A sign saying “gay” hangs on the forehead of a crucified Christ figure in a photo from the Brazilian performance group Transeuntes.
“The photo was part of an experience for a new play at a theater about God. My search is about God and sexuality,” Júnio de Carvalho told the Jesus in Love Blog. He is the Brazilian actor and dancer who appears in the photo.
His body is covered with anti-gay slurs and other sex-related labels in Portuguese. The contemporary cross reflects the conflict between erotic pleasure and Christian guilt over homosexuality.
“The photo was taken in a bathroom, because for me it is an intimate space,” Carvalho explained.
The group Transeuntes was created in 2012 out of the need for artists to understand and enact performances on the streets. Their name in Portuguese means “Passersby.”
Transeuntes is a partnership between teachers Ines Linke and Marcelo Rocco and theater students at the Federal University of São João del Rei. The project includes theoretical studies and practical trials seeking to engage pedestrian spectators in the creative process on themes of current interest.
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This post is part of the Queer Christ series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. The series gathers together visions of the queer Christ as presented by artists, writers, theologians and others.
Jo Clifford plays a transgender Christ (photo by Rod Penn)
A controversial play about a transgender Jesus will go on an international tour after recently concluding a successful run in Edinburgh, Scotland.
“The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven” is written and performed by Scottish trans* woman playwright Jo Clifford. In the play Jesus comes back to the present day as a transgender woman, telling Bible stories in new ways and inviting the audience to share an informal communion of bread, wine and blessing.
“I never said beware the homosexual or the transgender or the queer. Because I am one of them,” Jesus says in the play, which stays true to core Christian belief in love and justice for all.
A variety of new videos capture the flavor of the Queen Jesus play. In one of the early scenes Jesus emerges gently from the darkness to light candles, saying,
I am the daughter of God,
And almost certainly the son also.
My mum said,
Let there be light.
And I say:
I am the light.
The Queen Jesus play unleashed a wave of hatred when it was first produced in 2009. More than 300 conservative Christian protesters blocked traffic on opening night in Glasgow, Scotland. The Archbishop of Glasgow called the play “an affront to the Christian faith” and social media comments denounced it as “heresy” and “pure satanism.” The Jesus in Love Blog covered the controversy in the 2009 article “300 protest transsexual Jesus play.”
“I was frightened by the protest and traumatised by the massive online expression of hatred my performance provoked. But it taught me that what I was doing was important. And I’ve had much support from other Christians, and especially from the Unitarians and the United Reformed church,” Clifford said.
Since then the play has been performed in a variety of spaces and places, from a hotel room in Brighton to a beautiful Unitarian church in Edinburgh, and around the world from Eastern Europe to South America.
One of the most moving parts of the play comes when Jesus prays what is traditionally called “the Lord’s Prayer” or “the Our Father” with fresh words and a compelling queer voice, as captured on video:
Our mother who art on earth
Blessed is your name
Your joy be here on earth
As it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily kisses
Forgive us our stupidity
As we forgive those stupidities done to us.
Lead us not into self-righteousness or rage
And save us from destruction and negativity.
For thine is the queendom
The beauty and the joy
For ever and ever amen.
Critics and fans tend to focus on the revolutionary quality of seeing a transgender Jesus, but it’s also an enlightening surprise to see Jesus as an older person: wrinkled, limping slightly and complaining about “my poor tired body that every day gets closer to death.”
“My own childhood was marred by an utter lack of positive role models. People such as me were either portrayed as ridiculous -- dames in the English pantomime tradition -- or evil. It seemed important to me to try to investigate the origin of these distressingly negative stereotypes and see if it was possible to replace or at least subvert them.”
Clifford found parallels between suppression of goddess worship in the Old Testament / Hebrew scriptures and suppression of her own female self during adolescence. She explored these ideas in the 2003 play “God’s New Frock,” forerunner of the Queen Jesus play It appears in “The Sexual Theologian: Essays on Sex, God and Politics,” edited by Marcella Althaus-Reid and Lisa Isherwood.
She decided to do a sequel based on the New Testament, and it quickly became clear to her that the main character needed to be Jesus. “Portraying Jesus as a transsexual is not nearly as shocking or offensive or outrageous as it may first appear to be. Indeed it belongs very firmly to mainstream Christian tradition. We are taught that Jesus, being the Son of God, took on human form and so engaged fully with human experience… Furthermore, we are taught that Jesus constantly associated with the downtrodden and excluded members of his society,” she wrote in “Out of the Ordinary.”
Clifford discusses the meaning of “The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven” and the reactions to it in a series of video interviews.
Jo (formerly John) Clifford has written about 80 plays. They have been performed all over the world, won various awards and been translated into many languages. Her “Great Expectations” makes her the first openly transgender woman playwright to have had a play on in London’s West End.
Her upcoming performances as Queen Jesus will be more than a theatrical tour. The queenjesusplays.org website describes it as a “pilgrimage of sacred spiritual and LGBT sites both nationally and internationally, forging partnerships with theatres, church groups and communities on the way.”
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This post is part of the Queer Christ series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. The series gathers together visions of the queer Christ as presented by artists, writers, theologians and others.
A poster with a lesbian Virgin Mary was withdrawn in Croatia yesterday after religious and political pressure. It advertised the play “Fine Dead Girls” at the municipal Gavella Theatre in Zagreb.
According to Croatian news reports, the mayor of Zagreb ordered theater director Darko Stazic to remove the poster from all public areas after an unprecedented campaign against it by Catholic and other religious groups. They denounced the poster as blasphemy.
Now the theater director is being criticized for cowardice by some LGBT Croatians advocating freedom of expression.
The controversial poster shows a traditional statue of Mary being embraced from behind by another woman. “Fine Dead Girls” (Fine Mrtve Djevojke) by Dalibor Matanic is about a young lesbian couple who move into a seemingly quiet apartment building in Zagreb. Soon they face hostility from neighbors and family, including a religious fundamentalist father. The theatrical version is based on the award-winning 2002 film of the same title.
As a lesbian Christian, I am upset by the censorship of the lesbian Virgin Mary. The conservatives got rid of the lesbian Virgin Mary posters by demanding their religious rights, but what about my right to see images that affirm me as a lesbian Christian?! I welcome images that show lesbian love as sacred, but they are hard to find.
The Croatian controversy is the most recent of many conflicts over LGBT religious images as freedom of religion clashes with freedom of speech. It is important to support LGBT Christian images because conservatives use religious rhetoric to justify discrimination against queer people.
“Corpus Christi” photo by EJ Camp, courtesy of 108 Productions
Blasphemy charges were filed against the actors, producer and director of the gay Jesus play “Corpus Christi” in Greece this month after violent protests forced cancellation of the show.
Greek Orthodox priests and members of the ultra-nationalist Golden Dawn party protested outside the Hytirio theater in downtown Athens almost daily for weeks, according to news reports by Reuters and others. Protestors blocked the theater entrance and clashed with police, forcing the premiere of “Corpus Christi” to be cancelled twice before the whole production was shut down.
Blasphemy laws are rarely enforced in Greece, but director Laertis Vasilio and the cast could face several months in jail if convicted of “malicious blasphemy” and “insulting religion.”
Corpus Christi has been causing controversy since 1998, when bomb threats from religious conservatives almost prevented its Off-Broadway opening. Written by American playwright Terrence McNally, the updated Passion play retells the gospel with Jesus as a gay man in 1950s Corpus Christi, Texas.
“Corpus Christi” continues to be produced around the world, including an international revival tour by 108 Productions that has continued to sell-out audience since 2006.
“We are not involved with the Greek production but have stayed acutely aware of its progress and certainly keep them all in our prayers and thoughts,” said James Brandon, producer, director and actor at 108 Productions, which is based in America. “Although we may get thousands of protest emails daily we are blessed and lucky not to be able to be charged!”
Controversy over the play is explored on film in “Corpus Christi: Playing with Redemption,” a new documentary from 108 Productions (trailer below). The film follows the troupe, playwright and audiences across the United States and around the world on a five-year journey as protestors and supporters clash over a central issue facing the LGBT community: religion-based bias.
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This post is part of the Queer Christ series series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. The series gathers together visions of the queer Christ as presented by artists, writers, theologians and others.
Jesus kisses a man behind the scenes at “Corpus Christi,” a play about a gay Jesus by Terrence McNally, in a new photo.
A traditional Christ seems to reach across 2,000 years of history to share a kiss with a 21st-century man in a tie-dyed shirt. Jesus is still carrying his cross, but that can’t stop him from expressing man-to-man love with a gay kiss.
The photo was taken in August 2011 at Burning Man in the Nevada desert. It shows Jesus kissing Benjamin Rexroad, who directed a production of “Corpus Christi.”
The play and surrounding controversy are examined in the new documentary film “Corpus Christi: Playing with Redemption.” It will be released in April after five years of filming and two years of edits. The sneak-preview national tour starts in San Francisco with the first official screening on April 28. Watch the new trailer below or at this link.
“Corpus Christi” retells the gospel with Jesus as a gay man in 1950s Corpus Christi, Texas. Bomb threats from religious conservatives almost prevented its Off-Broadway opening in 1998. The acclaimed play has continued to face censorship, protests, bomb threats, blasphemy charges and religious condemnation since an international revival tour by 108 Productions began in 2006.
In the new documentary, anti-gay religious groups meet “the gay Jesus play.” The film follows the troupe, playwright and audiences across the U.S. and around the world on a five-year journey where voices of protest and support collide on one of the central issues facing the LGBT community: religion-based bias.
(Photo courtesy of Benjamin Rexroad)
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This post is part of the Queer Christ series series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. The series gathers together visions of the queer Christ as presented by artists, writers, theologians and others.
“Transfigurations: Transgressing Gender in the Bible” is an LGBT-positive play that is now being made into a graphic novel.
“Transfigurations” was created by Peterson Toscano, a gay activist, actor and playwright who has performed in North America, Europe and Africa. His play wakes people up with transgender Bible characters who do not fit the gender binary. By transgressing and transcending gender, they find themselves at the center of some of the Bible’s most important stories. “Transfigurations” covers many Bible characters, including the Ethiopian eunuch who became the first non-Hebrew Christian.
Toscano drew inspiration for “Transfigurations” from his own life as well as interviews with transsexual, genderqueer and gender-variant individuals. He weaves their stories with the Hebrew and Christian scriptures..
Based in Pennsylvania, Toscano describes himself as “a queer quirky Quaker trying to make the world a better place.” He spent 17 years in ex-gay treatment as a conservative evangelical Christian trying to suppress his same-sex orientation and gender differences. Now Toscano sees ex-gay therapy as “a Biblically induced coma.”
Since coming out as a gay man in 1998, he has presented a GLBT-affirming message through talks, online projects and theater events such as “Transfigurations.” The one-person, multi-character play premiered in 2007 and has won praise from Bible scholars
Michael Willett Newheart, professor of New Testament language and literature at Howard University School of Divinity, states, “I attended a workshop with Peterson in which he announced that he was doing a show on the transgender people in the Bible. I thought to myself, Hey, I’m a biblical scholar, and I don’t know any transgender folks in the Bible! Now I know! I applaud Peterson for bringing to the fore in this play a new way of looking at the Bible! Bravo! No, bravissimo! I had to look at my own sexual stereotypes and how I bring them to biblical interpretation!”
Virginia Ramey Mollenkott, professor emeritus of English at William Paterson University of New Jersey, says, “His biblical exegesis is insightful and accurate, and you will glean a whole new perspective painlessly because of his charming performance.”
Full Draw Studios recently announced that it will turn “Transfigurations” into a graphic novel. “I am working with Jayna and Mila Pavlin, two amazing comic artists, podcasters and transgender activists,” Toscano says. “They are adapting my script for the page bringing it to life in a whole new way,” Toscano says.
In addition to the graphic novel portion of the project, the final book will include various scholars sharing insights from existing scholarship and their original research. Both scholars and public intellectuals in the fields of sacred text and in gender studies will contribute, resulting in a unique blend of art and academics.
Toscano is seeking scholars to contribute to the “Transgressions” book. Full Draw Studios issued this call for contributors:
“Peterson is currently connecting with scholars who are interested in taking part in the project. You may be an established published professor, just beginning your career, or a public intellectual engaging through speaking or on-line. Peterson will share sections of his script with you, share the scholarship he has done on the work and give you a chance to add to it. At this time we cannot offer financial compensation, but for each contributor, we will provide a full biography. And if we get a nice book contract, who knows? :-) If you are interested or simply wish to know more, please contact Peterson at p2son@earthlink.net.”
Toscano talks about “Transfigurations” and transgender characters in the Bible in the following video. It captures his lively and sensible approach to being queer and Christian. For more info, visit www.petersontoscano.com/transfigurations.
Above: “Concert of cherubs in the clouds” by Wenceslas Hollar, Wikimedia commons Below: Poster from “Jesus, Queen of Heaven”
Jesus’ angelic birth highlights the holiness of EVERY birth in the following scene from the controversial new play “Jesus, Queen of Heaven” by Jo Clifford formerly John Clifford). This scene reminds us that angels surround us all.
As a special Christmas gift, Jo agreed to let the Jesus in Love Blog post part an excerpt from her play, which was protested by 300 Christian conservatives last month at its premiere in Scotland. They were upset because Jo presents Jesus as a transsexual woman.
However, Jo’s aim was to express love just as Jesus does in the Bible. I believe that this scene conveys the true meaning of Christmas:
Go home rejoicing.
Just as the shepherds did in the story of our birth,
Do you remember them?
The ones who were tending their flocks by night,
and the angels saying:
“Fear not. I bring you tidings of great joy.
You shall find the babe lying in a manger.”
And that was you. And you. And you.
And me too. All of us. In our swaddling clothes.
Dear little things that we were.
And still are.
And don’t tell me
There were no shepherds. Or that there were no
flocks.
Because they all went years ago when they built
the city by-pass.
Or that it wasn’t a manger. But a plastic box in a
run-down maternity ward. Without enough midwives.
Or there were no wise men,
Maybe just your dad, and him a bit pissed maybe,
being so nervous.
Think poetically.
Because what i tell you is true.
The whole truth and nothing but
Because, Beloved sisters and brothers and every
kind of sibling in Christ,
Because I am the truth.
And I am also the way and the life and a million
other things besides.
And the angels were there at your birth
And there was rejoicing and great gladness
And wise men did come with the most beautiful
gifts.
And the angels just so delightfully framing the
sky.
Because there are Angels. Angels everywhere.
Jesus is a trans woman in the poster for “Jesus, Queen of Heaven”
More than 300 conservative Christian protesters picketed a play about a transsexual Jesus recently in Glasgow, Scotland.
Waving signs and singing hymns, they blocked traffic for two hours on opening night of “Jesus, Queen of Heaven” at the Tron Theatre last week. The play was written and performed by Jo Clifford (formerly John Clifford), whose stated goal was to create greater understanding of transgendered people like herself.
The play expresses a theme of love and tolerance in keeping with Jesus’ own teachings in the Bible. The poster shows Clifford posing as Christ in a white dress with a halo and crucifixion wounds.
Promotional materials sum up the play this way: “Jesus is a transsexual woman. And it is now she walks the earth. This is a play with music that presents her sayings, her miracles, and her testimony. And she does not condemn the gays or the queers or the trans women or the trans men, and no, not the straight women nor the straight men neither. Because she is the Daughter of God, most certainly, and almost as certainly the son also. And God’s child condemns nobody. She can only love...”
In contrast, protestors condemned the play with signs saying “God: My Son is Not a Pervert” and “Jesus, King of Kings, Not Queen of Heaven.”
Clifford said in a news interview that she was deeply offended by the protestors’ misunderstanding of her play and their prejudice against transgenders.
The production is part of the publicly funded “Glasgay!” festival, Scotland’s annual celebration of GLBT culture.
I believe that it’s important to envision a transgender Jesus because Christ represents God made flesh, and we are all created in God’s image, whatever our gender identity or sexual orientation. When we can imagine God as transgender, it is easier to recognize the divinity within the transgendered people around us. The transgender Christ is especially valuable to counteract the bigots who use Christian rhetoric to justify discrimination against GLBT people.
Similar protests were sparked by “Corpus Christi,” a play by Terrence McNally about a gay Christ figure. Bomb threats almost prevented its off-Broadway opening in 1998.
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Mary’s ecstasy at the time of Christ’s conception is a recurring theme in the spirituality and work of Atlanta artist Trudie Barreras. Her ecstatic “Annunciation” painting was introduced in the previous post and is the logo for this series on Eros and Christ.
Long after doing the painting, Barreras was inspired to explore the theme of Mary’s ecstasy again. At a Mexican flea market in 2001, she discovered a statuette of Mary breastfeeding the baby Jesus while on donkey-back. The figurine inspired her to write a meditation titled “Miriam’s Journey.”
Designed as a first-person monologue, it runs from Mary’s betrothal as a teenager through her son’s death on the cross. “Miriam’s Journey” is written in free verse form and reads like poetry, although it is intended for production as part of a mini-play. An especially eloquent section describes how Mary felt when Jesus was conceived:
Suddenly, the light became, if possible,
Even more pure and liquid-brilliant.
It almost seemed to coalesce into a pillar of fire
Like the one that led our people out of bondage.
Somehow I found myself kneeling
And it seemed that I could see a form within the flame.
“Gabriel!” my heart acknowledged, “Messenger of God!”
Then I heard within my mind, or from outside,
I really could not say, a message clear and simple:
“Greetings, Miriam, for you are loved by Yahweh.
God needs a willing mother to bear Messiah for the world.
You are that Woman.”
My heart sang “Yes!”
Prayer hardly spoken, answered in a breath!
And yet, I knew that I must pause, and listen closely.
I heard myself responding, “How is this to be?
For though I am betrothed, I have not yet come together
With my husband.”
Even as this thought was framed, the answer echoed
Clearly in my soul: “Messiah is God’s son,
And needs no earthly father. As you accept this Gift,
God’s Spirit overshadows you!”
The next moment, it seemed,
I was completely consumed by that ecstatic light,
And yet I was not harmed!
Often before I had felt dim stirrings of the ecstasy
Of God’s Indwelling Spirit.
Now, suddenly, the Spirit was all of me,
And I was all of it!
Please forgive me if, even now, I have no words
To truly tell you how it was!
If in that single eternal moment time ceased to exist,
Immediately after, I reentered the stream of days.
And days grew into weeks, and weeks to months.
I soon discovered that my pregnancy was just like any other.
In addition to “Miriam’s Journey,” Barreras has written a variety of other dramatic monologues with Biblical figures telling their stories. Her interpretations of the Samaritan woman at the well and Peter’s mother-in-law have been produced at various church gatherings, where Barreras reports that they “have tremendous meaning for many people, both male and female.”
Like Barreras, I wanted to make a real connection with the Christian story through my writing. The result was my 2006 novel “Jesus in Love.” The first chapter includes a scene about Mary’s ecstasy. It will be posted here next week as the series on Eros and Christ continues.
has been causing controversy since 1998, when bomb threats from religious conservatives almost prevented its Off-Broadway opening. Written by American playwright Terrence McNally, the updated Passion play retells the gospel with Jesus as a gay man in 1950s Corpus Christi, Texas. 
.” The first chapter includes a scene about Mary’s ecstasy. It will be posted here next week as the series on Eros and Christ continues.
