Saints Archives - Page 7 of 16

Good Samaritan: LGBTQ views of Bible story on helping strangers

by Kittredge Cherry | | July 16-31, Saints

Lovingkindness from one man to another is celebrated in the Bible story of the Good Samaritan. Could one or both characters be LGBTQ? The parable of the Good Samaritan will be read at many churches worldwide as the gospel reading for July 13, 2025 in the three-year...

Kuan Yin: A queer Buddhist Christ figure?

by Kittredge Cherry | | July 16-31, Saints

Kuan Yin, the genderfluid spirit of compassion in Buddhism, is sometimes thought of as a queer Christ figure or LGBTQ role model. Buddhists celebrate the enlightenment of Kuan Yin every year in July or August. This year the date is July 25, 2024. Transcending gender...

Sally Miller Gearhart: Lesbian educator and activist who challenged the church

by Kittredge Cherry | | July 1-15, Saints

Sally Miller Gearhart was a lesbian educator, theologian, activist and author of books including the 1974 classic “Loving Women / Loving Men: Gay Liberation and the Church.” She died on July 14, 2021 in Ukiah, California, at age 90 after a long illness. Gearhart’s...

Steve Pieters: Gay minister, longtime AIDS survivor, LGBTQ activist and friend

by Kittredge Cherry | | July 1-15, Saints

I celebrate the life of my friend and colleague Steve Pieters, gay clergyman, LGBTQ activist and one of the longest-surviving AIDS patients. It was considered a miracle that he survived. His ground-breaking 1985 interview with televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker helped...

Shulamite in Song of Songs: Gay, lesbian or queer Biblical love poem?

by Kittredge Cherry | | Aug 15-31, Saints

One of the greatest love poems of all time, the Bible Song of Songs, may have been written as same-sex love poetry. Paul R. Johnson translated it as “a gay love poem” and Angela Yarber sees it as erotic poetry between a woman and her female lover. Others are...

Artemisia Gentileschi paints strong Biblical women

by Kittredge Cherry | | Artists, July 1-15, Saints

Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi inspires many with her paintings of strong Biblical women — created despite the discrimination and sexual violence that she faced as a woman in 17th-century Italy. She was born on July 8, 1593. Although Gentileschi was...

Publick Universal Friend / Jemima Wilkinson: Queer preacher reborn in 1776

by Kittredge Cherry | | July 1-15, Saints

A queer American preacher woke from a near-death experience in 1776 with the sense of being neither male nor female. Adopting the name Publick Universal Friend instead of Jemima Wilkinson, this fascinating nonbinary American fought for gender equality and founded an...

Pauli Murray: Queer saint who stood for racial and gender equality

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

Human rights champion and queer saint Pauli Murray is a renowned civil rights pioneer, feminist, author, Episcopal priest and lawyer whose legal arguments were used in landmark Supreme Court decisions outlawing racism and sexism. Murray was arrested and jailed for...

Paul the Apostle: Did his homosexuality shape Christianity?

by Kittredge Cherry | | Jan 16-31, June 16-30, Saints

Struggle against his own homosexual desires in an intolerant society may have inspired Paul the Apostle to write sublime Biblical teachings on unconditional love and inclusivity — and also a few “clobber passages” used by anti-LGBTQ bigots. Both Paul’s sense of...

Marsha P. Johnson: African American transgender woman at Stonewall Uprising

by Kittredge Cherry | | Aug 15-31, July 1-15, June 1-15, Saints

Marsha P. Johnson was an African American transgender woman activist and one of those credited with starting the Stonewall Rebellion that launched the modern LGBTQ liberation movement. A lifelong Christian, she was nicknamed “the Saint of Christopher Street” during...