USA Archives - Q Spirit

On stage with Troy Perry at the 1993 March on Washington for LGBTQ rights

by Kittredge Cherry | | Feb 1-15, Oct 1-15

Gay-rights pioneer Troy Perry spoke to a crowd of a million people at the 1993 March on Washington for LGBTQ rights — and I was there on stage with him as his photographer and publicist. It was one of the peak experiences in my life. Troy thrilled the crowd by...

RIP: La Paula Turner: Black lesbian clergy pioneer opened doors

by Kittredge Cherry | | Sept 1-15

La Paula Turner was a pioneering Black lesbian clergy and mother of six who supported LGBTQ Christians since the 1970s. She passed away on Aug. 4, 2025, at age 88. She was one of the first African Americans ordained by the LGBTQ-affirming Metropolitan Community...

RIP: Trudie Barreras: Author, artist and thinker enriched LGBTQ Christian life

by Kittredge Cherry | | Sept 1-15

Trudie Schuyler Barreras, one of the first and most devoted supporters of Q Spirit and related LGBTQ spirituality projects, passed away on Sept. 2, 2025, at age 86 in her hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico. She was a gifted artist, talented writer, prolific book...

John T. Graves: Black gay clergyman was founding president of nation’s first LGBTQ group in 1924 (Society for Human Rights)

by Kittredge Cherry | | Dec 1-15, Saints

John T. Graves was a black gay clergyman and first president of the Society for Human Rights, the oldest documented LGBTQ-rights organization in the United States. It was founded more than 100 years ago in 1924 in Chicago. Graves’ historic role proves that the...

“Choose Life” Easter anthem premieres online with lyrics by Q Spirit founder Kittredge Cherry

by Kittredge Cherry | | Calendar

An Easter anthem with lyrics by Q Spirit founder Kittredge Cherry and music by composer Thomas Griep makes its online premiere on Easter 2024. Heartfelt lyrics in “Choose Life” express the profound spiritual transformation from grief to joy that Mary Magdalene felt on...

National Cathedral service includes prayer by Kittredge Cherry of Q Spirit

by Kittredge Cherry | | News, Saints

Q Spirit founder Kittredge Cherry is honored that her prayer was part of the Washington National Cathedral’s annual worship service for Matthew Shepard on Nov. 30, 3023. They also included her prayer in 2021 and 2022. The prayer begins, “Loving God of the rainbow...

Matthew Shepard: Modern gay martyr inspired hate-crime laws

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...

Club Q martyrs: Five killed in shooting at LGBTQ bar in Colorado Springs

by Kittredge Cherry | | News, Nov 16-30, Saints

Five people were killed in a mass shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Nov. 19-20, 2022. Police identified the dead as Daniel Davis Aston, 28; Kelly Loving, 40; Ashley Paugh, 35; Derrick Rump, 38; Raymond Green Vance, 22. At least...

Grant-Michael Fitzgerald: Pioneering black gay Catholic brother advocated LGBTQ rights in 1970s

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...

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...