Saints Archives - Page 9 of 16

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,”...

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 had some queer ideas about God, shared her hermit’s cell with...

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...