Africa Archives - Q Spirit

Gay Catholic priest reveals his journey in cartoon-style memoir “My Life” by Jan Haen

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...

Sally Gross: Intersex priest led legal reform after being defrocked

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...

Dholuo Rainbow Christ Prayer highlights Africa: “Kristo Lihundu, Alam”

by Kittredge Cherry | | Calendar

The Rainbow Christ Prayer is presented in the African language of Dholuo to support the people and cultures of Africa, especially Kenya and Tanzania where it is commonly spoken. By offering “Kristo Lihundu, Alam,” Q Spirit aims to foster respectful cross-cultural,...

FannyAnn Eddy: Lesbian martyr in Africa

by Kittredge Cherry | | Saints, Sept 15-30

FannyAnn Eddy was a major activist for LGBTQ rights in her native Sierra Leone and the rest of Africa. She was murdered on Sept. 29, 2004. Nobody was ever convicted of the crime. She founded the Sierra Leone Lesbian and Gay Association in 2002 and advocated for LGBTQ...

Maurice and Theofredus: Same-sex paired saints and martyrs of Thebes

by Kittredge Cherry | | Saints, Sept 1-15

Maurice and Theofredus are third-century martyr-saints and soldiers of Thebes with a homosocial bond. They are shown as a same-sex pair in Renaissance art. Maurice’s feast day is Sept. 22 in the Catholic tradition and Dec. 27 in the Orthodox tradition. Theofredus is...

Augustine of Hippo: Saint who rejected his bisexual past, defended intersex people

by Kittredge Cherry | | Aug 15-31, Saints

After a sexually active and probably bisexual youth, Augustine of Hippo became an influential early Christian theologian who was sex-negative but argued that God created intersex people. This contradictory queer saint’s feast day is Aug. 28 in western Christianity....

Ethiopian eunuch and Philip: Early church welcomed queers in Bible story

by Kittredge Cherry | | April 16-30, Aug 15-31, Oct 1-15, Saints

A queer black man was welcomed as an early Christian convert in Biblical times, according to progressive Bible scholars. He was a triple outsider — a gender-variant foreigner from a racial minority — and his story shows that the early Christians welcomed...

Black Madonna of Czestochowa becomes lesbian defender Erzuli Dantor

by Kittredge Cherry | | Aug 15-31, Saints

The Black Madonna of Czestochowa, one of the most famous Catholic icons, is the model for a Haitian Vodou goddess who protects lesbians. Traditional images of Erzulie Dantor, the Vodou defender of lesbians, are based on the Black Madonna of Czestochowa, whose feast...

Patrick Leuben Mukajanga (Mleuben Maccarthy) : Ugandan pastor and LGBTQ activist

by Kittredge Cherry | | July 16-31, Saints

Patrick Leuben Mukajanga, known by many as Mleuben Maccarthy, was a gay Ugandan pastor and LGBTQ activist. He died in a motorcycle accident while riding from Kampala to his home in Ibanda town on July 31, 2020 at age 43. A memorial portrait of Mukajanga was created...

Uganda Martyrs raise questions on religion and LGBTQ rights

by Kittredge Cherry | | June 1-15, Saints

Tough questions about homosexuality, religion and LGBTQ rights are raised by the 45 Uganda Martyrs whose feast day is June 3. In 2024 their feast day falls two months after Uganda’s Constitutional Court upheld one of the world’s harshest anti-LGBTQ laws, including the...