Last Updated on January 12, 2024 by Kittredge Cherry
Research suggests that liberators Abraham Lincoln and Jesus Christ were both queer, so an artist created an image of their same-sex marriage.
“Abraham Lincoln Jesus Christ Gay Marriage” by Mark Allyn is posted here in honor of Lincoln’s birthday on Feb. 12. Allyn is a light artist based in Bellingham, Washington.
He highlights the connection between Christ the liberator and Lincoln, the U.S. president who is sometimes revered as a secular saint for ending slavery.
Scholars explore queer side of Lincoln and Jesus
A variety of scholars have examined Lincoln’s possible homosexuality or bisexuality in books such as “The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln” by psychologist C.A. Tripp. He writes about how Lincoln enjoyed close relationships with men throughout his life. As a young state legislator in the 1830s, Lincoln shared a bed with his best friend, Joshua Speed. Lincoln was raised in a Baptist family, but never joined a church but apparently believed in God and universal salvation.
Some groundbreaking scholars believe that the historical Jesus was attracted to other men. They base their theory on Jesus’ actions in the gospels, especially his relationship with the man known only as the Beloved Disciple. They point out that Jesus gladly healed the centurion’s “boy,” the same word that is sometimes used for a homosexual lover. They pore over the little-known Secret Gospel of Mark, a text discovered in 1958 with details about Jesus and a half-naked man. The evidence for a queer Jesus are presented in books such as “The Man Jesus Loved: Homoerotic Narratives from the New Testament” by Theodore Jennings.
“Based on this I had this idea to have Jesus Christ and Abraham Lincoln getting married by a Haight-Ashbury hippie priest at the Olympics,” Allyn explained. “This would be the wedding of the Millennium!”
Rejected by Intel, the art finds a radical home
The artist tried to donate his vision of Jesus and Lincoln to the Intel Corporation (where he used to work) for their United Way auction, but the corporation rejected it, claiming that it was too profane. Instead it was sold for $350 at a charity auction to benefit the Radical Faeries. The Radical Faeries are a grassroots countercultural queer spirituality movement founded in 1979 in California by gay activists Harry Hay and Don Kilhefner.
The faces of Jesus and Lincoln shimmer in layered light. The sculpture features four layers of engraved glass: one each for Jesus, Lincoln, the priest and the veil over their heads. Allyn used a diamond tool to engrave the glass by hand.
His other work includes an LGBTQ Pride outfit based on “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision,” a series of paintings showing Jesus as a contemporary gay man in a modern city. Allyn shows and tells about it on a 2019 video. The gay Passion series by Doug Blanchard is available as a book and blog series by Q Spirit founder Kittredge Cherry.
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Top image credit:
“Abraham Lincoln Jesus Christ Gay Marriage” by Mark Allyn
This post is part of the LGBTQ Saints series by Kittredge Cherry. Traditional and alternative saints, people in the Bible, LGBT and queer martyrs, authors, theologians, religious leaders, artists, deities and other figures of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people and our allies are covered.
Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
Qspirit.net presents the Jesus in Love Blog on LGBTQ spirituality.
are there reproductions of that piece of art available for an affordable amount
I have had fantasies about honest Abe since I was in prepuberty(g)
I still remember the comment by a retreat master who was trying to make us Chicago priests more sensitive. “When I get to heaven I will make love with Jesus for three days” from my not too soon to be published memoirs
Good question! I’ll check with the artist and get back to you. And that’s an amazing quote from your retreat master! I look forward to learning more from your memoirs.