jim Toy (April 29, 1930 – January 1, 2022) Asian American pioneer for LGBTQ rights in Michigan and Episcopalian whose church activism included serving on Diocesan Commission on Homosexuality in 1971.
Jan. 1 – Police raided a New Year’s Day costume ball held by the Council on Religion and the Homosexual, an early LGBTQ-rights group, in San Francisco on Jan. 1, 1965.
Jan. 4 – Angela of Foligno is a 13th-century Italian mystic who had a female companion and had visions of God and Christ as mother. Her feast day is Jan. 4. After her husband and children died, her “constant and intimate companion” for the rest of her life was a woman named Masazuola. “So great is the love that almighty God has deposited in the two of you that he stands continually over you,” she wrote about their relationship. Angela of Foligno was officially canonized as a Franciscan saint in 2013.
Jan. 5 – Apollinaria / Dorotheos: Queer saint crossed gender line to become a monk in 5th-century Egypt (Jan. 5 is the Episcopal feast day. Sept. 11 in other traditions.)
Jan. 6 – Epiphany: 3 kings or 3 queens?
Jan. 8 – Jeanne Manford: PFLAG founder loved her gay son
Jan. 10 – Jeanne Cordova: Lesbian nun who “kicked the habit” to become an activist
Jan. 10 – Ellen Marie Barrett, now a monastic known as Sister Helena, was ordained as the first openly gay or lesbian Episcopal priest on Jan. 10, 1977.
Jan. 10 – David Bowie: Queer messiah figure of LGBT liberation, music and art
Jan. 12 – Aelred of Rievaulx: Gay saint of friendship
Jan (3rd Monday) Martin Luther King Day, also a time to remember his openly gay advisor Bayard Rustin
Jan. 17 – Homosexual “temptation” came to third-century Egyptian saint Anthony of the Desert, one of the founders of Christian monasticism, in the form of an attractive young man. His name has many variations, including Anthony the Great and Anthony of Egypt. His had a special relationship with a saint known as Paul the First Hermit or Paul of Thebes.
Jan. 17 – Mary Oliver: Lesbian poet, mystic of nature
Jan. 17 – Coptic saints Abraam and George (Gawarga or Ga’orgi) lived together as monks in the Scetes desert wilderness of fifth-century Egypt. It is said that John the Baptist appeared to them and asked them to live together. Theirs may be the only hagiography where a saint appears and commands to men to live together. George and Abraam lived together for the rest of their lives “in a spirit of friendship based on love, encouraging each other.” They are always listed together as companions, and they are buried together. Abraam’s feast day is Jan. 17, and George’s feast day is May 26.
Jan. 18 – Gladys Alberta Bentley (August 12, 1907 – January 18, 1960) Lesbian blues singer who became a minister
Jan. 19 – Macarius of Alexandria (c 300, Egypt) was a desert elder who was in charge of the Skete region with many transgender and/or cross-dressing saints. Jan. 19 is one of his feast days. Icons often show Macarius naked as a way to illustrate how he gave up worldly possessions. This icon of Saint Macarius is attributed to the great medieval Russian iconographer Andrei Rublev.
Jan. 20 – Sebastian: History’s first gay icon
Jan. 23 – Alfredo Ormando (15 Dec 1958 – 23 Jan 1998) Italian gay writer who killed himself outside Saint Peter’s Basilica to protest how church demonizes homosexuality
Jan. 24 – Eusebia / Hospita / Xenia is a fifth-century saint who escaped marriage when she and two “maids” all adopted male identities. Eusebia asked to be called Hospita or Xenia, both names that mean a stranger. They left Rome and after much wandering they built a chapel in Milas (present-day Turkey) where they lived in community with religious women. Eusebia’s feast days are Jan. 24, Jan. 30 and Feb. 6.
Jan. 25 – Paul of Tarsus: Did his homosexuality shape Christianity?
Jan. 26 – David Kato: Ugandan LGBT rights activist (1964-2011)
Jan. 26 – Katharine Bushnell (Feb 5, 1855 – Jan 26, 1946) apparently lesbian Bible scholar
Jan. 29 – Hilaria / Hilarion is a fourth-century Egyptian saint who was raised as the daughter of Emperor Zeno, but transitioned to a male identity and lived in the desert as a monk known as Hilarion the Eunuch. Hilarion helps cast a demon out of his sister, who does not recognize her sibling. Their father objects to their intimacy, so Hilarion reveals the secret to his family and returns to life as a monk. This saint’s feast day is Jan. 29 in the Coptic church.
Jan. 31 – Papula of Gaul, a sixth-century French saint who was beaten for being too religious while being raised as a girl, but escaped to join a monastery in Tours as a man. Gregory, bishop of Tours, praised Papula as “a man among men” (vir into viros) in a 6th-century hagiography. Papula was so virtuous that the other monks chose him as abbot. Papula spent 30 years at the monastery, keeping the secret until three days before dying, when he asked that women prepare his body for burial. Many miracles are said to have occurred at Papula’s tomb.
Jan. 31 – Saints Cyrus and John are a pair of 4th-century Egyptian martyrs whose names are sometimes included in the historic rite of same-sex union, known as “adelphopoiesis” or “brother-making.” Their feast day is Jan. 31. They are described as healers and “wonderworking unmercenaries.” Cyrus was a medical practitioner and John was a high-ranking soldier who left the military to become John’s companion. They were executed together for their faith.
Feb/Mar – Ash Wednesday: Queer martyrs rise from the ashes
Feb. 1 – Brigid of Kildare and Darlughdach: Celtic saint loved her female soulmate
Feb. 2 – Candlemas: Madonna of Montevergine: Patron of LGBTQ people since medieval times
Feb. 3 – African American women Elizabeth Lange and her “good friend” Marie Magdalene Balas were refugees from Haiti who lived together and operated a school for black girls out of their home in Baltimore for ten years from 1817 to 1827. The two women went on to found the oldest Catholic school for African Americans in 1828. They both felt a religious calling. Lange is recognized as the founder of the first order of African American nuns in the United States, the Oblate Sisters of Providence. Lange became mother superior and Balas was one of the original nuns. Lange is on the path to sainthood in the Roman Catholic church after being declared “venerable” by the Pope in 2023.
Feb. 5 – Philip of Jesus (Spanish: Felipe de Jesús) Mexico’s LGBTQ community expressed special affinity for this Mexican Catholic missionary who became one of the 26 Martyrs of Japan in Nagasaki during the 16th century, the first Mexican saint and patron saint of Mexico City, the first North American-born canonized saint.
Feb. 6 – Xenia / Andrei of St. Petersburg: 18th-century widow adopted husband’s identity and became a queer saint and “holy fool” who was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.
Feb. 8 – Jacoba of Settesoli was a friend and follower of Francis of Assisi, who fondly called her “Brother Jacoba.”
Feb. 8 – Feast of Theodore of Tyre and Theodore Stratelates (icon of them holding hands)
Feb. 9 – Hong Tan, AIDS activist, MCC elder and pastor in London, died Feb. 9, 2023.
Feb. 9 – Oscar Cazorla, Mexican LGBT activist who identified as “muxe” murdered Feb. 9, 2019
Feb. 9 – Ibrahim Farajaje: Queer theologian, AIDS activist, interfaith scholar, spiritual leader
Feb. 11 – Pre-Stonewall (1967) protest over police raid of Black Cat gay bar in Los Angeles
Feb 12 – Lincoln’s birthday: Same-sex marriage of Lincoln and Jesus imagined by artist
Feb. 13 – Polyeuct and Nearchus: Brothers by affection
Feb. 14 – Valentine: Marriage equality role model
Feb. 14 – Sally Gross: Intersex South African priest led legal reform after being defrocked
Feb. 16 – Keith Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990). Gay Pop artist and activist whose artwork often addressed homosexuality and AIDS. He emerged from the graffiti subculture of New York City and died of AIDS-related complications on Feb. 16, 1990.
Feb. 18 – Michelangelo Buonarotti (Mar 6, 1475 – Feb. 18, 1564) Italian Renaissance artist
Feb. 18 – Matthew Kelty (Nov 25, 1915 – 18 Feb 2011) priest who came out as gay at age 90, confessor to Thomas Merton
Feb. 19 – Sylvia Rivera: Latina transwoman at Stonewall Uprising
Feb. 19 – Derek Jarman (31 Jan 1942 – 19 Feb 1994), British film queer cinema director of “Sebastiane” and AIDS activist. He was canonized by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in 1991. At the time he “was the most prominent person in the UK living openly with HIV. He was outspoken, radical and unapologetically queer,” reports the Guardian.
Feb. 20 – Marcella Althaus-Reid: Queer theology pioneer
Feb. 20 – Paula Barbada is a sixth-century Spanish saint who dressed as a man, “equipped herself with a sword” and grew a beard to escape sexual assault by a man. Paula escaped into the hermitage of San Segundo in Avila and prayed for God to transform her. When the attacker entered, he perceived Paula as a man and left. Paula lived at the hermitage for the rest of their short life. Paula Barbara is honored locally as a saint.
Feb. 20 – Blessed Peter of Treja and Blessed Conrad of Offida are 13th-century Italian friars who “formed an intimate friendship,” encouraging each other in holiness, virtue and the love of God. Peter’s feast day is Feb. 20 and Conrad’s feast day is Dec. 10.
Feb. 21 – John Henry Newman and Ambrose St. John: Gay saint and his “earthly light” share romantic friendship
Feb. 22 – Andy Warhol: Pop artist inspired by hidden Catholic faith and queer sexuality
Feb. 22 – Robert Earl Carter (July 27, 1927 – Feb 22, 2010), gay Roman Catholic priest and LGBTQ rights activist. Carter became one of the first U.S. Roman Catholic priests to come out as gay after he cofounded the National Gay Task Force in 1973 (later the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force). He saw no contradiction between homosexuality and Christianity.
Feb. 24 – Octavia Butler (June 22, 1947 – Feb. 24, 2006) Black lesbian science-fiction writer whose work included queer characters and African American spiritualism. Her most popular novel is “Kindred,” about a contemporary black woman who is transported back in time to meet her ancestors at a plantation before the Civil War.
Feb. 25 – Avertanus and Blessed Romeo: Monks shown as AIDS patrons
Feb. 27 – Malcolm Boyd: Pioneering gay Episcopal priest
Feb. 27 – Fred Rogers (March 20, 1928 – Feb. 27, 2003), bisexual icon and ordained Presbyterian as well as host of the popular PBS children’s TV show “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.”
Feb. 28 – Peter Gomes: Gay black Harvard minister preached “scandalous gospel”
Mar/Apr – Holy Week: Gay Passion of Christ series with art by Douglas Blanchard
March/ Apr – Queer water carrier led disciples to Upper Room for Last Supper
Mar/Apr – Palm Sunday: Jesus enters the city
Mar/Apr – Easter: Jesus rises
March/ Apr – “Prodigal Son and his husband receive a blessing” and other LGBTQ resources on the Prodigal
March 4 – Rupert of Deutz (1075 – Mar 4, 1130) was a 12th-century German Benedictine monk and theologian who had a mystical homoerotic encounter with Jesus. He wrote, “I took hold of him [Christ] whom my soul loves. I held him. I embraced him. I kissed him lingeringly. I sensed how gratefully he accepted this gesture of love when, between kissing, he himself opened his mouth, in order that I kiss more deeply.” Rupert of Deutz died on March 4, 1129.
March 8 – International Women’s Day: Feminist Forum: International magazine covered women in Japan and the world
March 10 – Anastasia / Anastasius the Patrician of Alexandria is a sixth-century saint who was a lady-in-waiting to an empress before adopting a male identity as a eunuch monk in the Egyptian desert region of Skete. Anatasius lived in seclusion as a desert hermit for 28 years. The gender transition story came out to great acclaim after the saint’s death.
March 11 – Aengus and Maelruan / Óengus of Tallaght (feast day March 11) was devoted to his teacher Máel Ruain (feast day July7) and remembered him as “the great sun on Meath’s south plain.” They are eighth-century Irish saints.
March 12 – Symeon the New Theologian wrote queer spiritual imagery
March 14 – Marielle Franco: Brazilian Afro-Latinx LGBTQ activist fought for human rights
March 15 – Gay centurion: Jesus heals a soldier’s boyfriend in the Bible
March 19 – Sandra Robinson: Black lesbian MCC clergywoman educated and inspired
March 20 – John Boswell: Historian of gays and lesbians in Christianity
March 24 – David J. Templeton (1954 – March 24, 1997) was a Presbyterian minister in Belfast, Northern Ireland who was murdered after being “outed” as a gay man by a local newspaper.
March 25 – Theodore “Ted” Jennings: LGBTQ-affirming Biblical theologian
March 26 – Walt Whitman (May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) Major American poet of transcendent spirituality and sexuality, died on March 26, 1892 at age 72. He is presumed to be homosexual or bisexual. His epic work, “Leaves of Grass,” includes his “Calamus” poems, which celebrate “the manly love of comrades.”
March 27 – Adrienne Rich: lesbian poet with spiritual impulses
March 27 – Patrick X. “Pax” Nidorf (March 25, 1932 – March 27, 2023), O.S.A., founder of DignityUSA. An Augustinian priest and psychologist, he began Dignity in 1969 as a ministry for gay and lesbian Catholics in San Diego, California, and it grew into a national LGBTQ Catholic organization.
March 27 – King James (19 June 1566 -27 Mar 1625) rumored to be gay, commissioned Bible translation
March 27 – Daniel Zamudio became symbol of fight against homophobia in Chile when he was murdered by alleged neo-Nazis. He died on March 27, 2012 at age 24. His death speed up passage of an anti-discrimination law in Chile.
March 27 – Isidore, friend of Sina the soldier, Coptic saints (movable feast)
March 28 – Katherine Lee Bates, (Aug 12, 1859 – Mar 28, 1929) author of “America the Beautiful,” was a lesbian. It is a hymn, not just a patriotic song.
March 29 – Jeanne Deckers (17 October 1933 – 29 March 1985), lesbian Catholic who became famous as “The Singing Nun” or “Sister Smile”(Soeur Sourire) after the 1963 release of the hit song “Dominique,” which led to a blockbuster movie about her life starring Debbie Reynolds. She left the convent and faced financial hardship when the church kept her royalties. Deckers and her life partner Annie Pecher both died in a suicide pact on March 29, 1985.
March 30 – Anne Lister: Historic lesbian church wedding, new TV series and book
March 31 – Transgender Day of Visibility
March 31 – Trans Saints? Early cross-dressing monks and martyrs
March 31 – John Donne (1572-1631), dean of cathedral, wrote one of earliest positive portrayals of lesbian love in English.
Apr/June – Ascension Day: Jesus Returns to God
April, second Friday – Day of Silence: Stop bullying God’s LGBTQ youth
April 3 – Richard, Bishop of Chichester, 1253 (Episcopal), had a deep emotional bond with Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, and insisted on being buried next to the man he loved. This 13th-century British saint was pressured to marry a woman, but never did. He wrote a famous prayer that is the basis for the hit song “Day by Day” from the musical “Godspell”: “Day by day, Dear Lord, of thee three things I pray: To see thee more clearly, Love thee more dearly, Follow thee more nearly.” Richard’s feast day is April 3.
April 5 – Frances Power Cobbe (4 Dec 1822 – 5 April 1904) founded the first animal rights group in England, was an influential figures in the British Unitarian movement, and formed a lesbian relationship with Mary Lloyd, a sculptor who studied with painter Rosa Bonheur.
April 8 – Roberto Gonzalez: Gay pastor brought LGBTQ rights to Argentina
April 9 – Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Eberhard Bethge: Anti-Nazi theologians and soulmates
April 9 – Lesbian rights pioneer Phyllis Ann Lyon (November 10, 1924 – April 9, 2020).
April 12 – William Dorsey Swann: Ex-slave fought for queer freedom in 1880s as America’s first drag queen
April 12 – Chriton Atuhwera, known as “Trinidad Jerry,” LGBTQ Ugandan activist killed by homophobic attack at Camp Kakuma in Kenya.
April 14 – Chusdazat (also known as Azades, Azat or Usthazade), a eunuch in the royal court of Persia in the 4th century, recognized as a saint and martyr in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches
April 14 – Rachel Carson (May 27, 1907 – April 14, 1964) environmentalist, author, likely lesbian
April 14 – Lady Catherine Jones (1672 – 14 April 1740) was an English philanthropist buried with her long-time friend, Mary Kendall (8 Nov 1677 – 4 Mar 1710), inside Westminster Abbey.
April 17 – Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Nun who loved a countess in 17th-century Mexico City
April 20 – Hildegund of Shönau (also called Hildegonde of Neuss) is a German saint who was assigned female at birth but adopted the name Joseph and joined the Cistercian monastery of Schoenau (near Cologne and Heidelberg) as a man. Hildegund/Joseph’s died on April 20, 1188 and has a feast day on April 20.
April 21 – Anselm of Canterbury – “gay bishop” who called Christ and Paul “mother”
April 22 – Earth Day: LGBTQ theologians join in protecting the environment
April 22 – Epipodius and Alexander are 2nd-century French saints and “inseparable friends.” Their feast day is April 22. They were both unmarried young men when they were martyred in Lyon during persecution by Marcus Aurelius. They are considered the patron saints of bachelors. Their relics rest together under the altar of St. John’s Cathedral in Lyon.
April 22 – Hadewijch of Brabant is a 13th-century Beguine who wrote queer mystical poetry. Her feast day is April 22 in the Episcopal church. She wrote about God as both female and male, and described the soul seeking God as a knight in quest of his lady. Some of Hadewijch’s letters are seen as expression same-sex desire for her Beguine sister Sara. The Beguines were a network of medieval women living communally in northern Europe. Their lives were based on religious devotion, but they did not make formal vows or join an approved religious order. Her Episcopal feast day is April 22.
April 22 – Origen of Alexandria is a 3rd-century Christian scholar who is said to have castrated himself. April 22 is the feast day of his father, Leonides of Alexandria.
April 22 – Kukai (774–835), also known as Kobo-Daishi, monk who founded Shingon Buddhism in Japan and introduced monastic homosexuality
April 23 – George the Dragon Slayer of Lydda is considered a queer saint because historical texts use detailed same-sex marriage metaphors to describe him as a “bride of Christ.” George and Demetrius of Thessaloniki are third-century paired military saints who are shown as a male couple in icons.. Some medieval art shows George as androgynous. The feast day for Demetrius is April 9.
April 25 – Bangladesh LGBTQ martyrs: Xulhaz Mannan and Tanay Mojumdar
April 26 – Lesbian Visibility Day celebrated with Christian saints, art, books and resources
April 26 – Yook Woo-Dang: Gay Catholic South Korean poet who died to protest anti-LGBTQ discrimination
April 27 – Christina Rossetti: Queer writer of Christmas carols and lesbian poetry
April 28 – Saints Theodora and Didymus are fourth-century male and female Christian martyrs who exchanged clothes. Their feast day is April 28 in the Roman Catholic Church. This is a rare example of a male saint wearing female clothes. Didymous exchanged clothes with her to help Theodora escape a brothel in Egypt, then revealed himself when a man came to have sex with her. Their story was made into a Baroque opera by George Frideric Handel.
April 29 – Catherine of Siena — (25 March 1347 – 29 April 1380) someone saw vision of her with a beard… and more
May/June – Pentecost: Holy Spirit brings LGBTQ visions
May/June – Trinity Sunday: Holy Spirit blesses same-sex couple
May 1 – Vivaldo and Bartolo: Love stronger than death for AIDS patron saints
May 2 – Leonardo DaVinci (Apr 15, 1452 – May 2, 1519) Italian Renaissance artist loved Salai
May 3 – Madre Juana de la Cruz: Transgender saint of 16th-century Spain?
May 3 – Cornelius Heeney, 18th-century Catholic-Quaker bachelor philanthropist with “many queer ways”
May 4 – George Augustine Hyde (July 2, 1923 – May 4, 2010) founded the Eucharistic Catholic Church in the 1940s. It was the first known U.S. church to openly minister to and with homosexuals.
May 6 – Galla and Benedicta: Queer Roman saints — and lovers? Galla’s feast day is Oct. 5 and Benedicta’s is May 6.
May 8 – Julian of Norwich: Celebrating Mother Jesus
May 9 – Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzus, 4th-century saints who were close like “two bodies with a single spirit.” (Both have multiple feast days.)
May 10 – George Duncan was a gay law professor in Adelaide whose 1972 murder led South Australia to become the first Australian state to decriminalize homosexuality. He died on May 10, 1972 at age 41. Duncan was drowned after being thrown in the river near a popular gay meeting area by a group of men believed to be police officers. He was active in the Anglican church.
May 10 – Kiyoshi Kuromiya (May 9, 1943 – May 10, 2000) Japanese American activist for civil rights and gay liberation.
May 11 – Anna Rochester (Mar 30, 1880 – May 11, 1966) and Grace Hutchins (Aug. 19, 1885 – July 15, 1969) Long-term lesbian couple whose faith led them to become social activists.
May 12 – Jim Sandmire (March 5, 1930 – May 12, 1989), influential early leader of Metropolitan Community Churches and LGBTQ-rights activist, on the anniversary of his death. Raised Mormon, he joined MCC in 1970, just two years after its founding. He was elected elder in 1973, served as treasurer of the denomination, and pastored MCC churches in Los Angeles and San Francisco. He died from AIDS-related causes at age 59.
May 15 – Gloria Anzaldúa: Queer feminist Chicana scholar of spiritual activism
May 15 – Pachomius and Theodore, 3rd century monastic friends who were “like a single man” (also May 9, Episcopal)
May 17 – International Day Against Homophobia
May 17 – Saint Paschal Baylon and Blessed Andrés Hibernón are 16th-century Spanish friars, close companions and likely queer saints.
May 17 – Peter the Sinner (also known as Pere Cirera or Pedro el Pecador) is a little-known folk gay saint who changed his name from Mahoma Mofari and converted from Islam to Roman Catholicism shortly before he was executed for sodomy at Lleida, Spain in 1458.
May 20 – Alcuin of York: Medieval scholar and abbot who wrote homoerotic texts
May 21 – Lydia of Thyatira, an early Christian convert and independent businesswoman in the Bible (Acts 16:14-15) with no husband mentioned, may be lesbian. She was a seller of purple dye, a color with queer connotations. Lydia has many feast days, including Jan. 27 (Lutheran), May 20 (some Orthodox), May 21 (Episcopal) and Aug. 3 (Catholic).
May 21 – Catalina de Cardona / Catherine of Cardona – Nun who dressed as a Carmelite friar and lived as a hermit in 16th-century Spain.
May 21 – Jane Addams, (1860-1935), settlement activist, first American woman to get Nobel Prize.
May 22 – Harvey Milk: LGBTQ rights pioneer stood for equality
May 22 – Langston Hughes (Feb 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967), African American writer, likely gay
May 24 – Rebecca Cox Jackson and Rebecca Perot: Queer black pair founded Shaker religious community in 1800s
May 24 – Stormé DeLarverie: Butch lesbian at Stonewall Uprising
May 25 – Rosa Bonheur: Cross-dressing painter honored “androgyne Christ”
May 25 – Transwomen asylum seekers: Detention led to death for Roxsana Hernandez and Johana Medina
May 26 – Feast day of Coptic saint George (Ga’orgi), who is always listed as the friend or companion of another Coptic saint, Abraam (Abraham), whose feast day is Jan.17.
May 28 – Jeri Ann Harvey (January 3, 1934 – May 28, 2008) pioneering butch preacher, healer and evangelist in Metropolitan Community Churches
May 30 – Joan of Arc: Cross-dressing warrior-saint and LGBTQ role model
June/July – Love between men is celebrated when the story of David and Jonathan is read in many churches for Year B of the lectionary.
June – Pride Month: LGBT flag reveals the queer Christ in Rainbow Christ Prayer
June 1 – Transwomen asylum seekers: Detention led to death for Roxsana Hernandez and Johana Medina
June 2 – Gilbert Baker, creator of Rainbow Flag (June 2, 1951 – March 31, 2017)
June 2 – Phebe Ann Coffin Hanaford, (May 6, 1829 – June 2, 1921) lesbian Universalist minister who left her fundamentalist Baptist husband and lived for 30 years with Ellen Miles.
June 3 – Uganda Martyrs raise questions on religion and LGBTQ rights
June 3 – Canon Clinton Jones (Nov. 8, 1916 – June 3, 2006) pioneering sex counselor, author and LGBTQ advocate out of the Episcopalian Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford for over three decades,
June 6 – Jeremy Bentham: Homosexuality of Jesus explored by 18th-century philosopher
June 7 – Alan Turing: Codebreaker honored in queer spiritual art
June 8 – Elsa Gidlow (29 Dec 1898 – 8 June 1986) Canadian-American poet, nature mystic, philosopher, humanitarian, devotee of Kuan Yin.
June 8 – Gerard Manley Hopkins (July 28, 1844 – June 8, 1889) English poet and Jesuit priest with homosexual inclinations in a repressive culture. I love his poem “Pied Beauty” that begins, “Glory be to God for dappled things…” He preached about the physical beautify of Jesus’ male body. Gerard Manley Hopkins died on June 8, 1889.
June 9 – Columcille (Columba of Iona – June 9) and Cainneach (Kenneth – 11 Oct or 1 or 14 Aug) Sixth-century Celtic saints who were close friends and possibly a same-sex male couple.
June 10 – Queer Puritan clergyman Michael Wigglesworth (Oct. 18, 1631 – June 10, 1705) wrote a coded diary about his struggle with same-sex desire in colonial New England. He pastored a church in Malden, Massachusetts. His diary was decoded and published in book form as “The Diary of Michael Wigglesworth 1653-1657: The Conscience of a Puritan.”
June 10 – Angelina Weld Grimke (Feb 27, 1880 – June 10, 1958) lesbian poet of Harlem Renaissance.
June 11 – Trans activist Andrea Mutz González of Guatemala was killed June 1, 2021 in what some activists have called an “assassination” in Guatemala City. She was 28. Andrea led the trans group Otrans Reinas de la Noche, or Queens of the Night. Another member of the group, Cecy Ixpata, was killed just days before.
June 12 – Pulse Orlando shooting: 50 killed at gay nightclub
June 12 – James Tinney: Black gay professor who founded LGBTQ church in 1982
June 13 – Queer Egyptian activist Sarah Hegazy took her own life at age 30, on June 13 2020, in exile in Toronto, Canada. She was arrested in October 2017 for waving the rainbow flag at a rock concert in Cairo on Sept 22, 2017. She became a symbol of the existence and resistance for the queer community after a photo of her waving the rainbow flag at the concert went viral. She spent three months in detention and was tortured, an experience shared by many queer people in Egypt. In her suicide note, she wrote, “To the world, you’ve been greatly cruel, but I forgive.”
June 14 – John Gray (March 2, 1866 – June 14, 1934) was a Catholic priest whose romantic partner was Marc-André Raffalovich, a wealthy poet and early defender of homosexuality. Many suggest that Gray was the inspiration for Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray character. ritics were scandalized by Wilde’s 1890 novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray.” They condemned it as immoral for its homosexual allusions and decadent theme of a beautiful young man who sells his soul for eternal youth. The main character, Dorian Gray, keeps a hidden painting of himself that ages in his place.
June 16, 2001 – Fred “Frederica” C. Martinez Jr, a two-spirit Native American teenager, was killed on June 16, 2001 at age 16. At the time, he was considered the youngest person to die of a hate crime in the United States, although his killer was not charged with a hate crime. He was a nádleehí, what the Navajo / Diné call a male-bodied person with a feminine nature.
June 17 – Pat Parker (Jan 20, 1944 – June 17, 1989) African American lesbian feminist poet
June 17-18 – Marinos / Marina the Monk: Transgender role model and patron saint
June 19 – Donald Boisvert: Gay theologian, religion professor, author and Canadian Anglican priest
June 21 – Aloysius Gonzaga is a 16th-century Italian saint who is associated with the LGBTQ community as a patron of people with AIDS and their caregivers. His Catholic feast day is June 21, the date of his death. While still a student, the young Jesuit died at age 23 as a result of caring for plague victims. Dozens of LGBTQ people with HIV/AIDS got support from the “Gonzaga Group” hosted by the Church of St. Francis Xavier in New York City for more than a decade. The church still has a side altar dedicated to Aloysius Gonzaga as an AIDS memorial. Some also consider him a queer saint because he renounced the traditionally masculine military career that his aristocratic family tried to force upon him.
June 22 – Paulinus of Nola (353 to 431 AD) bisexual bishop and poet, married to a woman but wrote poetry about an erotic relationship with the male poet Ausonius. Paulinus of Nola is one of three saints who are included in the Penguin Book of Homosexual Verse. (The others are Alcuin and Venantius Fortunatus.)
June 24 – UpStairs Lounge fire: 32 killed in deadly attack on LGBTQ people
June 24 – Hands Around the God Box: Interfaith prayer vigil to end religious homophobia (1994)
June 24 – Ebed-melech is the Ethiopian eunuch who rescued the prophet Jeremiah from dying in a well. Ebed-melech appears in Jeremiah 38:1-13, the daily lectionary reading for June 24 in Year A.
June 25 – Agnes of Moncada / Benjamin de la Cartuja (also known as Inés de Moncada and Inés Pedrós Alpicat) was a 15th-century Spanish saint who switched gender identities from female to male. When she was four years old, Agnes had visions of the baby Jesus. She wanted to devote her life to God, so she escaped a heterosexual marriage planned by her parents, and tried to enter a monastery as a man in the Valencian region of Serra. Rejection followed quickly when Agnes confessed. They made an agreement that the saint-to-be could live in a nearby cave in solitude as a hermit. Under the name Benjamin de la Cartuja, he lived and prayed there for 20 years until death in 1428 on his birthday, June 25. This holy person was not officially canonized, but is referred to as “Venerable.”
June 25 – Mass shooting at Oslo Pride in Norway on June 25, 2022.
June 26 – On June 26, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court gave federal recognition to same-sex couples. The landmark decision came in a case brought by marriage-equality plaintiff Edith “Edie” Windsor (June 20, 1929 – Sept 12, 2017) over inheritance laws after the death of her spouse, Thea Spyer. The Court ruled that federal laws must recognize LGBTQ couples who were married in states where they were allowed to marry.
June 28 – LGBTQ Pride Month: Saints of Stonewall launched liberation movement
June 28 – Clarence Henry Cobbs (Feb. 29, 1908 – June 28, 1979) was an African-American clergyman who founded one of Chicago’s largest churches, the First Church of Deliverance, in 1929. The church welcomed black LGBTQ people and its founding pastor was known to be “that way” himself.
June 28 – Edward Carpenter (29 Aug 1844 – 28 June 1929) early English writer on homosexuality
June 29 – Paul of Tarsus: Did his homosexuality shape Christianity?
June 30 – Ramon Llull (1232-1315) Medieval Spanish intellectual and Third Order Franciscan, wrote “The Book of the Lover and Beloved,” a romance between God and the human Beloved. It is similar to the Biblical Song of Songs, but both the Lover and the Beloved are male. “As male lovers they kiss, hug, cry together, and share a common bed,” reports Kevin Elphick at New Ways Ministry. Llull traveled repeatedly to North Africa and the book was influenced by Sufi mystical tradition, so he is also a bridge to Islam.
July/Aug – Kuan Yin: A queer Buddhist Christ figure
July – Good Samaritan story celebrates loving-kindness between men
July/Aug – Jacob and the angel: Wrestling to reconcile body and spirit
July/Aug – Joseph and the gender-nonconforming Biblical princess coat
July/Aug/Sept – Shulamite in Song of Songs: Gay, lesbian or queer Biblical love poem?
July 1 – Jemima Wilkinson: Queer preacher reborn in 1776 as “Publick Universal Friend”
July 1 – Pauli Murray: Queer saint who stood for racial and gender equality
July 3 – Charity Bryant and Sylvia Drake got together July 3, 1807. They were church leaders and one of America’s first same-sex marriages. Their story is told in “Charity and Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America” by Rechel Hope Cleves.
July 4 – Independence Day: Clergy picketed for LGBTQ equality in 1965-69 Annual Reminder protests
July 6 – Marsha P. Johnson: African American transwoman at Stonewall Uprising
July 8 – Steve Pieters: Gay minister, longtime AIDS survivor, LGBTQ activist and friend
July 8 – Artemisia Gentileschi paints strong Biblical women
July 13 – Frida Kahlo (July 6, 1907 – July 13, 1954), bisexual Mexican painter and queer feminist icon. She is internationally renowned for her surrealistic self-portraits inspired by Mexican culture and her own experiences exploring gender, race, class and chronic pain.
July 14 – Sally Miller Gearhart: Lesbian educator and activist who challenged the church
July 14 – Kateri Tekakwitha (1656-1680), the first Native American to be canonized as a Roman Catholic saint, had a close female friend and companion: Marie-Thérèse Tegaiaguenta. They hoped to start a religious order together. Kateri told Marie-Therese, “I will love you in Heaven!” before she died in her arms at age 24. Kateri is also known as Lily of the Mohawks. Her feast day is July 14 in the United States.
July 15 – Ernestine Eckstein (April 23, 1941 – July 15, 1992) lesbian activist who was one of the only women — and the only black woman — present at early LGBTQ rights protests such as the “Annual Reminder“
July 18 – Caravaggio (28 Sept 1571[2] – 18 July 1610), Italian Renaissance painter of homoerotic religious art.
July 18 – Nancy Ledins (William Griglak) became first transgender Roman Catholic priest in 1979
July 20 – Wilgefortis: Bearded woman
July 21 – Symeon and John: Holy fool and hermit who loved each other
July 21 – Yelena Grigoryeva (1977/1978 – July 21, 2019) Russian LGBTQ rights activist who was murdered
July 22 – David Wojnarowicz: Controversial artist mixed gay and Christian imagery
July 24 – Boris and George: United in love and death
July 26 – Saint Paraskevi, a 2nd-century Roman martyr admired for “her manliness.” She challenged gender norms and had her own public ministry which earned her the title of “apostle.” “Rejoice, for you showed manliness in trials,” says an Eastern Orthodox hymn to her.
July 28 – After the death of Jesus, his Beloved Disciple John may have found new love with a younger man. His companion and scribe was Prochorus, a deacon and bishop whose feast day is July 28 in the Orthodox church.
July 29 – Lazarus: Jesus’ beloved disciple?
July 29 – Martha and Mary of Bethany: Sisters or lesbian couple?
July 29 – Theodosius II, a Roman emperor and Orthodox saint, was in love with a eunuch named Chrysaphius. Theodosius II reigned from 408 to 450 and his feast day is July 29.
July 31 – Patrick Leuben Mukajnga (Mleuben Maccarthy), Ugandan pastor and LGBTQ activist
Aug/Sept – Birthday of Krishna – Krishna: What if Christ and Krishna made love?
Aug. 3 – Cosmas the eunuch and hermit of 6th-century Palestine is honored in the Orthodox church on Aug. 3.
Aug. 3 – Roger Casement (1 Sept 1864 – 3 Aug 1916) – Gay Irish hero and “father of twentieth-century human rights investigations.”
Aug. 8 – Delores Berry: Black lesbian evangelist blessed many with music
Aug. 8 – Hugolina/Hugo (Ugolina/Ugone) of Vercelli / Novaro (1239 -1300, Italy) “disguised herself as a man” and lived as a desert hermit. Her other feast day is Aug. 16.
Aug. 9 – Blessed John of La Verna: Kissed by Jesus
Aug 11 – Clare of Assisi was one of the first followers of Francis of Assisi. He cut her hair in a man’s tonsured style when she joined his male-only religious order and became his partner in ministry.
Aug. 12 – Radclyffe Hall: Queer Christian themes mark banned book “Well of Loneliness”
Aug. 15 – Mary, Diana and Artemis: Feast of Assumption has lesbian goddess roots
Aug. 15 – Ida Gerhardt (1905-1997) Dutch lesbian scholar and poet who translated the Psalms
Aug. 19 – Jose Sarria (Dec. 13, 1922 – Aug. 19, 2013) San Francisco drag queen who founded the Imperial Court and was first out gay candidate for public office in United States in 1961.
Aug. 19 – Federico García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 Aug 1936) Spanish poet and Roman Catholic
Aug. 20 – Bernard of Clairvaux and Malachy: Abbot and the archbishop he loved
Aug. 23 – Rose of Lima, 17th-century gender nonconformist and saint from Peru who cut her hair short to avoid marrying a man but dressed as a bride to meet Mary when she died. She is the first person born in the Americas to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.
Aug. 24 – Bayard Rustin: Gay saint of civil rights and non-violence
Aug. 26 – Black Madonna of Czestochowa becomes lesbian defender Erzuli Dantor
Aug. 27 – Ethiopian eunuch: Early church welcomed queers in Bible story. Aug. 27 is the feast day for Simeon Bachos the Ethiopian eunuch on the Episcopal calendar.
Aug. 27 – Lesbian rights pioneer Dorothy Louise Taliaferro “Del” Martin (May 5, 1921 – August 27, 2008).
Aug. 28 – Augustine of Hippo: Saint who rejected his bisexual past, defended intersex people
Aug. 31 – Aidan of Lindisfarne (590 – 651) and King Oswine of Deira (feast day Aug. 20) – Celtic saints who were close friends.
Sept. 1 – Nurse and humanitarian Lillian Wald (March 10, 1867 – Sept 1, 1940) had romantic friendships with various women — including Mabel Hyde Kittredge. Wald founded the Henry Street Settlement in New York City.
Sept. 2 – Seraphim Rose (Aug 13, 1934 – Sept 2, 1982) Influential Orthodox hieromonk rumored to be gay
Sept. 2 – Mireya Rodríguez Lemus, transgender activist, found murdered in Chihuahua, Mexico on Sept. 2, 2020.
Sept. 5 – John Finch (1626 – 18 Nov 1682) and Thomas Baines (1622 – 5 Sep 1680) have an elaborate shared monument to their “beautiful and unbroken marriage of souls in Christ’s College Chapel in Cambridge, England.
Sept. 7 – Carl Bean: Black LGBTQ church founder who sang “I Was Born This Way”
Sept. 7 – Maurice and Theofredus: Same-sex paired saints and martyrs of Thebes, 3rd-century martyr-saints shown as a pair in 15th-century art. (Also Sept. 22 and Dec. 27)
Sept. 8 – Marymas. Icons of Rainbow Mary are posted in honor of her birthday. They highlight her compassionate connection to the LGBTQ community, evoking both controversy and celebration.
Sept. 8 – Adrian of Nicomedia and his wife Natalia (also known as Andrianus and Anatolia) are 4th-century martyr-saints with a queer aspect. Imprisoned for his faith, Adrian “was forbidden visitors, but accounts state that his wife Natalia came to visit him, dressed as a boy, to ask for his prayers when he entered Heaven,” according to Wikipedia. Hagiographies say that she started a trend.
Sept. 11 – Mychal Judge: Gay saint of 9/11 and chaplain to New York firefighters
Sept. 11 – Mark Bingham: Gay hero of 9/11 died fighting hijackers
Sept. 11 – Protus and Hyacinth were third-century eunuch martyrs from Egypt who were killed on Sept. 11, 258 in Rome for refusing to deny their faith. Their feast day is Sept. 11 in the Roman Catholic church. They worked for another queer saint, Eugenia/Eugenios.
Sept. 15 – John Church, considered England’s first openly gay minister, was ordained on Sept. 15, 1807. He was accused of conducting same-sex weddings for men at a gay bar in London and later convicted and imprisoned for “attempted sodomy.”
Sept. 17 – Hildegard of Bingen and Richardis: Medieval mystic and the woman she loved
Sept. 19 – Susanna / John of Euthereoplis was a deacon and martyr in third-century Palestine who left life as a woman to live as a male monk. (Also Dec. 15.)
Sept. 21 – Henri Nouwen: Author-priest who struggled with his homosexuality
Sept. 21 – Junia / Junias is sometimes called a “transgender apostle” because their name was recorded first as female, then as male (Romans 16:7). Junia appears in Romans 16:7, the daily lectionary reading for Sept. 21 in Year A.
Sept. 22 – John McNeill: Pioneering gay priest who inspired LGBTQ people of faith
Sept. 22 – Tyler Clementi: Gay teen driven to suicide by bullies
Sept. 23 – Thecla of Iconium is a first-century saint who is usually described as a young noblewoman who cut her hair short and dressed as a man to travel and spread the gospel. Thecla’s feast day is Sept. 23 in the Episcopal and Catholic churches. The Apostle Paul himself sent Thecla home to Iconium in present-day Turkey to continue preaching. Thecla gained a huge following and was the most prominent symbol of female empowerment in the early church. Thecla has been called a “transvestite saint and woman apostle.”
Sept. 25 – Virginia Mollenkott: Trailblazing queer theologian and Christian feminist scholar
Sept. 25 – Euphrosyne/Smaragdus of Alexandria: Queer saint crossed gender divide in 5th-century Egypt. Feast day is Jan. 16 in the Roman Catholic church.
Sept. 25 – Celtic saint Findbarr (550 – 620) of Cork had a male soulmate named Eolang of Cork, who is also a saint. Sept. 25 is Findbarr’s feast day, and Sept. 5 is Eolang’s feast day.
Sept. 26 – Syrian physicians Cosmas and Damian are paired male saints who are mentioned in the same-sex union or “brother-making” (adelphopoiesis) rite that was used in the church until the 14th century. Their feast day is Sept. 26. They are usually described as twin brothers, perhaps to hide homosexuality.
Sept. 28 – Wenceslas and Podiven: Good (gay) King Wenceslas loved his page
Sept. 29 – FannyAnn Eddy: Lesbian martyr in Africa
Sept. 29 – Saint Michael the Archangel as a gay icon. His feast day, Michaelmas, is Sept. 29. A good time to consider the story of Jacob wrestling with the angel.
Sept. 29 – WH Auden (21 Feb 1907 – 29 Sept 1973) gay English poet
Sept. 30 – Rumi: Poet and Sufi mystic inspired by same-sex love
Sept. 30 – Jerome, fourth-century saint who translated the Bible into Latin, wrote homoerotic texts, sometimes imagining himself as female. There’s a famous story of him wearing a woman’s dress.
Oct, second Monday – Indigenous Peoples’ Day: Two-spirit Native Americans bridge genders
Oct, third Thursday – Spirit Day: Stand up to bullying of LGBTQ youth
Oct. 1 – Therese of Lisieux, known as “the Little Flower,” 19th-century French saint who used gendered imagery outside norms
Oct. 4 – Gwen Araujo (Feb 24, 1985 – Oct 4, 2002), Latina transgender woman whose murder brought attention and legal changes for transgender justice
Oct. 4 – Francis of Assisi: Queer side revealed for saint who loved creation, peace and the poor
Oct. 5 – Galla and Benedicta: Queer Roman saints — and lovers? Galla’s feast day is Oct. 5 and Benedicta’s is May 6.
Oct. 5 – Brian Wasswa (1991 – Oct. 5, 2019) Ugandan LGBTQ activist murdered
Oct. 6 – Metropolitan Community Churches: Ministering in the LGBTQ community since 1968: Historic MCC photos
Oct. 7 – Sergius and Bacchus: Paired male saints loved each other in ancient Roman army
Oct. 8 – Queer saint Pelagia / Pelagios (or Margaret) the Penitent was a sex worker of 4th- or 5th-century Antioch who converted to Christianity and then moved to the desert and lived as a male hermit in a cave at Jerusalem. People were shocked to discover when Pelagia died that the holy ascetic man had a female body.
Oct. 9 – John Henry Newman and Ambrose St. John: Gay saint and his “earthly light” share romantic friendship
Oct. 9 – Athanasia / Athanasius of Antioch / Egypt was a 6th- to 9th-century Syrian married saint who separated from husband Andronicus to live as a male hermit in the desert. Oct. 9 is the feast day of this queer couple in the Catholic and Orthodox traditions. After 12 years apart, they reunited and lived as ascetics for 12 more years, but Andronicus never recognized his spouse until they were parted by death. A letter from “Father Athanasius” revealed the truth. Official accounts say, “The astonishment of Andronicus, as well as of the other hermits, was beyond description.”
Oct. 10 – Vida Dutton Scudder: Lesbian saint, teacher and reformer
Oct. 11 – Ethiopian eunuch and Philip the Deacon: Early church welcomed queers in Bible story
Oct. 11 – National Coming Out Day: Come out for LGBTQ equality
Oct. 12 – Matthew Shepard: Modern gay martyr and hate-crime victim
Oct. 13 – Théodore Beza (June 24, 1519 – Oct 13, 1605) was a French Calvinist theologian and church reformer who wrote poem about the difficulty choosing between his wife and a male lover named Audebert.
Oct. 15 – Teresa of Avila is a 16th-century Spanish nun and mystic who has been interpreted as lesbian. Her feast day is Oct. 15. She was sent to the convent as a teenager after discovery of an unnamable transgression, which has been interpreted as an intimate relationship with an older woman by multiple sources, including the book “Lesbians in Early Modern Spain” by Sherry Velasco. At the convent she wrote about female imagery for God and her longtime companion was Ana de San Bartolome. Teresa of Avila is the first woman to be declared a “doctor of the church,” a Catholic title for significant saints. Many people associate her with sexuality because of the famously erotic statue “The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa” by Bernini.
Oct. 16 – Mary Daly: Lesbian philosopher who went Beyond God the Father
Oct. 19 – Paul Danei, also known as Paul of the Cross, is a 18th-century Italian saint who envisioned having a mystical marriage with Jesus and being “consumed in love’s pure flame.” His feast day is Oct. 19-20 in the Catholic tradition. He founded the Passionist religious order.
Oct. 21 – Birthday of Kittredge Cherry, founder of Q Spirit, lesbian Christian author and clergy in Metropolitan Community Churches.
Oct. 21 – Ursula is a fourth-century Romano-British saint who avoided heterosexual marriage by travelling with 11,000 virgins. Her feast day is Oct. 21. Some see her as a lesbian saint or patron saint of women’s liberation. This 1450 German painting shows Saint Ursula and her female companions in a boat.
Oct. 21 – Hilma af Klint (1862 -1944), Swedish lesbian spiritualist and the first abstract artist. Inspired by the Theosophical Movement, she merged spiritual and scientific concepts in many of her paintings. Her frequent rainbow images have a contemporary LGBTQ vibe. She even mixed rainbows with Christian iconography.
Oct. 23 – Ignatius of Constantinople (c. 798 – Oct. 23, 877) is a eunuch who is officially recognized as a saint in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. Son of an emperor, he was forcibly castrated to prevent him from claiming the throne. He became Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, the highest position in the Eastern Orthodox church.
Oct. 24 – Harry Hay (April 7, 1912 to Oct 24, 2002), gay rights activist, a founder of Radical Fairies and Mattachine Society.
Oct. 26 – Intersex Awareness Day
Oct. 27 – Allen Schindler: LGBTQ role the military highlighted by murder of gay sailor
Oct. 29 – Anna / Euphemianos the New or Anna of Constantinople is an 8th-century saint who changed from female to male identity after her husband and children died. This saint’s feast day is Oct. 29. Adopting the male name Euphemianos, he joined a monastery and later lived in the wilderness of present-day Turkey.
Nov. (4th Thursday) – Thanksgiving: Richard Sibbes: Queer Puritan theologian for the LGBTQ community?
Nov. 1 – All Saints Day: Why we need LGBTQ saints: A queer theology of sainthood
Nov. 1 – All Saints Day: LGBTQ-friendly memorial for All Saints, All Souls and Day of the Dead
Nov. 3 – Malachy of Armagh: Same-sex soulmate to Bernard of Clairvaux
Nov. 4 – Abib and Apollo, 4th-century Coptic saints in Egypt and close friends at a monastery
Nov. 4 – Saints Vitalis and Agricola are paired male saints and early Christian martyrs from second-century Italy. Agricola, who was beloved for his gentleness, converted his servant, Vitalis, to Christianity and they became deeply attached to each other.
Nov. 8 – Intersex Day of Remembrance (Intersex Solidarity Day)
Nov. 8 – Euphrosyne the Younger / Johannes (c. 854-923) avoided marriage to a man by putting on male clothing, adopting the name Johannes and sailing away on a ship to live as a monk and hermit. After many years this queer saint resumed a female identity, returned to Constantinople and lived as a celebrated wise woman and holy ascetic. This is NOT the same Saint Euphrosyne who adopted the male name Smaragdus.
Nov. 8 – Jean White (1941 – 8 Nov. 2010), pioneering lesbian minister, founder of Europe’s first Metropolitan Community Church in 1972, founding pastor of Metropolitan Community Churches in London, former missionary to China who spearheaded MCC’s global outreach. She was tortured, lost a lung and nearly lost her life when she was imprisoned by the Red Guard for three years during China’s Cultural Revolution of the 1960s.
Nov. 9 – Matrona / Babylas of Perge founded 4th-century convent of nuns who dressed as men
Nov. 10 – Grant-Michael Fitzgerald: Pioneering black gay Catholic brother advocated LGBTQ rights in 1970s
Nov. 11 – Mina, one of the oldest icons shows him as a male couple with Christ placing his arm around him.
Nov. 14 – Michael B. Kelly: Queer theologian, author and “Erotic Contemplative” teacher
Nov. 17 – Dance of the 41 Queers: Police raid Mexican drag ball in 1901
Nov. 17 – Audre Lorde (18 Feb 1934 – 17 Nov 1992), African American lesbian poet
Nov. 19-20 – Club Q martyrs: Five killed in shooting at LGBTQ bar in Colorado Springs
Nov. 20 – Transgender Day of Remembrance
Nov. 23 – Walatta Petros: Ethiopian nun and saint shared a lifetime bond with a female partner
Nov. 24 – Freddie Mercury (1946-1991) gay British singer-songwriter with rock band Queen
Nov. 25 – Yukio Mishima (Jan 14, 1925 – Nov 25, 1970) gay Japanese author
Nov/Dec – Advent: Waiting for the queer face of God
Nov. 27 – Louie Clay: LGBTQ church activist, founder of Integrity, Rutgers professor
Nov. 27 – Harvey Milk: LGBTQ rights pioneer stood for equality
Nov. 28 – Rita Hester (Nov 30, 1963 – Nov 28, 1998), African American transwoman. Transgender Day of Remembrance was founded to memorialize her murder.
Nov. 29 – Blessed Bernardo de Hoyos: Mystical same-sex marriage with Jesus
Nov. 30 – Oscar Wilde: Gay martyr with complex Christian journey recalled in new art
Nov. 30 – Simon Tseko Nkoli was an anti-apartheid and gay liberation activist in South Africa. He died of AIDS on Nov. 30, 1998 at age 41. He and South African lesbian activist Bev Ditsie organized South Africa’s first LGBTQ Pride parade in 1990 as co-founders of GLOW (Gay and Lesbian Organisation of the Witwatersrand).
December – Queer Nativity shows love makes a family
Dec. 1 – World AIDS Day: AIDS spiritual resources connect Christ, saints and HIV
Dec. 1 – James Baldwin (Aug 2, 1924 – Dec 1, 1987) gay African American writer
Dec. 1 – Charles de Foucauld: Saint of the Sahara had gay connections | Canonized May 15, 2022 by Pope
Dec. 3 – Freda Smith: LGBTQ activist, first woman ordained by Metropolitan Community Churches
Dec. 4 – Barbara is a third-century Lebanese saint whose idea of the Trinity raises questions about the gender binary. She is syncretized with the male deity Chango in some Afro-Caribbean religions. Stonewall saint Sylvia Rivera and other members of STAR (the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries) prayed to her.
Dec. 4 – Benjamin Britten (22 Nov 1913 – 4 Dec 1976) English classical composer
Dec. 5 – Christina of Markyate (c. 1096-1160), English anchoress who dressed as a man to escape heterosexual marriage. Feast day was probably Dec. 5.
Dec. 8 – Pavel Florensky and Sergei Troitsky: Russian theologian of same-sex love and his soulmate
Dec. 8 – Tibira do Maranhão: First indigenous gay martyr of Brazil
Dec. 8 – Alana Faith Chen died by suicide at age 24 on Dec. 8, 2019, after years of conversion therapy.
Dec. 10 – Adele Starr and others: Patron saints for straight allies of LGBTQ people
Dec. 10 – Mayte Richardson (8 Feb 1889 – 10 Dec 1963) and Sara Mouer (1895-1959) , United Brethren ministers in Wisconsin who met in seminary and served together as a couple as co-pastors of smalltown churches for 33 years until they retired. They’re buried next to each other with a single headstone.
Dec. 12 – Queer Lady of Guadalupe: Artists re-imagine an icon
Dec. 14 – John of the Cross: Dark Night of a Gay Soul
Dec. 14 – Venantius Fortunatus, Italian bishop and homoerotic poet
Dec. 15 – Beverly Harrison was a feminist theologian who often collaborated with her life partner, lesbian Episcopal priest Carter Heyward. Bev Harrison died on Dec. 15, 2012 at age 80. She taught at Union Theological Seminary for 32 years. They were among the co-authors of “God’s Fierce Whimsy: Christian Feminism and Theological Education,” which helped change theological education by highlighting the experiences of lesbians and women of color.
Dec. 11-17 – Ruth and Naomi: “Whither thou goest” (Love between women in the Bible) They are honored on the Sunday between Dec. 11-17 (Sunday of the Holy Genealogy) in the Orthodox church.
Dec. 24 – Eugenia / Eugenios of Rome is an early Christian martyr who was raised female, became an abbot with a male identity, and was revealed to have a female body after false accusations of adultery. This queer saint’s feast day is Dec. 24-25.
Dec. 24 – Robert Williams (July 21, 1955 – Dec 24, 1992) first out gay Episcopal priest
Dec. 25 – Queer cheer: LGBTQ Christmas highlights
Dec. 25 – Nickie Valdez (Sept. 10, 1940 – Dec. 25, 2020) pioneering lesbian Catholic activist
Dec. 26 – Kwanzaa: Queer black Jesus icon honors African American holiday
Dec. 26 – Desmond Tutu: Anti-apartheid Archbishop who stood for LGBTQ equality
Dec. 27 – John the Evangelist: Beloved Disciple of Jesus
Dec. 28 – American transgender girl Leelah Alcorn died on Dec. 28, 2014 at age 17. Her suicide attracted international attention, helped build the movement to ban conversion therapy, and popularized the phrase “rest in power.”
Dec. 28 – Domna, a pagan priestess and Christian convert, dressed in men’s clothes and fled to avoid persecution with her soulmate and servant, Indes the Eunuch, a pagan priest who converted to Christianity. They helped lead a group of 20,000 martyrs who were executed at Nicomedia (in modern Turkey) under Emperor Diocletian in 303. In the Orthodox church, Domna is recognized as a saint and Indes is honored as a holy martyr. They are honored, along with other martyrs of Nicomedia, on Dec. 28 in the Orthodox church. The Roman Catholic church commemorates the “many holy martyrs” of Nicomedia on June 23.
Dec. 28 – Holy Innocents Day: Queer genocide?
Dec. 29 – David and Jonathan: Love between men in the Bible
Dec. 31 – Bridge of Light: New Year’s Eve celebration with rainbow candles
Dec. 31 – Brandon Teena (12/12/72 – 12/31/93) transgender man whose murder helped lead to hate-crime laws
Dates unknown
No date: Pope Joan – legendary medieval woman who ruled as a male Pope
No date: Mary Ann Willson, folk artist and model for “Patience and Sarah”
No date: Benedette Carlini (1591-1661, Italy) punished for being a lesbian nun
No date: Frances Thompson, died 1876, black transgender freedwoman, anti-rape activist and first transwoman to testify before Congress.
No date: Zozima and Basilisk of Alaska: Orthodox monks in possible romantic relationship
No date: Garry Pye (1947-1990) was the founder of Acceptance, an LGBTQ Catholic ministry in Australia
No date: Charitine – switched to men’s clothing to follow apostle in Acts of Philip
No date: Mariamne – called “Equal of the Apostles,” Jesus tells her to dress as a man to go on a mission with Philip in Acts of Philip.
No date: Lilith, Adam’s first wife, who refuses to be subservient and may have becomes lovers with Eve
No date: Jeremiah, describes his womb and has homoerotic relationship with God
No date: Dinah, conceived male but made female according to Midrash
No date: Jael, a Biblical woman warrior who breaks gender norms. Deborah prophesied that a woman would defeat the army and sang a song extolling Jael’s victory.
No date: Jephthah’s daughter, a Biblical virgin whose last wish was to spend two months wandering in the mountains with her female friends
No date: Judith, a daring Biblical widow who broke gender roles, kills a foreign general, and had a “maid” (lover?) who was her longtime companion
No date: Tiamat / Tehom, earth goddess referenced in the creation story of Genesis
No date: Mordecai breastfed his baby cousin Esther
This list was last updated on Sept 16, 2024.