Last Updated on December 19, 2023 by Kittredge Cherry
Find queer cheer in this round-up of LGBTQ Christmas highlights from the Jesus in Love Blog at Q Spirit.
Clicking the headlines below for queer Christmas songs, a gay baby Jesus, love between good King Wenceslas and his page, lesbian Madonnas, carol composer Christina Rossetti and more. They are offered in the spirit of the popular Christmas song that urges, “Make the Yuletide gay.”
Female God blesses “Queer Holy Family”
“Queer Holy Family” by artist Reena Burton affirms the holiness of all families, including LGBTQ families, by showing an interracial queer couple with their baby, blessed by God as a woman of color. The artist told Q Spirit: “I made this piece because I wanted to see more inclusive images around the holidays: A female God with dark skin, and a same-gender mixed-race family held in her loving embrace. I wanted to make an image for people that don’t get to see themselves reflected in sacred art very often. Every family is holy. Every shade of skin is sacred and worthy of being reflected as the Divine.”
Rainbow Mary supports LGBTQ people
Rainbow icons of the Madonna and child highlight her compassionate connection to the LGBTQ community — evoking both controversy and celebration. Various rainbow Mary images and prayers by contemporary artists and activists are posted. When Mary gave consent, God became flesh. It was a total, shocking identification with all people, including the whole rainbow spectrum of sexual orientations and gender identities.
LGBTQ Christmas cartoons affirm “All means all”!
Gay shepherds ask if they are included when the Christmas angel announces “peace on earth and goodwill to all” in a cartoon by David Hayward, also known as nakedpastor. Indeed, all means all! A star shines rainbow light over the Nativity scene in his “LGBT Christmas: Merry Christmas EVERYBODY.” More info and cartoons
Gay baby Jesus comes out on Christmas billboard
A gay baby Jesus with a rainbow halo lit up a billboard for a church in New Zealand.
Kwanzaa: Queer black Jesus icon honors African American holidayAn icon of a queer black Jesus by David Hayward is presented for Kwanzaa, a weeklong celebration of African American culture starting Dec. 26.
Some children see Him queer or gay
A rainbow version of the Christmas carol “Some Children See Him” has a new straight/queer stanza added to the standard multiracial lyrics.
Christmas chant for Christ the bridegroom: Cum ortus
An ancient Christmas chant raises queer questions by comparing sunrise on Christmas morning to mystical marriage with Christ the Bridegroom.
Chist is born in a way that liberates people from limitations of gender, race and sexual orientation in the minimalist “Color Nativity” by British artist Sebastian Bergne.
A lesbian couple cares for the baby Jesus in a heartwarming personal story from one woman’s Christmas journey.
Gay baby Jesus comes out on Christmas billboard
A gay baby Jesus with a rainbow halo lit up a billboard for a church in New Zealand.
Gay Nativity scene in Columbia sparks outrage
A gay Nativity display in Columbia was condemned by the atholic Church as “sacrilege” while thousands criticized it on social media.
Reimagining the three kings as queer or female gives fresh meaning to story of the Magi. Biblical scholarship suggests that the Magi were eunuchs — people who today would be called gay or transgender.
Gay and lesbian nativity scenes show love makes a family
What if the child of God was born to a lesbian or gay couple? Because, after all, LOVE makes a family.
Queer Nativity makes international news after conservative attack (2016)
Queer Nativity scenes on Christmas ornaments made international headlines after they were denounced as blasphemy by a right-wing Christian group in Britain.
Conservatives attack lesbian and gay Nativity scenes (2011)
Nasty accusations of blasphemy were hurled when conservative bloggers discovered my gay and lesbian Nativity scenes. “Love..is NOT the criteria for making a ‘Family,’” said one critic.
There’s good reason to believe that Good King Wenceslas was gay. Yes, the king in the Christmas carol. Many details in the carol are pious fiction, but historical research documents the love between the king and his page Podiven.
Seven people from three countries sent images for the Queer Nativity project at the Jesus in Love Blog. They present Christ’s birth in an amazing variety of liberating, loving new ways.
Christina Rossetti: Queer writer of Christmas carols and lesbian poetry
Christina Rossetti was a 19th-century English poet and “queer virgin” whose work includes the Christmas carol “In the Bleak Midwinter.”
Hate crime targets gay and lesbian
Nativity scene at California church
Vandals knocked over the same-sex couples in a manger scene at a church in Claremont, California. Police investigated the attack as a hate crime.
Lesbian couple portrays Madonna (Photo by Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin)
The Madonna and her female lover are portrayed by a real lesbian couple, seven months’ pregnant through artificial insemination in “Annunciation” by Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin.
Lesbian Madonna, lover and son affirm Christmas (Painting by Becki Jayne Harrelson)
Two lesbian mothers cuddle the Christ child in “Madonna, Lover and Son” by Becki Jayne Harrelson.
Transgender woman Jesus tells Christmas story
Jesus’ angelic birth highlights the holiness of EVERY birth in a scene from the controversial new play “Jesus, Queen of Heaven” by transsexual Jo Clfford.
Conservatives blast inclusive Christmas card
Conservatives attack an Episcopal bishop’s gender-bending Christmas card because it shows a multi-racial trio of female Magi visiting the baby Jesus and his mother (“Epiphany” by Janet McKenzie).
Inclusive Christmas tree: Anti-gay DVDs become ornaments
DVDs against same-sex marriage are being recycled now as decorations for the inclusive Christmas tree of Minnesota artist Lucinda Naylor.
Can you imagine? A gay Nativity scene
Video and commentary on Amsterdam’s 2008 gay Nativity scene with live actors.
Animals symbolize peace at Christmas, so the Jesus in Love Blog gladly dedicates a special post to animals.
Alternative Christmas art shown
Nine artists mix Christmas imagery with a progressive vision of GLBT rights, racial and gender justice, and a world without war, poverty or pollution
Nursing Madonna honors body, spirit and women
A nursing Madonna affirms the goodness of the human body, although some are shocked by her bare breasts.
Queer Christmas books reconstruct the holiday
Two queer Christmas books appear on Q Spirit’s list of the top 34 LGBTQ Christian books of 2022:
“A Queer Christmas: An Anthology” by Allison K. Garcia and six others.
“Reconstructing Christmas: An Anthology” by SJ Blasko and 14 others.
Getting through the holidays just got easier with a queer look at Christmas. Two new anthologies offer encouragement for LGBTQ Christians who feel estranged from faith and family during the holiday season. In “Reconstructing Christmas,” 15 contributors cover the “Outsider Jesus,” “Our Lady of Disgrace,” the annunciation, incarnation, family Christmas traditions and much more. The collection includes poetry, sermons, devotional reflections, and short stories from mostly LGBTQ+ authors. Some of the same writers contributed to a second, newer volume: “A Queer Christmas: An Anthology” by Allison K. Garcia and six others. “Reconstructing Christmas” is published by SJ Blasko, an LGBTQ Christian from Massachusetts whose poetry book “Tree” appeared on Q Spirit’s list of the top LGBTQ Christian books of 2021. “A Queer Christmas” is independently published.
Related links
God Rest Ye: New Verses (resistharm.com)
New lyrics to the traditional carol include:
“God rest you, queer and questioning, your anxious hearts be still,
Believe that you are deeply known and part of God’s good will.”
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Top image credit: “Rainbow Star” by Andrew Murphy-Williams, a queer artist in Wales.
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This post is part of the LGBTQ Calendar series by Kittredge Cherry. The series celebrates religious and spiritual holidays, events in LGBTQ history, holy days, feast days, festivals, anniversaries, liturgical seasons and other occasions of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people of faith and our allies.
This article was originally published on Q Spirit in December 2016, expanded with new material over time, and most recently updated on Dec. 19, 2023.
Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
Qspirit.net presents the Jesus in Love Blog on LGBTQ spirituality.
