Britain Archives - Q Spirit

Gweddi Grist yr Enfys (Rainbow Christ Prayer in Welsh)

A Welsh (Cymraeg) translation of the Rainbow Christ Prayer shows the many faces of the queer Christ. Rainbow Christ, you embody all the colors of the world. Rainbows serve as bridges between different realms: heaven and earth, east and west, queer and non-queer....

Thomas(ine) Hall: Intersex in colonial America

by Kittredge Cherry | | Nov. 1-15, Saints

Thomas(ine) Hall was an intersex person in 17th-century colonial America who caused controversy by switching back and forth between genders. The Jamestown court ruled that Hall was both “a man and a woman” and ordered him/her to wear male and female clothing...

Malachy of Armagh: Same-sex soulmate to Bernard of Clairvaux

by Kittredge Cherry | | Nov. 1-15, Saints

Malachy of Armagh is an 11th-century Irish saint who died in the arms of his more famous soulmate, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. Their monastic community honored the male couple as “two stars of such surpassing brightness” and a “twofold treasure.” Bernard showered...

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...

Gay saint John Henry Newman and his “earthly light” Ambrose St. John shared romantic friendship

by Kittredge Cherry | | Feb 16-29, Oct 1-15, Saints

John Henry Newman, a 19th-century British scholar, theologian and cardinal, was canonized by the Pope as a Roman Catholic saint in 2019 amid rampant speculation that he was gay. Newman’s feast day is Oct. 9 in the Roman Catholic church, Feb. 21 in the Episcopal Church...

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...

Codebreaker Alan Turing honored in queer spiritual art

by Kittredge Cherry | | June 1-15, Saints

Alan Turing is a gay icon, pioneering computer scientist and British codebreaker. He is sometimes called a gay saint because his wartime codebreaking saved millions of lives, and a gay martyr because he was driven to suicide by court-ordered “chemical castration”...

Homosexuality of Jesus explored by 18th-century philosopher Jeremy Bentham

by Kittredge Cherry | | June 1-15, Saints

Biblical arguments for LGBTQ rights and a queer Jesus may seem like new ideas, but they were pioneered about 200 years ago by an influential British philosopher — in writings that were never published until the 21st century. Philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748...

Alcuin: Medieval scholar and abbot who wrote homoerotic texts

by Kittredge Cherry | | May 15-31, Saints

Alcuin of York was an 8th-century English scholar and abbot who served as advisor to Emperor Charlemagne and wrote homoerotic poetry and letters. His feast day is May 20 in Episcopal and other Anglican churches. Called “the most learned man anywhere to be found,”...

Julian of Norwich: Celebrating Mother Jesus

by Kittredge Cherry | | May 1-15, Saints

Julian of Norwich is a medieval English mystic who celebrated “Mother Jesus” and had important relationships with women. Her feast day, May 8, always falls near Mother’s Day in the United States. She had some queer ideas about God, shared her hermit’s cell with...