Religious threats to LGBT people exposed in Jerusalem photos

“The Holy Kiss” (from “Jerusalem”) by Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin

Religion-based oppression of LGBT people is revealed with grim power in “Jerusalem,” a controversial photo exhibit by Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin showing this month in Sweden.

Jerusalem is holy to three major religions -- Christianity, Judaism and Islam -- so Ohlson Wallin went there to photograph LGBT Israelis and Palestinians. Her photos draw attention to the Christian, Jewish and Muslim scriptures that threaten queer people. She photographed members of the local LGBT community, sometimes in iconic sacred settings with homophobic texts projected on or near their bodies.

The show is on display through Dec. 1 at the Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg, Sweden. Each of the 17 photos appears with a Bible or Quran verse that has been used against queers, plus Ohlson Wallin’s written commentary. Among the most powerful images are:

* “The Holy Kiss” (above) shows two women kissing at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where many Christians believe that Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected. The site has been venerated as an important pilgrimage destination since the 4th century. The words of Romans 1:26-27, which condemns women who “exchanged natural relations for unnatural,” are projected on the stone in front of the kissing women.

“How many pious lesbians have knelt at this holy site?” Ohlson Wallin asks in her text. “But lesbian piety and lesbian love have never been valued by the church. The words of Paul in his letter to the Romans have echoed through the centuries, condemning lesbians to a life of self-denial and self-hatred. Even now.”

“The Kiss of Death” (from “Jerusalem”) by Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin

* “The Kiss of Death” captures the naked embrace of two men lying in front of the old city wall near the Jaffa Gate. Projected on the wall above them is Leviticus 20:13, which orders the death penalty when “a man lies with a man as with a woman.”

“The word of God says that men who lie with men must be killed,” Ohlson Wallin says in her commentary. “That has been the argument in Christian countries that have used the death penalty for same-sex sexual acts.”

“Tranny” (from “Jerusalem”) by Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin

* “The Tranny” is a portrait of a genuine drag queen from the heart of Jerusalem. The words projected on the wall behind her are Deuteronomy 22:5, saying that God “detests” women who wear men’s clothing and men who wear women’s clothing.

In her accompanying text, Ohlson describes transgenders as “these discomforting beings who challenge every notion of masculine and feminine. Even in the gay community, they are scorned. Yet it is among the trannies and transgender people that you will often find the greatest courage in the fight against injustice.”

Ohlson Wallin’s stated goal is to get people to talk about the responsibility of religion in supporting or opposing human rights. The photos, scriptures and accompanying texts set a somber tone, but Ohlson Walllin also points out the positive side. “The courage of the people who agreed to appear in these photographs bears witness to the fact that Israelis and Palestinians in the LGBT community help each other,” she writes in the exhibition catalog.

Ohlson Wallin takes these texts of terror personally. She is legally married to a woman and in the catalog she states that the verses pose a threat to her very existence, as well as endangering many others.

She is best known for her photo series “Ecce Homo,” which sparked death threats and vandalism, angered the Pope and won awards by showing Jesus in a contemporary LGBT context. Her story and photos from “Ecce Homo” are included in the book “Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ, and More” by Kittredge Cherry.

“Jerusalem” aroused debate over artistic and religious freedom even before it opened on Nov. 10. The Museum of World Culture helped fund Ohlson Wallin’s trip to Jerusalem, but the partnership broke down earlier this year when the museum didn’t want to display the Jerusalem photos as a solo show. The artist accused them of being afraid to upset religious conservatives. Eventually the artist and museum agreed to a three-week exhibition, shorter than usual due to the costs of extra security measures.

The Jerusalem exhibit does an excellent job of building upon and expanding the themes of another controversial work about religion’s role in injustice: “Submission,” a film written by Ayaan Hirsi Ali and directed by Theo van Gogh. The 2004 film exposed religion-based abuse of women by showing misogynist verses from the Koran painted on women’s naked bodies.

LGBT people of faith have developed new ways of understanding the Biblical texts of terror or “clobber passages” highlighted by Ohlson Wallin. The following LGBT-affirming Biblical resources are available to understand these scriptures in context:

“What the Bible says and means about homosexuality”
http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_bibl.htm

“Homosexuality: Not a Sin, Not a Sickness”
http://ufmcc.com/download/theology/homosexuality/NotSinNotSick.pdf

“Gay and Christian”
http://www.gaysandslaves.com/

A lesbian Christian visits Israel

Rev. Nancy Wilson preaching on the Sea of Galilee to MCC tour group (photo by elbrandt)

When a Christian lesbian makes her first trip to Israel, her experiences are sure to be different from the usual Holy Land travelogues.

I was touched and I laughed out loud -- sometimes both at the same time -- when I read Rev. Nancy Wilson’s account of her recent tour of Israel. It rings true to the unexpected adventures and coincidences of international travel as a queer Christian.

Nancy is moderator of Metropolitan Community Churches and a leader in the GLBT Christian movement. Her full account of the MCC tour of Israel is posted at MCCchurch.org, but she gave permission to share some highlights on the Jesus In Love Blog.

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When you are a Christian preacher who grew up in the church, as I did, your heart and imagination live in that little piece of real estate on the Mediterranean Sea in ways that are deep and meaningful -- but that are not necessarily connected to the Israel of today.

… It felt almost surreal to me to wake up in a hotel in Tiberias and share breakfast with Marsha Stevens-Pino, who organized our tour, and to point to the Sea of Galilee just outside our window. She was startled; she had not realized we were right there! We felt a little giddy and shook our heads. The last time Marsha had been here was in 1972, when she opened for Billy Graham with her music group, Children of the Day.

…There is a picture of me, later that first day in Galilee, preaching on a boat as we crossed. The boat trip started out a bit oddly. The sweet men who served as captain and first mate began our ride across the Sea of Galilee by hoisting an American flag and playing the Star Spangled Banner on a CD player. We were all kind of stunned. No doubt they did this as a gift to us; no doubt they thought we would be touched and moved. But on the Sea of Galilee, with all of its deep biblical history? Talk about a mood killer!

…At Beit She'an, there is a huge valley and Greek amphitheater. As we sat near the top, our guide told us that this was the very place where Saul and Jonathan were slain. [Our tour guide] Moshe recited David's lament for them from II Samuel in Hebrew, as a touring choir from somewhere in Europe sang Taize music. As Moshe and I walked up a large hill to the Canaanite and Egyptian ruins, I told him about my book, and offered a queer interpretation of the biblical story of David and Jonathan. He was skeptical, but agreed to read Our Tribe if I sent it to him -- and I have.

Our arrival into Jerusalem was met by a glorious sunset! The sun perfectly illuminated the rose-colored Jerusalem stone. As we arrived, they were playing the tearjerker Palm Sunday standard, "Jerusalem." (On the same CD player, I wondered?) Part of me felt a little manipulated by that. Instantly I thought of Doug, the drag queen-turned-choir director of Church of the Trinity MCC, who died last year from his addictions, complicated by HIV and diabetes. Doug and I sang that song on Palm Sunday for several years in a row and I cannot hear it without thinking of him. I had to let him go when his addictions got so out of control that he could not function. He was angry and left town, but returned at the end to die, and we were able to reconcile and say our good-byes. He was a gifted choir director, not even 50 years old. He was a mess. And I loved him. And of all things, there was that damned song playing as we pulled up to this gorgeous first view of the Holy City.

Moshe asked me to read Psalm 122, "I was glad when they said to me, 'Let us go to the house of the Lord!' Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem." But I choked up as I tried to read the words and found myself crying. So I handed the Bible to Paula and she read the passage. Then we tumbled off the bus, leaning on each other, looking out over the Holy City and experiencing waves of awe, grief, joy and wonder. Marsha spoke of friends who had died, mostly friends who died of complications from HIV and AIDS, whom she promised to meet again one day at the Eastern Gate. Yes, that Eastern Gate, the one right there.

There's something, I guess, about one's first time to see Jerusalem. Our guide was surprised, I think, and moved to see this group of LGBT folks and friends so emotional at the sight of this city that has cradled three of the world's religions; the site of Jesus' death and resurrection. We kept straining our necks to take in the panorama of the city, and we kept wiping the tears from our faces. Finally, reluctantly, we got back on the bus.

… A group of us had a late dinner one evening with 10 young people from the Jerusalem Open House. These were English-speaking staff and participants at Jerusalem's LGBT Center. Some of them were straight, most were Jews; they came from many countries. All of them were young; they were studying Torah or law or politics in this religiously and politically dense city. They were happy to meet our group of middle-age and older LGBT folks from the U.S. A young lesbian couple was fascinated by those of us who have been together 10, 20, and 30 years. They wanted to talk about the U.S. elections and about religion and homosexuality. They had heard about MCC's work in Jamaica and they wanted to help. We laughed and talked, and we gave a ride home to a young Scottish Jew who's former partner, as it turned out, was the manager of our hotel (small world, after all!)....
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Click here for more photos of the trip by elbrandt