May 1-15 Archives

Celebrate 39th anniversary of “beautiful couple” Kittredge and Audrey’s same-sex wedding

by Kittredge Cherry | | Calendar, May 1-15

Q Spirit founder Kittredge Cherry and her spouse Audrey Lockwood are celebrating 39 years since their same-sex church wedding in 1987. They invite you to view pictures from throughout their decades together, listen to the song about them as a “Beautiful Couple,” and...

Hildegard of Bingen and Richardis: Medieval mystic and the woman she loved

by Kittredge Cherry | | May 1-15, Saints, Sept 15-30

Hildegard of Bingen was a medieval German mystic, poet, artist, composer, healer and scientist — and likely lesbian. She loved another nun named Richardis and wrote with ecstasy about the Virgin Mary. She celebrated God’s green web of life as “viriditas.” Her...

Mychal Judge: Gay saint of 9/11 and chaplain to New York firefighters

by Kittredge Cherry | | May 1-15, Saints, Sept 1-15, Top saints

Mychal Judge, chaplain to New York firefighters and unofficial “gay saint,” died helping others in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. He was the first recorded victim of 9/11. A popular Franciscan priest during his lifetime, he rose to...

Ascension Day: Jesus Returns to God (Gay Passion of Christ series)

by Kittredge Cherry | | Calendar, May 1-15, Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision

Celebrate Ascension Day with a painting of Christ embraced by a winged man in “Jesus Returns to God,” the most controversial image in Doug Blanchard’s gay Passion of Christ series. This year Ascension Day is May 14, 2026. Christian tradition emphasizes that the...

Gloria Anzaldúa: Queer feminist Chicana scholar of spiritual activism

by Kittredge Cherry | | May 1-15, Saints

Gloria Anzaldúa is an influential queer Latina feminist scholar whose spirituality often gets overlooked. She died on May 15, 2004 at age 61. One of the first openly lesbian Chicana writers, she grew up in Texas near the U.S.-Mexico border. In school she was punished...

Saints Basil and Gregory Nazianzus: “Two bodies with a single spirit”

by Kittredge Cherry | | May 1-15, Saints

Influential fourth-century saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzus were so close that Gregory said they were like “two bodies with a single spirit.” Their example of love between men can be an inspiration for LGBTQ people and allies today. The pair is...

Julian of Norwich: Celebrating Mother Jesus

by Kittredge Cherry | | May 1-15, Saints

Julian of Norwich is a medieval English mystic who celebrated “Mother Jesus” and had important relationships with women. Her feast day, May 8, always falls near Mother’s Day in the United States. She wrote some queer ideas about God, had a long-time female...

Madre Juana de la Cruz: Queer saint of 16th-century Spain

by Kittredge Cherry | | May 1-15, Saints

Madre Juana de la Cruz Vázquez Gutiérrez was an abbess in 16th-century Spain who insisted that God changed her gender in the womb, transforming her from male to female. She dressed as a man to escape her family and join a community of religious women. Her feast day...

Medieval holy men Vivaldo and Bartolo: Love stronger than death for AIDS patrons

by Kittredge Cherry | | May 1-15, Saints

A pair of medieval holy men faced disease together with a love that speaks across the centuries to the LGBTQ community and all people in the age of COVID-19, AIDS and Ebola. Thirteenth-century Franciscans Blessed Bartolo and Blessed Vivaldo ministered in an Italian...