Happy Easter from Kittredge Cherry and Q Spirit! See “Jesus Rises” from new Large Passion
Happy Easter! Christ is risen! Rejoice! May the Risen Rainbow Christ light up your life! A modern Jesus boldly rises from the dead, liberating all kinds of people, in a new Easter painting by Doug Blanchard. A rainbow seems to shoot from the clasped hands of...
Day of 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 of Silence, a global student-led protest of anti-LGBTQ name-calling, bullying and harassment. In 2024, it is renamed Day of (No) Silence and set for April 12, 2024. The...
William Dorsey Swann: From slavery to queer freedom in 1880s as America’s first drag queen
Born into slavery, William Dorsey Swann became the first American to lead a queer resistance group, first to self-identify as a “queen of drag,” and first to use the U.S. legal system to defend the queer community. He battled police in a cream satin gown when they...
Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Eberhard Bethge: Anti-Nazi theologians and soulmates
Influential German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was an anti-Nazi dissident whom a few scholars believe experienced same-sex attraction. Speculation about his likely gay orientation focuses on his love for Eberhard Bethge, who was his best friend and biographer....
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Nun who loved a countess in 17th-century Mexico City
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was a 17th-century Mexican nun whose critically acclaimed writings include lesbian love poetry. She is considered one of the greatest Latin American poets, an early advocate of women’s rights, and some say, North America's first lesbian...
“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...
“Choose Life” Easter anthem premieres online with lyrics by Q Spirit founder Kittredge Cherry
An Easter anthem with lyrics by Q Spirit founder Kittredge Cherry and music by composer Thomas Griep makes its online premiere on Easter 2024. Heartfelt lyrics in “Choose Life” express the profound spiritual transformation from grief to joy that Mary Magdalene felt on...
New gay Passion of Christ art makes its Holy Week debut: The Large Passion
A new gay vision of Christ’s Passion makes its Q Spirit debut today. Standing up for justice and love leads to pain, prison, death and ultimately resurrection for a contemporary urban Jesus in new gay Passion of Christ paintings by Doug Blanchard. The New York artist...
2024 brings new LGBTQ Christian books and gifts
New LGBTQ Christian books are being published in 2024, including theology, Bible, history, memoir, church life and spirituality by diverse authors. Q Spirit will present summaries of LGBTQ Christian books released this year, plus lists of titles that are coming soon...
Trans Saints? Early cross-dressing monks and martyrs share similar lives
Early Christian cross-dressing monks are being reclaimed as possible transgender or LGBTQ saints. More than 20 saints share a similar story: They escaped their lives as women and lived as men, joining monasteries or becoming religious hermits. They usually spent the...
Day 8: Jesus rises, appears to Mary and friends, and more (Gay Passion of Christ series)
“I am the resurrection and the life.” -- John 11:25 (RSV) A handsome young Christ in blue jeans leads a joyous jailbreak in “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision,” a series of 24 paintings by Douglas Blanchard. He holds hands with a prisoner as he steps upward, leading...
Day 6B: Jesus dies (Gay Passion of Christ series)
“While the sun’s light failed… he breathed his last.” -- Luke 23:44-46 “Jesus Dies” places Christ’s crucifixion against a 21st-century city skyline in “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision,” a series of 24 paintings by Douglas Blanchard. The art and reflections...
Day 3: Jesus has a Last Supper, prays alone and is arrested (Gay Passion of Christ series)
“And during supper… one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was lying close to the breast of Jesus.” -- John 13:2, 23 (RSV) Friends get together for an intimate dinner in “The Last Supper” from “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision,” a series of 24 paintings by...
Day 1B: Jesus Enters the City on Palm Sunday (Gay Passion of Christ series)
“And when he entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, ‘Who is this?’ And the crowds said, ‘This is the prophet Jesus.’” --Matthew 21:10-11 (RSV) A crowd marches under an arch with a charismatic young man on horseback in “Jesus Enters the City” from...
Gay Passion of Christ blog series starts Palm Sunday at Q Spirit
A gay vision of Christ’s Passion will run during Holy Week here at Q Spirit. Reflections will be posted daily from Palm Sunday through Easter (March 24-31, 2024). All 24 paintings in the original version of Douglas Blanchard’s “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision”...
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 “Transfaith,” “Transforming” and “Transfigured.” International Transgender Day of...
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...
Black Jesus, Latinx Jesus, female Christ and other liberating visions join the gay Passion of Christ
Liberating visions of Jesus as black, Latinx, Native American or female join with the gay Passion of Christ series to help people experience God more fully. “All people are made in God’s image, so it is important to envision Jesus as queer, black, brown, female and...
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,...
Queer water carrier led disciples to Upper Room for Last Supper
A queer person led the disciples to the Upper Room for the Last Supper with Jesus, according to LGBTQ-affirming Bible interpretations. The story of the water carrier will be read at many churches worldwide during Holy Week, but most overlook this gender-variant bit...
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, Sandy 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,...
All-time favorites at Q Spirit
2024 brings new LGBTQ Christian books and gifts
New LGBTQ Christian books are being published in 2024, including theology, Bible, history, memoir, church life and spirituality by diverse authors. Q Spirit will present summaries of LGBTQ Christian books released this year, plus lists of titles that are coming soon...
Top 23 LGBTQ Christian books of 2023 named
Check out the top 23 LGBTQ Christian books of 2023 — including theology, Bible, memoir, church life and history by diverse authors. The list was announced today by lesbian Christian author Kittredge Cherry at Qspirit.net. “Inflation and book bans didn’t stop readers...
Trans Saints? Early cross-dressing monks and martyrs share similar lives
Early Christian cross-dressing monks are being reclaimed as possible transgender or LGBTQ saints. More than 20 saints share a similar story: They escaped their lives as women and lived as men, joining monasteries or becoming religious hermits. They usually spent the...
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. You are invited to donate to Q Spirit for my birthday. Say happy birthday with a contribution and help me promote LGBTQ spirituality!...
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...
LGBTQ Christian cartoons reveal God’s love for all
God’s love for LGBTQ people is revealed at Q Spirit in an ongoing series of cartoons by David Hayward, known as nakedpastor. Prints and other items are available at the Nakedpastor Etsy shop and the Nakedpastor store. Hayward, a Canadian artist, uses gentle humor to...
Gay Passion of Christ blog series starts Palm Sunday at Q Spirit
A gay vision of Christ’s Passion will run during Holy Week here at Q Spirit. Reflections will be posted daily from Palm Sunday through Easter (March 24-31, 2024). All 24 paintings in the original version of Douglas Blanchard’s “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision”...
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...