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. Shepard (1976-1998) was...
by Kittredge Cherry | | Artists, Books
A gay Roman Catholic priest reveals his adventurous life and ministry in the cartoon-style memoir “My Life: as a Boy, Priest, Gay Man, and Artist” by Jan Haen. During more than a half-century of priesthood, Jan Haen found surprising ways to unite his inclusive...
by Kittredge Cherry | | 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. The raid caused a...
by Kittredge Cherry | | Nov. 1-15, Saints
Grant-Michael Fitzgerald was an openly gay African American Roman Catholic brother who advocated for LGBTQ rights in the 1970s and ‘80s. He was diagnosed with AIDS and died in a Wisconsin hospice on Nov. 10, 1986 at age 39. Renowned black gay professor and minister...
by Kittredge Cherry | | Oct. 15-31, Saints
Navy Seaman Allen Schindler brought international attention to LGBTQ people in the military when he was murdered for being gay on Oct. 27, 1992. Schindler’s murder remains relevant as U.S. lawmakers consider banning transgender people from military service, based on a...
by Kittredge Cherry | | Oct. 15-31, Saints
Sally Gross was an intersex South African anti-apartheid activist who became a Catholic priest — but was stripped of clergy status after revealing that she identified as female in the 1990s. She became an intersex activist, winning legal recognition of intersex...
by Kittredge Cherry | | Oct 1-15, Saints
Vida Dutton Scudder is an American social reformer, professor, prominent lesbian author — and an officially recognized saint in the Episcopal Church. Her feast day is Oct. 10. Her ideas on economic inequality are especially relevant amid the financial crises of...
by Kittredge Cherry | | Calendar, Oct 1-15
Metropolitan Community Churches, the first denomination to affirm LGBTQ people, was founded on Oct. 6, 1968 by Troy Perry. Dozens of my photos from more than 35 years of MCC history are posted today in honor of the anniversary. The photos posted here show highlights...
by Kittredge Cherry | | Saints, Sept 1-15
Carl Bean was founding archbishop of the Unity Fellowship Church Movement in the black LGBTQ community, early AIDS activist and Motown singer of the 1977 gay-liberation anthem “I Was Born This Way.” He died Sept. 7, 2021 at age 77 after a long illness. Bean (May 26,...
by Kittredge Cherry | | Saints, Sept 15-30
John McNeill was a pioneering gay priest, psychotherapist, author, theologian and Jesuit scholar who inspired countless LGBTQ people of faith and their allies. He died on Sept. 22, 2015 in a hospice in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with his partner of 49 years, Charles...