Last Updated on January 12, 2024 by Kittredge Cherry
Q Spirit launches its new online calendar of LGBTQ saints today.
It features more than 300 traditional and alternative saints, milestones in LGBTQ history, Christian liturgical seasons and other items of special interest to LGBTQ people and allies. The calendar can be viewed at: https://qspirit.net/calendar/
“People keep asking for it, so today I am launching a calendar of LGBTQ saints at Q Spirit,” said Q Spirit founder Kittredge Cherry. “It is still a work in progress with a lot more research required, but people need the queer saints now!”
She originally built this calendar as a private to-do list for her own use. She used it to keep track of all the possible LGBTQ saints that she encountered through research and ideas from readers.
Queer saints are precious and hard to find
“I began to feel like I was sitting on a gold mine because I couldn’t keep up with researching and writing about the many queer saints that came to my attention,” she explained. “Finally I realized that I must stop hoarding all these names and facts. I decided to share my to-do list of saints now because the history of queer saints is precious and hard to find.”
She hopes that publishing the calendar will inspire others to follow the clues, do their own research and be uplifted by new saints.
“Studying and sharing the LGBTQ saints has taught me that different saints speak to particular people. I am sure that there are saints on this list who are eagerly waiting to connect with the specific readers who feel drawn to them,” she said.
The calendar will continue to grow and change. Many saints have links to full profiles written by Cherry for the Q Spirit blog. Saints without links are still under consideration for future articles, with more research needed. Readers are welcome to send suggestions.
Remembering LGBTQ saints is a sacred duty
Cherry has been blogging about queer saints since 2009 when she launched the LGBTQ Saints series. Originally she hoped to write complete profiles of every saint before adding them to the online calendar. She still aims to do profiles of every LGBTQ saint, but she decided to release the calendar in advance as a work in progress.
“Remembering our queer faith history and passing it on is a sacred responsibility that shapes the future,” Cherry said.
One reason that she delayed releasing the list until now was because it was hard to draw the line for who to include. Is one queer incident in the life of a famous saint enough to qualify them for the LGBTQ saints calendar? Do self-hating queers belong?
Who belongs on the LGBTQ saints calendar?
Being on the LGBTQ Saint list means that a person is of special interest to the LGBTQ community, but it’s often impossible to confirm the actual sexual orientation or gender identity of historical figures.
“I continue to wrestle with questions of who to put on the LGBTQ saints calendar,” Cherry said. “When it was my private to-do list, I could easily add everyone who looked likely. Now I am more careful.”
Before launching the calendar, she also made an effort to build a balanced, diverse list and to name all of the most popular figures.
As a special service to readers, Cherry included every possible officially canonized queer saint, no matter how obscure, in any church tradition. Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Anglican, Orthodox, Coptic and other saints are all on the calendar. Most saints are listed on the date of their death (and entry into eternal life), in keeping with church tradition.
Even though the series is called LGBTQ Saints, it is not mere hagiography. “I want to show their full humanity, flaws and all. The queer saints were not perfect, but they do show us how people before us tried to lead loving lives while struggling with issues of faith, same-sex love and gender nonconformity,” Cherry said.
The LGBTQ saints with links are also listed on the Saints page in categories such as: traditional Christian saints and Biblical figures, alternative saints and martyrs, theologians, writers, church leaders, activists, pioneers and artists.
Cherry explains more about her theology of queer sainthood in her essay, “Why we need LGBTQ saints.”
Books related to LGBTQ saints
Passionate Holiness: Marginalized Christian Devotions for Distinctive People by Dennis O’Neill
The Double: Male Eros, Friendships, and Mentoring–from Gilgamesh to Kerouac by Edward Sellner
Sanctity And Male Desire: A Gay Reading Of Saints by Donald Boisvert
Clothes Make the Man: Female Cross Dressing in Medieval Europe by Valerie R. Hotchkiss
Links related to LGBTQ saints
Why we need LGBTQ Saints by Kittredge Cherry
Litany of Queer Saints from Q Spirit
LGBTQ Saints Facebook group from Q Spirit
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Top image credit:
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.
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This post is part of the LGBTQ Saints series by Kittredge Cherry. Traditional and alternative saints, people in the Bible, LGBT and queer martyrs, authors, theologians, religious leaders, artists, deities and other figures of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people and our allies are covered.
Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
Qspirit.net presents the Jesus in Love Blog on LGBTQ spirituality.
