I hope you are enjoying this season of resurrection.  Signs of new life reported here include LGBT people claiming our place in the Bible, in church history, in the schools and in the courts.

A black gay man was the first non-Jewish convert to Christianity, according to progressive views of the Ethiopian eunuch's story in the Bible.  The term "eunuch" probably included a variety of sexual minorities that today would be called LGBT or queer.  His experience shows that the early church welcomed all kinds of outsiders. More info

(Credit:  Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch, 11th century)

A gay teen won a legal battle to wear a T-shirt that says, "Jesus is not a homophobe" on the Day of Silence (April 20), a national student-led protest of anti-LGBT bullying in schools. Last year an Ohio high school stopped 16-year-old Maverick Couch from wearing the shirt, claiming it was "sexual in nature." Lambda Legal sued on his behalf. More info 

   

(Credit: Maverick Couch and friend. Photo from Lambda Legal)

Christina Rossetti was a 19th-century English poet whose work ranged from Christmas carols to sensuous lesbian love poetry. A devout Christian who never married, she has been called a "queer virgin" and "gay mystic." Her best-known works are the carol "In the Bleak Midwinter" and "Goblin Market," a poem with a lesbian Christ figure  More info 

 

(Credit: Cover image for Rossetti's "Goblin Market and Other Poems," 1862, by her brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti)  

An Anglican priest wrote "Was Jesus gay? Probably" in the Guardian recently, making a big splash on the Internet. Paul Oestreicher, a chaplain at the University of Sussex in England, stated that Jesus was most likely gay, based on his relationship with his beloved disciple John. More info 

 

(Credit: "Queer Jesus" by Andrew Craig Williams)

Sor Juana In�s de la Cruz was a 17th-century Mexican nun whose writings include lesbian love poetry.  She is considered one of the greatest Latin American poets and an early advocate of women's rights.

Sor Juana's convent cell became Mexico City's intellectual hub and the largest library in Mexico.  She was visited by the city's elite, including the countess who became her passionate friend.  More info

Artist Trudie Barreras will do pet portraits in pastel, or watercolor sketches of your home or favorite scenes, for a $25 gift to Kitt for Jesus in Love.  To see samples of Trudie's work, visit her website, schuylerart.com. Contact us for further details.

One day, two processions;
One meek, an arriving Lamb,
    soothing, offering Grace;
The other, Dreadful Power
    speaking intimidation.
One died, and thus lives on.
The other lived on, but now is gone.
Eric & Scott Hays-Strom

CAN GAYS AND LESBIANS BE TRUE CHRISTIANS? See the "Gay and Christian" website! It shows that a person can be both a Christian and a loving, sexually-active gay man or lesbian.

 

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