LGBTQ inspirations and role models can be found in many times and places... from a queer medieval friar in Italy to today's church leaders, poets and artists. Meet some in this month's newsletter.

Blessed John of La Verna is a medieval Italian friar known for his visions of kissing and being kissed by Jesus.  He also had an intense relationship with a fellow friar. Franciscan scholar Kevin Elphick writes a profile of Blessed John as a queer saint and gives a vivid personal story of a his trip to John's chapel in Italy.  More info   

(Left: Jesus embraces Blessed John. Right: John's Chapel at Mount La Verna, photo by Kevin Elphick) 

 

A gay man prays, wondering if Jesus also felt same-sex attractions, in a poem by longtime LGBT church activist and poet Louie Clay (n� Louie Crew).

 

He asks Christ, "What did you feel when your beloved John lay across your lap casually?"  

More info

Advocate.com posted a big article about "Art That Dares" in July. It says: "Kittredge Cherry's eye-opening book, 'Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ, and More' can be breathtaking... The content still has the jolt of the revolutionary to it and bears reexamination."

See  Advocate.com article 

 

Mary and Martha of Bethany were two of Jesus' closest friends.  The Bible calls them "sisters" who lived together, but reading the Bible with queer eyes raises another possibility.  Maybe Mary and Martha were a lesbian couple.  

They formed a nontraditional family at a time when there was huge pressure for heterosexual marriage.  More info

(Credit: "Mary and Martha" by Bernardino Luini)

St. Wilgefortis prayed to avoid marriage to a pagan king -- and her prayers were answered when she grew a beard! 
 
People have honored this virgin martyr since the 14th century, but today some wonder about the queer causes behind her beard.  More info

Saint Boris, a popular medieval saint in Russia and Ukraine, loved George the Hungarian. As military conflict grows between the two nations, may remembering the queer love between Boris and George help bring peace. The feast day of Saint Boris is July 24 -- the same day that same-sex marriage became legal in New York in 2011. More info

(Credit: "Saints Boris and George the Hungarian" by Robert Lentz)

Interest is surging in David Wojnarowicz, a gay artist, writer and activist whose use of Christian imagery still causes controversy more than two decades after his death from AIDS at age 37.

 

He rose from a homeless teenage hustler to become a celebrated artist and frequent target of the religious right. Wojnarowicz mixed gay imagery with religious symbols from his Roman Catholic childhood to express the holiness and intensity of gay experience.  More info 

 

(Credit: Detail from "Painting David" by Douglas Blanchard)

Sixth-century Syrian monks Symeon and John were were joined in a same-sex union and lived together as desert-dwelling hermits for 29 years. After a tearful split-up, Symeon went on to become known as the Holy Fool of Emesa. More info 

 

(Credit: "Symeon and John" by Jim Ru) 

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Santos Queer presenta en las fechas adecuadas durante todo el a�o tanto santas y santos como m�rtires, h�roes, heroinas y personas consagradas de especial inter�s para las personas  lesbianas, gays, bisexuales y transexuales (LGBT) y sus aliados.