20th century Archives - Page 2 of 5

Carl Bean: Black LGBTQ church founder who sang “I Was Born This Way”

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,...

John McNeill: Pioneering gay priest who inspired LGBTQ people of faith

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...

Henri Nouwen: Priest and author who struggled with his homosexuality

by Kittredge Cherry | | Saints, Sept 15-30

Henri J. M. Nouwen was a Catholic priest and bestselling author who wrestled with his own homosexuality in an intolerant church. He died on Sept. 21, 1996. Nouwen (1932-1996) remains one of the most popular and influential modern spiritual writers. He wrote more than...

Mychal Judge, gay saint of 9/11 and chaplain to New York firefighters

by Kittredge Cherry | | May 1-15, Saints, Sept 1-15, Top saints

Mychal Judge, chaplain to New York firefighters and unofficial “gay saint,” died helping others in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. He was the first recorded victim of 9/11. A popular Franciscan priest during his lifetime, he rose to...

Bayard Rustin: Gay saint of racial justice and non-violence

by Kittredge Cherry | | Aug 15-31, Jan 1-15, March 16-31, Saints

Bayard Rustin was a black gay activist and the genius behind the civil rights movement. He became the chief organizer of the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington where where Martin Luther King gave his historic “I Have a Dream Speech.” A follower of the Quaker faith...

Robert Wood: First clergy to picket for LGBTQ rights, author of first book on Christianity and homosexuality

by Kittredge Cherry | | Aug 15-31, Saints

Robert Watson Wood was an ordained Congregational minister who started advocating for LGBTQ rights in the early 1960s. He died Aug. 19, 2018, at age 95. In 1960 Wood urged churches to welcome lesbian and gay people in America’s first book on homosexuality and...

Radclyffe Hall: Queer Christian themes mark banned book “Well of Loneliness”

by Kittredge Cherry | | Aug 1-15, Saints

A queer Christ figure is the main character in the classic lesbian novel, “The Well of Loneliness” by Radclyffe Hall. She was born on Aug. 12, 1880 in Bournemouth, England. The book was banned for obscenity in England in 1928, not just because it portrayed lesbian...

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, influential 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...

Clergyman picketed for LGBTQ equality in Fourth of July 1965-69 protests

by Kittredge Cherry | | Calendar, July 1-15

Early LGBTQ rights protests happened every Fourth of July from 1965 to 1969 in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Among the protesters was Robert W. Wood, the first member of the clergy to picket for LGBTQ rights. [2026 update: “The Story of Bob: The Life and...

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

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

Human rights champion and queer African American saint Pauli Murray is a civil rights pioneer, women’s rights advocate, author, Episcopal priest and lawyer whose legal arguments were used in landmark Supreme Court decisions outlawing discrimination. The gender...