Saints Archives - Q Spirit

John T. Graves: Black gay clergyman was founding president of nation’s first LGBTQ group in 1924 (Society for Human Rights)

by Kittredge Cherry | | Dec 1-15, Saints

John T. Graves was a black gay clergyman and first president of the Society for Human Rights, the oldest documented LGBTQ-rights organization in the United States. It was founded 100 years ago in 1924 in Chicago. Graves’ historic role proves that the LGBTQ-rights...

John the Evangelist: Beloved Disciple of Jesus — and maybe his lover

by Kittredge Cherry | | Dec. 16-31, Saints, Sept 1-15

John the Evangelist and Apostle is commonly considered to be Jesus’ “Beloved Disciple” — and possibly his lover. His feast day is Dec. 27 in Catholic and Protestant churches. He has two feast days, May 8 and Sept. 26, in the Orthodox tradition. [Update on Sept....

RIP Roberto Gonzalez: Gay pastor brought LGBTQ rights to Argentina

by Kittredge Cherry | | May 1-15, Saints

Roberto Gonzalez was a trail-blazing gay pastor and LGBTQ-rights activist in Argentina. He died on April 8, 2024, at age 78 in Buenos Aires after several months of hospitalization. He is survived by his husband, Norberto D’Amico, who pastors the church that Gonzalez...

National Cathedral service includes prayer by Kittredge Cherry of Q Spirit

by Kittredge Cherry | | News, Saints

Q Spirit founder Kittredge Cherry is honored that her prayer was part of the Washington National Cathedral’s annual worship service for Matthew Shepard on Nov. 30, 3023. They also included her prayer in 2021 and 2022. The prayer begins, “Loving God of the rainbow...

Matthew Shepard: Modern gay martyr inspired hate-crime laws

by Kittredge Cherry | | Dec 1-15, Oct 1-15, Saints

Matthew Shepard is a modern gay martyr whose unusually cruel murder in October 1998 got international attention and inspired laws against anti-LGBTQ hate crimes. He was a 21-year-old openly gay student at the University of Wyoming at the time. [Update: The Washington...

Trans Saints? Early cross-dressing monks and martyrs share similar lives

by Kittredge Cherry | | Featured, March 16-31, Nov 16-30, Saints

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. Often they were...

Club Q martyrs: Five killed in shooting at LGBTQ bar in Colorado Springs

by Kittredge Cherry | | News, Nov 16-30, Saints

Five people were killed in a mass shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Nov. 19-20, 2022. Police identified the dead as Daniel Davis Aston, 28; Kelly Loving, 40; Ashley Paugh, 35; Derrick Rump, 38; Raymond Green Vance, 22. At least...

Dance of the 41 Queers: Police raid Mexican drag ball in 1901

by Kittredge Cherry | | Nov 16-30, Saints

Police arrested 41 people at a Mexico City drag ball known as the Dance of the 41 Queers in a notorious police raid on Nov. 17-18, 1901. Now the Dance of the 41 is being reclaimed by the LGBTQ community, and same-sex marriage is legal in Mexico City. Cross-dressing...

Michael B. Kelly: Queer theologian, author and “Erotic Contemplative” teacher

by Kittredge Cherry | | Nov. 1-15, Saints

Michael Bernard Kelly was an internationally renowned queer theologian, author, educator, activist, retreat leader and spiritual counselor based in Melbourne, Australia. He died on Nov. 14, 2020 at age 66. He is best known as creator of the “Erotic Contemplative”...

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Nun who loved a countess in 17th-century Mexico City

by Kittredge Cherry | | April 16-30, Nov. 1-15, Saints

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...