Last Updated on March 23, 2024 by Kittredge Cherry
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).
Jesus Enters the City
All 24 paintings in the original version of Douglas Blanchard’s “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision” will be posted here with commentary by Kittredge Cherry, prayers and short Bible passages.
The paintings present Jesus as a contemporary gay man in a modern city as he lives out the dramatic events of Palm Sunday, the Last Supper, and his arrest, trial, crucifixion and resurrection. The art and reflections are also available as a book and prints. Blanchard has also painted a new version, and the original paintings are available for purchase.
The Holy Week posts are timed so that Christ dies on Good Friday and rises again on Easter itself. Blanchard’s images show Jesus being jeered by fundamentalists, tortured by Marine look-alikes and rising again to enjoy homoerotic moments with God and friends. He stands up to priests, businessmen, lawyers, and soldiers—all of whom look eerily similar to the people holding those jobs today. His surprisingly diverse friends join him on a journey from suffering to freedom.
Click the titles below to view individual paintings and text in the series.
1. Son of Man (Human One) with Job and Isaiah
2. Jesus Enters the City
3. Jesus Drives Out the Money Changers
4. Jesus Preaches in the Temple
5. The Last Supper
6. Jesus Prays Alone
7. Jesus Is Arrested
8. Jesus Before the Priests
9. Jesus Before the Magistrate
10. Jesus Before the People
11. Jesus Before the Soldiers (warning: violence)
12. Jesus Is Beaten (warning: violence)
13. Jesus Goes to His Execution (warning: violence)
14. Jesus Is Nailed to the Cross (warning: violence)
15. Jesus Dies
16. Jesus Is Buried
17. Jesus Among the Dead
18. Jesus Rises
19. Jesus Appears to Mary
20. Jesus Appears at Emmaus
21. Jesus Appears to His Friends
22. Jesus Returns to God
23. The Holy Spirit Arrives
24. The Trinity
Donate now to the 2024 Palm Sunday/Holy Week offering to support this series
Get more info on Blanchard’s new Large Passion series or see all 20 new paintings.
The format is similar to the traditional Stations of the Cross, but it includes many different scenes and resurrections appearances.
Blanchard, a gay painter based in New York, and Cherry, a lesbian author and art historian in Los Angeles, have turned this series into a book. “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision” with Blanchard’s paintings and Cherry’s text.
Why a gay Passion of Christ is needed
“We are sharing the gay Passion series to make Christ more accessible to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer people and our allies,” said Cherry, founder of Q Spirit and Jesus in Love. The projects promote artistic and religious freedom by supporting LGBTQ spirituality and the arts. “Christ’s story is for everyone, but queer people often feel left out because conservatives use Christian rhetoric to justify hate and discrimination,” she said. A video combines the paintings with her talking about why they are important.
The gay Jesus himself appears surprisingly approachable in Blanchard’s art. “Christ is one of us in my pictures,” Blanchard writes in the book’s introduction. “In His sufferings, I want to show Him as someone who experiences and understands fully what it is like to be an unwelcome outsider.”
Theologian Robert Shore-Goss includes an analysis of Blanchard’s gay Passion of Christ in his 2020 book “Unlocking Orthodoxies for Inclusive Theologies: Queer Alternatives.” He appreciates how the series “incarnates the indecent outsider crucified by the church” and becomes “an affirmation of the theo-dynamics of same-sex sexuality in Jesus and God.” He also wrote about it in his article “Queering Jesus: LGBTQI Dangerous Remembering and Imaginative Resistance” in the spring 2021 Journal for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies.
Readers call it “accessible but profound”
The gay Passion of Christ series is popular with readers, who call it “accessible but profound.” Here are other typical comments:
“I just wish I had experienced this kind of queer-positive Christianity when I was a teen struggling with both my sexuality and my religion as a whole.”
— Matt Leary, Dover, PA
“I can’t go through Holy Week without recalling many of these images. They depict the Holy Week that is in my heart.”
— Elisa Lucozzi, associate pastor, Saint Johnsbury, VT
“As a heretic Christian turned Buddhist, I was moved to tears by your artistic vision.”
–John Gish, retired teacher, Key West, FL
“I love these paintings not just for how ‘radical’ they are, but for how much I see them as being absolutely in line with traditional Christian understandings of Christ and of Easter.”
— CJ Barker, activist, Marin County, CA
The book is lavishly illustrated with color images of all 24 paintings in the gay Passion of Christ series.
The book is “transformative in the most profound sense of the word,” says Michael Bronski, Harvard professor of gender and sexuality. “Whether you are religious or not, it is impossible to read ‘The Passion of Christ’ without having your basic beliefs shaken and expanded.”
LGBTQ religious leaders also praise the book. “I was deeply moved by this retelling of the Easter story,” says Rev. Troy Perry, founder of Metropolitan Community Churches. Soulforce founder Rev. Mel White calls it “an amazing read,” Rev. Patrick Cheng welcomes it as “a beautiful work of contextual theology,” and Rev. Chris Glaser describes it as “a great contribution.” Mary Hunt of the Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual declares, “The divine leaps from these pages into open hearts.”
The Last Supper appears on the cover of the new paperback and Kindle versions. The crucifixion appears on the cover of the hardcover and original paperback versions. The new editions were released in August 2021.
Blanchard painted a second gay Passion of Christ series
After the success of his first gay Passion of Christ paintings, artist Doug Blanchard began a second series on the same subject in 2016. The completed set of 20 paintings was exhibited for the first time in September 2023 at the Revelation Gallery at St. John’s in the Village in New York City.
The new series features a darker, racially indeterminate Jesus who lives in a monochrome world. “I’m making the contrast between pre- and post-Resurrection even more stark this time,” Blanchard explained. Scenes are painted in full color after Jesus rises from the dead.
Announcement for 2023 Passion exhibit
Almost all the new paintings are available for purchase (as of March 23, 2024), and so are a few paintings from the original series. For more info, contact Kittredge Cherry at Q Spirit or the Passion book website.
Compared to the first series, the new paintings are larger and on canvas instead of wood panels. Therefore the first series is now known as the Small Passion of Christ, while the second series is called the Large Passion of Christ. This follows the precedent set by German Renaissance artist Albrecht Durer, who also created series known as the Large Passion and the Small Passion. Blanchard’s Small Passion consists of vertical images painted on 18-by-14 inch wooden panels. His Large Passion paintings are 26-inch squares on canvas.
One aspect that didn’t change was the progressive gay perspective.
“I basically began with the idea of gay and minority people actually having the literal experience of being despised and rejected and have walked that Via Dolorosa all the way to its fatal end quite literally in a way that perhaps a lot of other people have not,” said on a video introduction to the series. A second video shows Blanchard commenting on each individual painting as he walks through the gallery.
“Jesus Prays Alone (The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision),” original (left) and new versions by Doug Blanchard
He posted an in-depth essay about the second gay Passion of Christ series on his blog in September 2020, including all of the paintings that were completed at that time. He posted an updated set of all the new Passion paintings in August 2023.
Get more info on the new series or see all 20 new paintings on Q Spirit.
Bringing the gay Passion to homes and churches worldwide
Many people bring the gay Passion series into their own homes and churches through prints. Here is a selection of photos of how people are displaying the gay Passion around the world.
An Australian retreat for LGBTIQ Catholics featured the Passion book — and an original painting.
The Passion book — and an original painting from the series — were featured at a retreat in Australia on June 1, 2019. “LGBTIQ and Catholic: Gifts for Life” was held near Sydney and drew participants from across New South Wales. The day of reflection and hope was organized by Acceptance Sydney in partnership with Rainbow Catholics InterAgency for Ministry. The photo shows “Jesus Preaches in the Temple” standing before an altar that holds the book open to a page with the same painting.
“Jesus Rises” hangs to the right of the altar at a worship service in St. Petersburg, Russia
Russians used “Jesus Rises” from the gay Passion series at a worship service in St. Petersburg, Russia. It was celebrated in May 2019 by the local branch of the Association of Christian Eucharistic Communities (Ассоциации Христианских Евхаристических общин). The ACEC officially accepts LGBTQ people, including same-sex marriage and ordination of LGBTQ priests.
Candles flicker before “Jesus Dies,” creating a prayerful mood in a photo by Scott Sella. All 24 images are available as high-quality prints.
Easter lilies and other flowers surround “Jesus Rises” in a photo by Scott Sella. All 24 images are available as high-quality prints.
Reproductions of the Passion paintings are available as greeting cards and high-quality giclee prints in a variety of sizes and formats online at Fine Art America. They also appear on mugs, t-shirts, phone cases, notebooks, tote bags and a variety of other products. Cards are 5″ by 7″ and are blank inside, but a customized message can be added.
Each of the Passion pictures is oil on wood panel, measuring 18 inches by 14 inches. Some originals are available for purchase.
Author Kittredge Cherry with the original “Jesus Rises” painting by Doug Blanchard
Gay Passion of Christ sparks controversy
The gay vision of Christ’s Passion often sparks controversy and criticism. Right-wing Christians condemned their book as an “abomination,” “disgusting” and “an outrage to mock Christ in this manner.” Hate mail threatened the artist and author with hellfire and occasionally even physical violence. A typical negative comment on the Passion book’s Facebook page charged, “You are blasphemers to even suggest or hypothesize about Jesus being gay.”
Facebook repeatedly canceled ads for the book because it was too “shocking” and “scary” as well as “adult material” and “pornography.” When the LGBTQ community protested, the social media company reversed its decision and “resurrected” the ad.
Four times the rejected ads were approved on appeal, generating international headlines such as Facebook u-turns to allow gay Jesus crucifixion ad (Gay Star News). A round-up of news articles in English and nine other languages is posted on the Passion book website.
“The paintings and the book that I wrote about them have been attacked as blasphemy by conservative Christians,” Cherry says. “But we refuse to concede Jesus to those who act like they own the copyright on Christ, then use him as a weapon to dominate others. The gay Passion of Christ is intended to broaden, not limit how Jesus is perceived.”
For more on the controversy, see Rejection of LGBT Christian Ads Shows Limits of Social Media at Huff Post.
Alt-right upset when Father James Martin tweets gay Jesus art
A firestorm of right-wing extremist attack articles by Breitbart News and others erupted in November 2019 when Vatican consultant James Martin of New York, a prominent Jesuit priest, tweeted the Passion painting of Jesus driving out the money changers. In writing about the artwork, Martin urged, “Be zealous in the defense of others, especially the poor and marginalized, and all those who are defenseless.”
Far-right Catholic website LifeSiteNews accused led the charge with headlines blaring, “Fr. James Martin touts blasphemous image of Jesus as a homosexual.” The article accused Martin, Cherry and Blanchard of creating and promoting “blasphemous homoerotic works depicting the life of Jesus as if he were a gay man” and condemned the LGBTQ movement as “the most grave satanic threat to the Church today.” The diatribe quotes extensively from Cherry’s “appallingly offensive” book that “veers far from the immutable Truth.”
Then Breitbart News, the voice of the alt-right with 4 million readers, escalated the drama with an article headlined, “LGBT Jesuit Priest Showcases ‘Gay Jesus’ Art.”
Tweets by James Martin, Nov. 25, 2019
“Right-wing attacks won’t stop me from sharing art that affirms LGBTQ people as part of God’s good creation,” Cherry pledged. “Q Spirit shows the work of contemporary LGBTQ religious artists along with classic art — even if conservatives disapprove.”
Dozens of supporters urged Cherry and Blanchard to “keep up the good work,” with Facebook comments such as, “Outraging all the right people” and “It’s high praise to be criticized by bigots. And it’s Divine when religious bigots clutch their pearls at the simplest expressions of liberation.”
Martin is a Jesuit priest, New York Times bestselling author and editor-at-large of the Jesuit magazine America. Pope Francis appointed him as a consultant to the Vatican’s Secretariat for Communications in 2017. He has angered conservatives before by supporting LGBTQ people, especially when he wrote the book “Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity.”
For more on this controversy, see Q Spirit’s previous article Famed Jesuit priest James Martin tweets gay Jesus art — and upsets alt-right media.
About the author and artist
Kittredge Cherry and Doug Blanchard at the gay Passion of Christ exhibit in Taos, New Mexico, in 2007
Kittredge Cherry was ordained by Metropolitan Community Churches and served as its National Ecumenical Officer, advocating for LGBTQ rights at the National Council of Churches and World Council of Churches. In 2005 she created Jesus in Love to support LGBTQ spirituality and the arts and show God’s love for all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. It has grown to include a popular blog and e-newsletter. She earned degrees in journalism and art history from the University of Iowa, and a master of divinity degree from Pacific School of Religion.
The New York Times Book Review praised Cherry’s “very graceful, erudite” writing style. She has written seven books, including “Equal Rites: Lesbian and Gay Worship, Ceremonies, and Celebrations
Selections from Blanchard’s Passion also appear in “Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ, and More
The book was launched in May 2007 with an exhibit at JHS Gallery in Taos, New Mexico. The completed Passion series was displayed together there for the first and only time in a group exhibit titled “Who Do You Say That I Am? Visions of Christ, Gender, and Justice.” Blanchard’s series became the show’s superstar, with almost half of the 24 panels in his series getting snapped up by collectors. Now they are scattered all across the world.
Douglas Blanchard teaches art and art history at the Bronx Community College of the City University of New York. He was confirmed in the Episcopal Church in 1982 and remains an active Episcopalian and self-described “very agnostic believer.” He earned a BFA in painting from the Kansas City Art Institute, an MA in art history from Washington University in St. Louis, and an MFA cum laude from the New York Academy of Art. His art is exhibited and collected worldwide.
He spent four years painting the gay Passion. He started in summer 2001, but it took on new meaning on Sept. 11 when hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center near his studio on New York’s Lower East Side. He used the series to grapple with his own faith struggles as a New Yorker who witnessed the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Cherry and Blanchard discuss the Passion paintings together in a 2019 Pride Month podcast by Karl’s Kavern on the Deviant Legion Network. They also cover queer theology, religious art history, the role of art in spirituality and much more.
Black Jesus, Latinx Jesus, female Christ and other liberating visions
Viewing different versions of Christ’s Passion can free people to experience God in new ways. 
All people are made in God’s image, so it is important to envision Jesus as queer, black, brown, female and every other human category. The struggle for LGBTQ equality intersects with movements for racial, economic, environmental and gender justice. More info and images are posted at: https://qspirit.net/black-latinx-jesus-passion/
The gay Jesus in Blanchard’s original Passion series is white, and the artist is working on a second Passion series with a dark-skinned, racially indeterminate Jesus. Other artists have created many kinds of Christ figures, including Black, Latinx, and Native American. Pictured here is “The Stations of the Cross: The Resurrection,” copyright 2013 Janet McKenzie. www.janetmckenzie.com Used with permission.
Links related to the gay Passion of Christ
*Advocate.com: “Artist Doug Blanchard’s haunting contemporary paintings of the Passion of Christ are an emotional reminder of the courage it takes to resist the powers that be.”
Artist Mark Allyn creates Pride outfit based on gay Passion of Christ (YouTube)
Popular Passion paintings reunited
Two of the most popular Passion paintings resurfaced in 2021 after their whereabouts was unknown for many years. Now “Jesus Before the People” and “The Trinity” are in the collection of Kittredge Cherry and her spouse, Audrey Lockwood. She had already received “Jesus Rises” as a gift from Blanchard years ago. So three painting are now reunited.
Kittredge Cherry is delighted to be reunited with paintings from the beginning, middle and end of the Passion series. (Photo by Audrey Lockwood.)
“I always regretted not buying those two Passion paintings when I had the chance. They were two of the best, most powerful paintings in the whole series,” Cherry said. “I thought I had missed the opportunity of a lifetime. It seemed too good to be true when a mysterious person contacted us last summer wanting to return them — but the miracle was real. I got a second chance.”
An unknown collector purchased them at the Taos exhibit in 2007. Cherry and Blanchard were like detectives following various clues and doing an investigation as they tried to track down his name for the Passion book in 2014. Finally Cherry managed to speak to a collector named Norman Fox on the phone. He confirmed that he owned “The Trinity,” but he couldn’t recall his other Passion painting, so the mystery remained unsolved. Efforts to contact him again went nowhere.
Out of the blue, in summer 2021, the heir to Fox’s estate contacted Cherry and Blanchard with the goal of returning the two paintings. He revealed that Fox was a beloved friend who died two years earlier. “I would like them in a home that will spiritually identify closer to the subject matter. I miss Norman very much. We both loved the pursuit of art and travelled to Taos very often where these pieces came from originally…. I plan to take some of Norman’s ashes up there soon since he loved it up there too,” he said.
Arrangements were made and he shipped the paintings one at a time into the loving arms of their new home. “Holding the paintings was like a glimpse of heaven,” Cherry said. “I spent so many years writing about these images of Jesus, and finally I could touch them with my very own hands.”
Cherry thought it might be overwhelming to live with three paintings from the Passion series hanging in her home. “But it feels great to have a set of three with the beginning, middle and end scenes,” she said. “What a blessing!”
Other LGBTQ versions of Jesus and his Passion
Set amid the Passion narrative, Carpenter Josef of Nazareth is homosexual in the novel “The Father, the Son and the Slave” by Canadian screenwriter Christopher Grant. The plot revolves around the relationships of three men: the closeted homosexual carpenter Josef; his young Nubian slave, Metlip; and his estranged son, Iesu, who returns home to find out if Josef is really his father. The answer impacts Iesu’s plan to change the world — a world that Josef depends upon to hide a life-long secret that could mean his death. The discord also provokes Metlip’s rebellion. Independently published in 2021.
LGBTQ experience is united with the events of Christ’s Passion in “Search Me: A Way of the Cross in Solidarity with the LGBTQ Community” by John T Kyler. For each station, this resource for reflection guide offers prayers, scripture and a personal testimony by an LGBTQ individual. The author has a master’s degree from Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary in Minnesota and works in parish faith formation and campus ministry. Published by Clear Faith Publishing, 2021.
“At the Cross” by Kittredge Cherry tells the story of Jesus’ erotic, mystical adventures in first-century Palestine, this time all the way to his untimely death, his miraculous resurrection, and beyond. Jesus has today’s queer sensibilities and psychological sophistication as he lives out his mythic story. Published in 2008 by AndroGyne Press.
“Stations of the Cross: The Struggle for LGBT Equality” by Tennessee artist Mary Button links the crucifixion of Jesus with the history of LGBTQ people. She matches each traditional Station of the Cross with a milestone from the past century of LGBTQ history, including Nazi persecution of homosexuals, the Stonewall Rebellion, the assassination of gay politician Harvey Milk, the AIDS pandemic, ex-gay conversion therapy, the murder of transgender Rita Hester, the ban on same-sex marriage, and LGBT teen suicides. Blog version of “Stations of the Cross: The Struggle for LGBT Equality” by Mary Button with commentary by Kittredge Cherry.
Video version with British Sign Language interpretation by the Open Table Network, LGBTQ-affirming network of churches across England and Wales, also with commentary by Kittredge Cherry.
Rainbow Christ-Sophia art for Holy Week by Jeremy Whitner
“Ecce Homo Corona: A Queer Moderne Journey Through Lockdown in Melbourne 2020” by Australian author Eureka (Michael James O’Hollaran)
Excerpts from “Jesus in Love: At the Cross” by Kittredge Cherry
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Top image credit:
“The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision” by Douglas Blanchard on display at JHS Gallery in Taos, New Mexico in 2007 (Photo by Dorie Hagler)
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This post is 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.
This article was originally published on Q Spirit in April 2017, was corrected and expanded with new material over time, and was most recently updated on March 23, 2024.
Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
Qspirit.net presents the Jesus in Love Blog on LGBTQ spirituality.
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