LGBTQ guide to AAR (American Academy of Religion) and SBL (Society of Biblical Literature) meeting 2011

A huge variety of LGBT and queer events are planned for the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and the Society of Biblical Literature Nov. 19-22 in San Francisco.

Here is a handy guide to more than 30 major LGBTQ activities at AAR-SBL. The joint annual meeting is the largest gathering of biblical and religion scholars in the world with more than 11,000 attendees.

This list is a useful summary for those attending -- and a sneak-preview of the latest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer religious scholarship for those of us who can’t be there.

Beginning with AIDS, the Bible and church life, the conference will address every major world religion from various racial and ethnic perspectives. They will cover everything from queer Buddhist utopias and transsexual Mormons to Jesus the woman, intersex theology, castration in medieval Islamic society and AIDS at 30 in a queer San Francisco church.

It’s possible to do LGBTQ religious events almost non-stop for five days! Sometimes multiple events even overlap. I spent many happy hours digging through data to compile this comprehensive guide.

As one friend wrote, “Wow - that is so great that you will be consolidating all the LGBTQ sessions - very helpful! Your blog is going to become my go-to site for choosing where to go next :)”

Best wishes to the many friends of the Jesus in Love Blog who will be attending AAR-SBL!

Disclaimer: These events may be subject to change. Let me know if I missed anything!

Note: Session numbers begin with "A" for AAR and other letters for SBL.

Friday, Nov. 18

A18-100 Preconference Workshop: Overcoming Barriers to Underrepresented Scholarship: A Strategy and Action WorkshopFriday - 9:00 am-4:30 pm
Despite more than four decades of feminist, antiracist, queer, and other insurgent scholarship, this work and the scholars who produce it still face many barriers in the academy.

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A18-301 Status of LGBTIQ Persons in the Profession Task Force Meeting
Friday - 6:00 pm-9:00 pm

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M18-410 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Caucus of SBL
11/18/2011 8:00 PM to 9:30 PM

Saturday, Nov. 19

A19–100 Special Topics Forum: Beyond Identity Politics
Saturday — 9:00 am–11:30 am
How do queer people move beyond identity-based politics, and how can or should we do so? Sponsored by the Status of LGBTIQ Persons in the Profession Committee.
Laurel C. Schneider, Chicago Theological Seminary, Presiding
Panelists:
Mari E. Castellanos, United Church of Christ
Amanullah De Sondy, University of Miami
Jasbir Puar, Rutgers University
Sister Mora Lee D'Klined, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
Sister Pat N. Leather, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

***
A19-124 Buddhism in the West: Past and Present
Saturday - 9:00 am-11:30 am
Includes among others:
Ann Gleig, Millsaps College
"This Could Only Happen in California": Dharma Diversity and Queer Buddhist Utopias at the East Bay Meditation Center

****
A19–115 Gay Men and Religion Group: Theme: Scholars and Activists Talk Back: Responses to Mark Jordan’s Recruiting Young Love: How Christians Talk about Homosexuality (University of Chicago Press, 2011)
Saturday — 9:00 AM–11:30 AM
Jay E. Johnson, Pacific School of Religion, Presiding
Panelists:
Elizabeth Leung, Pacific School of Religion
James Mitulski, New Spirit Community Church, Berkeley, CA
Penny Nixon, Congregational Church of San Mateo
Sharon Groves, Human Rights Campaign
Randall Miller, Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund and Pacific School of Religion
Mark Jordan, Harvard University, Responding

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A19–139 Special Topics Forum: LGBTIQ Mentoring Lunch
Saturday — 11:45 AM–12:45 PM

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A19-229 Queer Studies in Religion Group: Theme: Implications of Jasbir K. Puar's Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times (Next Wave: New Directions in Women's Studies) (Duke University Press, 2007) for the Study of Religion
Saturday - 1:00 pm-3:30 pm
Melissa M. Wilcox, Whitman College, Presiding
Panelists:
Rosemary R. Hicks, Tufts University
Joseph A. Marchal, Ball State University
Nayan Shah, University of California, San Diego
Brock Perry, Chicago Theological Seminary
Maia Kotrosits, Union Theological Seminary
Responding:
Jasbir Puar, Rutgers University

***
P19-291 African Association for the Study of Religion
11/19/2011 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM
Includes
“There is Something In Me”: Narratives of Lesbian and Transgender Sangomas in Contemporary South Africa
Rachel Schneider Vlachos, Rice University

***
S19-214 Gender, Sexuality, and the Bible: Theme: Material Embodiments and Contemporary Practices
11/19/2011 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Includes:
Gagnon's Unnatural Homosexual and Wittig's Monstrous Lesbian
Gillian Townsley, University of Otago
Looks at “The Bible and Homosexual Practice” by Robert Gagnon and “The Lesbian Body” by Monique Wittig

***
A19-302 Gender Theory, Intersectionality, and Justice Cluster
Saturday - 4:00 pm-6:30 pm
Includes:
I am ___: Queer/Ethnic Identity in Contemporary Western Contexts
Jared Vazquez, Phillips Theological Seminary
“a way forward will be articulated for queer ethnic (namely Caribbean latina/os) people in the United States”

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A19-305:  North American Religions Section: Theme: Rethinking Key Paradigms in American Religion: "Black Church," "Queering Religion," "Nature Religion," and "Material Culture"
Saturday - 4:00 pm-6:30 pm
Includes:
Captive Bodies, Queer Religions: Scripting North American Religious Difference
Megan Goodwin, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

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A19–405 LGBTIQ Scholars/Scholars of LGBTIQ Studies Reception
Saturday — 8:00 PM–10:00 PM

Sunday, Nov. 20

A20-131 Religion and Sexuality Consultation: Theme: Contesting Bodies, Configuring Sexuality
Sunday - 9:00 am-11:30 am
Includes:
"I Am a Daughter of My Heavenly Father": Transsexual Mormons and Performed Gender Essentialism
Jill Peterfeso, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Sexual Diversity, Islamic Jurisprudence, and Sociality
Nadeem Mahomed, University of Johannesburg

****
A20–137 SWP, REM, and LGBTIQ Women’s Mentoring Lunch
Sunday  — 11:45 AM–12:45 PM
Sponsored by the Status of Women in the Profession Committee; Status of Racial and Ethnic Minorities in the Profession Committee, and the Status of LGBTIQ Persons in the Profession Committee

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A20-233 Queer Studies in Religion Group and Religion and Cities Group: Theme: Queer Practices in San Francisco
Sunday - 1:00 pm-2:30 pm
L. Benjamin Rolsky, Drew University, Presiding

Sharon Fennema, Graduate Theological Union
Strategies of Theodicy in an Epidemic: Worship, HIV/AIDS, and the Intimacy of God at the Metropolitan Community Church, San Francisco
(Her research includes an interview with the author of this blog, Kittredge Cherry!)

Anthony Hoshaw, Chicago Theological Seminary
The Apostle Paul's "Queer Politics"?

Jeff Wilson, University of Waterloo
"All Beings are Equally Embraced by Amida Buddha": Jodo Shinshu Buddhism and Same-Sex Marriage in North America

Responding:
Drew Bourn, Stanford University

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A20-207 Religion and Politics Section: Theme: The Front Lines of the Culture Wars
Sunday - 1:00 pm-2:30 pm
Includes, among others:
Interreligious Activism in Support of Marriage Equality
Helene Slessarev-Jamir, Claremont School of Theology

****
A20-275 Lesbian-Feminisms in Conversation with Disability Studies
Sunday — 3:00 PM–4:30 PM
Marie Cartier, California State University, Northridge, Presiding

Julia Watts Belser, Missouri State University
Brides and Blemishes: Queering Women’s Disability in the Babylonian Talmud

Heike Peckruhn, Iliff School of Theology and University of Denver
Sensing Limitations and/in Constructive Body Theologies

Marion S. Grau, Graduate Theological Union
Redeeming Bodies: Cyborgs, Transhumanist Fantasies, Disability, and the Ends of Embodiment

Janet R. Jakobsen, Barnard College, Responding

***
A20-267 Black Theology Group: Theme: (In)Visible Lives: A Critical Conversation on Roger A. Sneed's Representations of Homosexuality: Black Liberation Theology and Cultural Criticism (Black Religion/Womanist Thought/Social Justice) (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010)
Sunday - 3:00 pm-4:30 pm
Pamela Lightsey, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Presiding
Panelists:
Ronald Neal, Wake Forest University
Patrick S. Cheng, Episcopal Divinity School
Margaret Aymer, Interdenominational Theological Center
Almeda Wright, Pfeiffer University
Responding:
Roger A. Sneed, Furman University

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S20-335 Reading, Theory and the Bible: Theme: Judith Butler and Biblical Interpretation
11/20/2011 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Includes:
Trans Formations: Judith Butler, David Reimer, and the Dance of King David
Teresa Hornsby, Drury University

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A20-319 Gay Men and Religion Group: Theme: Slippery Texts/Queer Hermeneutics
Sunday — 5:00 PM–6:30 PM
W. Scott Haldeman, Chicago Theological Seminary, Presiding

Christopher Ashley, Union Theological Seminary
Practices of Discernment and Prophecy in Angels in America

Devan Hite, Chicago Theological Seminary
“That They Might Have Joy”: Toward a Postheteronormative, Gay Mormon Heremeneutic

Karen Bray, Drew University
Don’t Cry for Me Walter Brueggemann: Camp as Queer Lament

Catherine Roach, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Responding

***
A20-315 Bible, Theology, and Postmodernity Group
Sunday - 5:00 pm-6:30 pm
Includes:
The Body of Christ as a Queer Community
Adriaan Van Klinken, Utrecht University

****
A20-328 Ritual Studies Group: Theme: Case Studies in Ritual Practice
Sunday - 5:00 pm-6:30 pm
Includes:
Dismantling Gender: Between Ancient Gnostic Ritual and Modern Queer BDSM
Jonathan Cahana, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

***

Monday, Nov. 21

A21-116 Gay Men and Religion Group and Lesbian-Feminist Issues and Religion Group:
Theme: Queer Eclipses: The Future of Gendered Sexual Identities in the Study of Religion
Monday — 9:00 AM–11:30 AM
Yvonne Zimmerman, Methodist Theological School, Ohio, Presiding

Thelathia Young, Emory University, Sara Rosenau, Drew University, and Robyn Henderson-Espinoza, University of Denver and Iliff School of Theology
Intersectional Bodies: Disrupting Queerness in Religious Discourse

John Howell, University of Chicago
Stonewalled: Orthodoxy, Heresy, and Rhetorical Violence in the Gay Generation Gap

E. L. Kornegay, Chicago Theological Seminary
Baldwin on Top: Towards a Heteroanomalous Queer Calculus
Explores author James Baldwin's use of queerness to create radical inclusivity

Mary E. Hunt, Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual, and Patrick S. Cheng, Episcopal Divinity School, Responding

***
S21-228 LGBT/Queer Hermeneutics: Theme: Wisdom's Women
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM 11/21/2011
Robert von Thaden, Mercyhurst College, Presiding

Angela Yarber, Graduate Theological Union
Undulating the Holy: The Shulamite’s Dance and Queer Sexuality in Song of Songs 7:1-4

Melanie A. Howard, Princeton Theological Seminary
Wiles of the Wicked Transvestite: The Queering of Gender and Boundaries in 4Q184
A queer reading of documents from Qumran, 4Q184

Shannon McAlister, Catholic University of America
Jesus the Woman: Wisdom’s Gender-Bender in the Patristic and Medieval Interpretation of Luke 15:8-10

***
A21–315 Asian North American Religion, Culture, and Society Group: Theme: Coming Home: LGBTQ Asian Americans and Religious Communities
Monday — 4:00 PM–6:30 PM
Devin Singh, Yale University, Presiding
Panelists:
Michael Sepidoza Campos, Graduate Theological Union
Elizabeth Leung, Pacific School of Religion
Gina Masequesmay, California State University, Northridge
Su Yon Pak, Union Theological Seminary
Patrick S. Cheng, Episcopal Divinity School, Responding

****
A21-324 Lesbian-Feminist Issues and Religion Group: Theme: Borderlands and Lesbian Nation: Sacred Space?
Monday — 4:00 PM–6:30 PM
Many presentations in this session are based on Gloria Anzaldúa’s book Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza
Marie Cartier, Claremont Graduate University and California State University, Northridge, Presiding

Kathleen Douglass, Iliff School of Theology and University of Denver
Vibrating Spaces: Transformational Relating in Borderland Space

An Yountae, Drew University
Amor Fronterizo y el Renacimiento de la Tierra Madre: Dialectics of Love in the Borderland/Homeland

Margaret Robinson, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Your Borders are Not My Boundaries: A Fence-sitting Halfbreed Reads La Frontera

Robyn Henderson-Espinoza, Iliff School of Theology and University of Denver
Must I be a Lesbian Feminist?: Borderlands as the Si(gh)te for a Queer Mestizo

****
A21-303 American Religion in the Age of AIDS
Monday - 4:00 pm-6:30 pm
Includes:
Lynne Gerber, University of California, Berkeley
“Is Everyone Healed but Me?”: AIDS at Thirty in a Queer San Francisco Church

Amy Koehlinger, Florida State University
Passionate Play: Catholicism and Damien Ministries
Argues that Damien Ministries is best understood through the rubric of passionate, queer play.

Anthony Petro, New York University
After the Wrath of God: American Christians and the Biopolitics of AIDS

Responding:
Mark Jordan, Harvard University

***
S21-302 Strategy Session for Non-Traditional Hermeneutics
11/21/2011 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Involves SBL's LGBT/Queer Hermeneutics program unit plus many others.

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A21–401 Film: We Were Here: Voices from the AIDS Years in San Francisco
Monday — 8:00 PM–10:00 PM
The film documents the coming of what was called the “Gay Plague” in the early 1980s.

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A21-400 Film: La Mission
Monday - 8:00 pm-10:00 pm
In San Francisco's Mission District, a macho father (played by Benjamin Bratt) struggles when he finds out that his son is gay.

Tuesday, Nov. 22

A22-124 Queer Studies in Religion Group: Theme: Queerly Rereading Texts and Traditions
Tuesday - 9:00 am-11:30 am
Thelathia Young, Emory University, Presiding

Ahmed Ragab, Harvard University
Bodies in Transformation: Castration and Castrates in Medieval Islamic Society

Jay Michaelson, Hebrew University
Queering Kabbalistic Gender Performance: Possibilities for a Contemporary Queer Theology

Lisa Brooks, University of Colorado
Karma as an "Apparatus": The Etiology of Queer Sexualities in Classical Ayurveda

Jessica A. Boon, Southern Methodist University
Intersex Theology?: Juana de la Cruz (1481–1534), Transgender Miracles, and Marian Authority

***
S22-125 Joint Session With: LGBT/Queer Hermeneutics, Disability Studies and Healthcare in the Bible and Near East: Theme: Intersections: Disability and Queer Theory in Conversation
11/22/2011 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Lynn Huber, Elon University, Presiding

David Tabb Stewart, California State University, Long Beach
Severe Bodies
The man who is a full castrato (Deut 23) and the woman with a prolapsed uterus (Num 5) have the most severely disabled sexual bodies in the Hebrew Bible.

Anna Rebecca Solevag, Universitetet i Oslo
No Nuts? No Problem! The Baptized Eunuch in Acts 8:26-40

Miranda N. Pillay, University of the Western Cape
Healing in the New Testament: Towards Integrating Individual and Societal Intervention Strategies in an AIDS Era

Deborah Creamer, Iliff School of Theology, Respondent

***
A22-121 Latina/o Religion, Culture, and Society Group: Theme: Hot Rods, Cool Music, and the Queering of Familia: Perspectives on the Film La Mission through Sexuality, Popular Religion, and Violence
Tuesday - 9:00 am-11:30 am
Elias Ortega-Aponte, Princeton University, Presiding
Panelists:
Wendy Arce, Graduate Theological Union
Patrick Reyes, Boston University
Raul Rico, Boston University
Orlando Espin, University of San Diego
Jacqueline Hidalgo, Williams College
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UPDATE: A couple of readers asked Are the AAR-SBL presentations available in any way to people who can't attend?

The panels are usually not recorded or available in printed form, but abstracts of some of the papers are online now. Visit the AAR and SLB links below, go to the online program books and start searching. You can also try contacting the speakers directly.

It’s not easy to get access to this information. The Jesus in Love AAR-SBL guide offers a rare glimpse into the fairly private world of scholarship-in-the-making.

For more info, visit:

American Academy of Religion
http://www.aarweb.org/

Society of Biblical Literature
http://www.sbl-site.org/default.aspx

Here’s another resource for those who want to follow the latest research and scholarship of various LGBT theologians (and others).
http://www.academia.edu/

Here are some of the LGBTQ books and films that will be discussed in depth at AAR 2011:

Queer theology of sainthood emerges on Episcopal Divinity School blog

My article “A Queer Theology of Sainthood Emerges” is today’s top story at 99 Brattle, the prestigious blog of the Episcopal Divinity School.

The article begins, “A queer theology of sainthood is emerging now as LGBT people seek and find alternative ways to lead loving lives. Saints have been criticized as tools for enforcing conformity, but the desire for LGBT saints is springing up from the grassroots -- and the need is largely being met by individuals, not religious institutions.”

I go on to consider LGBT saints from a viewpoint that is “queer” as defined by theologian Patrick Cheng in his book “Radical Love: An Introduction to Queer Theology.” It can be an umbrella term for marginalized sexualities and gender identities. But Cheng explains that the term also denotes an attitude: “In recent years, the word ‘queer’ has been used by many LGBT people as a positive label that proudly embraces all that is transgressive or opposed to societal norms, particularly with respect to sexuality and gender identity.”

Read the whole article at this link:
http://99brattle.blogspot.com/2011/11/queer-theology-of-sainthood-emerges.html

I’m honored be among the renowned theologians and scholars at the 99 Brattle Blog, including Carter Heyward, Mary Hunt, Chris Glaser, Kwok Pui-lan, Patrick Cheng, Rita Nakashima Brock, and Toby Johnson.

The 99 Brattle Blog bills itself as “progressive theology and critical thinking to transform the world.” May the queer saints be with them!

Feminism and Religion Blog features Kittredge Cherry on LGBT saints

Logo for Feminism and Religion Blog by Jaysen Waller

My reflection on how feminism helps identify LGBT saints is the top story at the Feminism and Religion Blog today.

The article begins, “Feminists have criticized saints as top-down tools of the dominant morality, but as a lesbian Christian I find that sometimes the opposite is true. The desire for saints rises from the grassroots, and LGBT saints can shake up the status quo. Feminist theology is helping me in a quest for new models of sainthood that lead to LGBT and queer saints.”

I go on to explore how my LGBT Saints Series was influenced by feminist theologians and philosophers such as Elizabeth Stuart, Rosemary Radford Ruether and Mary Daly.  Read the whole article at this link:

http://feminismandreligion.com/2011/11/08/lgbt-saints-feminism-leads-to-a-queer-theology-of-sainthood-by-kittredge-cherry/

I am honored to be a guest blogger among the renowned theologians and scholars at the Feminism and Religion Blog, including Starhawk, Carol Christ, Rosemary Radford Ruether, Mary Hunt, and Zsuzsanna Budapest. Look for more of my work there in the future.

The Feminism and Religion Blog explores feminism in religion and the intersection between scholarship, activism, and community. It was launched earlier this year because “important work in women’s studies in religion continues as more attention is paid to the intersection between gender, race, culture, and sexual identity, within feminism and religion.”

They also ran my pieces “Artemisia Gentileschi: Baroque artist and rape survivor painted strong Biblical women” and “Mary’s Feast Rooted in Lesbian Goddesses Diana and Artemis.” Here’s how the Feminism and Religion Blog describes me: “The following is a guest post written by Rev. Kittredge Cherry, lesbian Christian author and art historian who blogs about LGBT spirituality and the arts at the Jesus in Love Blog. Her books include Equal Rites and Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ, and More.”

The Feminism and Religion Blog logo was designed by artist Jaysen Waller in the spirit of inclusivity. The image celebrates and encourages feminist voices in all religions, although it is impossible to name every tradition. The spiraling center has been designed to symbolize Goddess spirituality and the traditions are named in the order of their founding rather than East/West to avoid separatist and dualistic notions.

Special thanks to Xochitl Alvizo, my sponsor at the Feminism and Religion blog! She is a feminist theologian who is completing her doctorate at Boston University School of Theology.

All Saints Day: Why we need LGBT saints

“The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs” by Fra Angelico, 1428-30, Wikimedia Commons

LGBT saints are important because people are searching for alternative ways to lead loving lives. Churches have tried to control people by burying queer history. The LGBT saints show us not only THEIR place in history, but also OUR place -- because we are all saints who are meant to embody love. We can tap into the energy of our ancestors in faith. For some they become friends and helpers, working miracles as simple as a reminding us that “you are not alone.”


For a new version of this article, click this link to Qspirit.net:
Why we need LGBTQ saints: A queer theology of sainthood

On All Saints Day, I offer reflections on what I have learned by writing more than 40 profiles in the LGBT Saints Series over the past two years. This is my queer theology of sainthood.

At first I thought that LGBT saints were rare. Gradually I came to see that they are everywhere throughout all time and they are among us now. We have all met saints in our lives. They are ordinary people who are also extraordinary.

Sergius and Bacchus
by Robert Lentz
TrinityStores.com

Who are the LGBT and queer saints? If you want specific names, visit the new LGBT Saints page that I’m launching today at http://jesusinlove.org/saints.php.

One of the greatest challenges has been to figure out who is a “saint” and who is “LGBT.” If the boundaries of sainthood are slippery, then the definition LGBT is even more fluid.

Most mainstream churches would not canonize any saints who were openly LGBT, so we must claim our own saints. It’s important to re-evaluate familiar figures as well as to recover those who have been lost and recognize the saints of our own time.

Traditional stories of the saints tend to be overly pious, presenting idealized super-heroes who seem distant and irrelevant. Saints have been used to get people to passively accept oppressive situations. Too often the saints have been put on a pedestal to glorify virginity and masochistic suffering. The emphasis on miracles disrespects nature, the ongoing miracle of life. Feminists have criticized saints as tools of the dominant morality, but for me the opposite is true: LGBT saints can shake up the status quo. We can restore the complex reality of saints whose lives are being hijacked by the hagiographies and hierarchy to enforce the status quo. Queer saints can help reclaim the wholeness, connecting sexuality and spirituality for the good of all.

Perpetua and Felicity
by Robert Lentz
TrinityStores.com

I began writing about LGBT saints after finishing a series of books on the queer Christ (Jesus in Love novels and Art That Dares). Many people told me that they couldn’t relate to a gay Jesus, but they liked the idea that his followers were LGBT. Church leaders have used saints to impose control from the top down, but the desire for saints springs naturally from the grassroots. People are drawn to the presence of spiritual power in the lives of the saints, and their willingness to use that power for others, even at great cost to themselves. Saints attract others with the quality of their love, even though their personal lives may not be “saintly.”

I was aware of new research and art about LGBT saints, so I was shocked to discover that it was not easily available online. Largely due to the church’s crackdown on LGBT spirituality, much of it was buried under obscure code names like “images that challenge” -- if it was available on the Internet at all.

As an independent blogger, I am free to put LGBT saints out there where more people can find and benefit from them. I decided to uncover and highlight holy heroes and role models to inspire LGBT people of faith and our allies. The positive response quickly affirmed that people are hungry to connect with queer people of faith who have gone before.

What is a saint?

My definition of who qualifies as a “LGBT saint” continues to expand. First I included saints officially canonized by the church, but I soon discovered that many have achieved “sainthood” by popular acclaim. The church didn’t even have a formal canonization process for its first 1,000 years. Ultimately all believers, living and dead, can be called “saints,” a practice that began in the early church. Yes, we are all saints!

Dictionaries define a saint as “a holy person” or “an extremely virtuous person.” I rather like the concept of sainthood that emerged in comments on this blog during a discussion of the post “Artist shows sensuous gay saints.” Atlanta artist Trudie Barreras wrote: “My definition of saint has absolutely nothing to do with what the hierarchical church defines, and everything to do with the quality of love displayed.” Or, as gay author Toby Johnson commented, “Being a saint means creating more love in the world.”

Joan of Arc
by Robert Lentz
TrinityStores.com

Sainthood comes in many different forms. Some become saints by leading an exemplary life, but the surest path to sainthood is to risk or lose one’s for the good of others. As Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13). Martyrs, from the Greek word for “to bear witness,” are a common type of saint.

Whether or not they died as martyrs, the lives of the saints were indeed difficult. Our lives are difficult too -- and that can become a point of connection. Like today’s LGBT Christians, the saints sometimes faced opposition from within the church. Some martyrs, including cross-dresser Joan of Arc, were killed not FOR the church, but BY the church!

What is LGBT?

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer did not exist as categories throughout most of the history in which the saints lived. A convenient way around this dilemma is to say that LGBT saints are those of special interest to LGBT people and our allies.

Harvey Milk
by Robert Lentz
TrinityStores.com

Some deny the existence of historical LGBT saints because it’s almost impossible to prove their sexual activity. However, same-sex love does not have to be sexually consummated for someone to be honored as an LGBT saint. Deep love between two people of the same gender is enough. Homosexuality is more than sexual conduct. The American Psychological Association defines sexual orientation as “an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions.” The dominant Christian culture tried to suppress overt homosexuality, so any hint of homosexuality that survives in the historical record should be given extra significance. Many official saints were nuns or monks living in same-gender convents or monasteries.  Naturally their primary emotional attachments were to people of the same gender. Soon almost all saints seem LGBT!

Let us be inspired by the LGBT saints who surround us as a “great cloud of witnesses” and commit ourselves to our own queer paths toward sainthood.
___
Update on Nov. 12, 2011:
I have expanded on the ideas presented here by writing theological reflections based on feminist and queer theology at the following two blogs:

Feminism and Religion Blog: Feminism leads to a queer theology of sainthood

99 Brattle (Episcopal Divinity School blog): A queer theology of sainthood emerges
___
Related links:

LGBT Saints list at JesusInLove.org

Who are the "Queer Saints and Martyrs"? by Terence Weldon (Queering the Church)

LGBT-friendly memorial for All Saints, All Souls and Day of the Dead

An All Hallows' Eve Vigil to Begin Transgender Awareness Month by H. Adam Ackley (Huff Post)

LGBT litany of the saints: Harvey Milk, pray for us; Joan of Arc, pray for us... by Rachel Waltz

Santos Queer (LGBT Saints by Kittredge Cherry in Spanish / en español)

A Litany of All the Saints by James Kiefer

TrinityStores.com (innovative icons, including some LGBT saints)

Sanctity And Male Desire: A Gay Reading Of Saints by Donald Boisvert

Spitting at Dragons: Towards a Feminist Theology of Sainthood by Elizabeth Stuart

Passionate Holiness: Marginalized Christian Devotions for Distinctive People by Dennis O’Neill

Special thanks to CJ, Sage, Terence, Dennis, Liz, Trudie and Toby for comments and conversation that helped me develop this queer theology of sainthood.

New web pages show LGBT saints, holidays, artists and queer Christ

Today JesusInLove.org launches four major new web pages on LGBT saints, holidays, artists and the queer Christ. They are announced now for All Saints Day.

“We created the new pages to give people an easy way to find the LGBT spiritual resources that they want,” says Kittredge Cherry, founder of JesusInLove.org. The website promotes LGBT spirituality and the arts.

The new pages provide user-friendly lists of links to resources at the Jesus in Love Blog. The four pages are:

LGBT Saints

The LGBT Saints page honors 44 traditional Christian, alternative and interfaith saints, martyrs, mystics, heroes, holy people, deities and religious figures of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people and our allies. The page lists 29 traditional and 15 alternative figures from the LGBT Saints Series by lesbian Christian author Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. People on the list include well known historical figures such as Jonathan and David and Joan of Arc, non-Christians such as Krishna and Rumi, and contemporary “saints” such as Harvey Milk. Visit the page at http://jesusinlove.org/saints.php

Holidays

The Holidays page celebrates 66 religious and spiritual holidays, holy days, feast days, festivals, anniversaries, liturgical seasons and other occasions of special interest to LGBT and queer people of faith and our allies. The chronological list includes LGBT events such as Pride Month as well as queer interpretations of mainstream religious holidays such as Easter and Christmas. Visit the page at http://jesusinlove.org/holidays.php

Queer Christ

The Queer Christ page begins with a short introduction that starts, “Every community presents Jesus in their own way. There’s black Jesus, Asian Jesus -- and now queer Jesus to heal the damage done in Christ’s name. The queer Christ embodies God’s wildly inclusive love for all.” The page features a list of links to 29 profiles of artists, writers, theologians and others who present the queer Christ. They include gay theologian Patrick Cheng, lesbian artist Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin, trans playwright Jo Clifford, and many more. Visit the page at http://jesusinlove.org/queer-christ.php

Artists

The Artists page highlights 33 artists who create LGBT and queer spiritual and religious images. Their art is needed now because conservatives are using religious rhetoric to justify discrimination against queer people. The page includes a wide variety of up-and-coming contemporary artists, historical figures such as Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi, and controversial newsmakers such as Alma Lopez and David Wojnarowicz. Visit the page at http://jesusinlove.org/artists.php

All of these resource pages link to profiles and reflections written by Kittredge Cherry for the Jesus in Love Blog. The pages are works in progress and more material will be added later.

Jesus In Love promotes artistic and religious freedom and teaches love for all people, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or religious faith. Founded by Cherry in 2005, it has grown to include a popular blog, e-newsletter, videos, image archive and an informal online community.