May 15-31 Archives

Saint Francis rejoiced when all-female Trinity called him “Lady Poverty”

by Kittredge Cherry | | May 15-31, Saints

Francis of Assisi, one of the world’s best loved saints, rejoiced when an all-female Trinity greeted him as “Lady Poverty” in a queer experience that has been buried. The subversive vision has been ignored, sanitized and perhaps suppressed for centuries, even though...

Joan of Arc: Cross-dressing warrior-saint and LGBTQ role model

by Kittredge Cherry | | May 15-31, Saints, Top saints

Joan of Arc was a tough cross-dressing teenage peasant who led the medieval French army to victory at age 17. Joan is a queer icon, girl-power hero and patron saint of France. Her belief that God was the source of her — or their or his — gender-bending...

Rosa Bonheur: Cross-dressing painter honored “androgyne Christ”

by Kittredge Cherry | | Artists, May 15-31, Saints

Rosa Bonheur, the most famous female painter of the 19th century, was a queer cross-dresser who honored what she called the “androgyne Christ.” She had two consecutive long-term relationships with women. Her 200th birthday is March 16, 2022. She died on May 25, 1899....

The Two Rebeccas: Queer black pair founded Shaker religious community in 1800s

by Kittredge Cherry | | May 15-31, Saints

Preacher Rebecca Cox Jackson and her longtime companion Rebecca Perot were queer African American women who founded a Shaker religious community in Philadelphia in the 1800s. Known as “the two Rebeccas,” they lived together as ministry partners for more than 30 years...

Stormé DeLarverie: Butch lesbian at Stonewall Uprising

by Kittredge Cherry | | May 15-31, Saints

Stormé DeLarverie was a biracial butch lesbian “drag king” entertainer and one of those credited with starting the Stonewall Rebellion that launched the modern LGBTQ liberation movement. She died on May 24, 2014 at age 93. The LGBTQ people who resisted police at the...

Harvey Milk: LGBTQ rights pioneer stood for equality

by Kittredge Cherry | | May 15-31, Nov 16-30, Saints

Pioneering LGBTQ rights activist Harvey Milk is the first and most famous openly gay male elected official in California. His birthday (May 22) is a state holiday. He has been called a martyr for LGBTQ rights — and for all human rights. “If a bullet should...

Alcuin: Medieval scholar and abbot who wrote homoerotic texts

by Kittredge Cherry | | May 15-31, Saints

Alcuin of York was an 8th-century English scholar and abbot who served as advisor to Emperor Charlemagne and wrote homoerotic poetry and letters. His feast day is May 20 in Episcopal and other Anglican churches. Called “the most learned man anywhere to be found,”...

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

by Kittredge Cherry | | Calendar, May 15-31, 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 29, 2025. Christian tradition emphasizes that the...

Prayer for International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia

by Kittredge Cherry | | Calendar, May 15-31

Q Spirit presents a prayer for International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia on May 17. The prayer was written by Q Spirit founder Kittredge Cherry. Founded in 2004, IDAHOBIT celebrates sexual and gender diversities and raises awareness of LGBTQ...