Gay and lesbian Nativity scenes are on Christmas cards at the Jesus in Love Store (Photo by Kittredge Cherry)
What if the child of God was born to a lesbian or gay couple? Because, after all, LOVE makes a family, including the Holy Family.
Our popular gay and lesbian Nativity Scenes are now available as Christmas cards. See all 5 designs! Visit card shop.
The cards are true to the spirit of Christmas: God’s child conceived in an extraordinary way. They show two Marys and two Josephs at the manger with the baby Jesus -- like putting two brides or two grooms on top of a wedding cake! Everyone should be able to see themselves in the Christmas story, including the growing number of LGBT parents and their children.
For more about how and why I made these the queer manger scenes, see our previous post “Gay and lesbian nativity scenes show love makes a family.” You can see them on video too.
Show your pride and faith! Wear the stylish JesusInLove.org logo, which includes a pink triangle as the “V” in the word “love.” You can also get a design with the face of Christ inside a pink triangle. Gay prisoners wore pink triangles in Nazi concentration camps. Following Christ’s example, JesusInLove.org joins queer people in transforming suffering into power.
It was always the same: Local merchants boasted about how much they sold on the day after Thanksgiving, and predicted that this would be their best year ever. I wrote an accurate article with their rosy predictions. After Christmas, I was sent to interview them again, and it always turned out that their sales figures were dismal, far below expectations. Then they blamed ME! They claimed that if my articles had been more enthusiastic, then shoppers would have flooded into their stores.
Every year when I see news reports about Black Friday sales, I always feel grateful that it’s not me doing the reporting anymore. I hope you enjoy shopping at the Jesus in Love Store.
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Update on 11/27/10: Terence Weldon at the Queering the Church Blog has posted “For a Queer Christmas – Send Gay / Lesbian Cards,” an excellent analysis of the gay and lesbian Nativity cards, including this expanded definition of procreation: “I would add the observation by the Catholic theologians Salzmann & Lawler, in “The Sexual Person”: procreation refers not only to the physical production of an infant, but also the the subsequent care and nurturing of the child. Procreation by same-sex couples is not nearly as far-fetched as some people would have us believe.”
Update on 11/28/10:
I hereby issue a general call for submissions: Hey, everybody, please send me your own photos of gay and lesbian Nativity scenes that you create. They will be posted here at the Jesus in Love Blog. Pictures showing the Holy Family as people of color are especially encouraged.
Update from August 2011:
Right-wing religious blogs attacked these cards, so you know that they must be good! See my post Conservatives attack our lesbian and gay Nativity scenes!
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Related links:
Hate crime targets gay and lesbian Nativity scene at Claremont church
Gay Nativity scene in Columbia sparks outrage
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This post is part of the LGBT Holidays series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. The series celebrates religious and spiritual holidays, holy days, feast days, festivals, anniversaries, liturgical seasons and other occasions of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people of faith and our allies.
Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
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Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts
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ReplyDeleteUpdate on 11/27/10: Terence Weldon at the Queering the Church Blog has posted “For a Queer Christmas – Send Gay / Lesbian Cards,” an excellent analysis of the gay and lesbian Nativity cards, including this expanded definition of procreation: “I would add the observation by the Catholic theologians Salzmann & Lawler, in “The Sexual Person”: procreation refers not only to the physical production of an infant, but also the the subsequent care and nurturing of the child. Procreation by same-sex couples is not nearly as far-fetched as some people would have us believe.”
They are so "white" -- -- do you have any with other people?
ReplyDeleteGood point, Ann. I’d love to show more “ethnic” looking gay and lesbian Nativity scenes.
ReplyDeleteI hereby issue a general call for submissions: Hey, everybody, please send me your own photos of gay and lesbian Nativity scenes that you create. Submit them to kitt@jesusinlove.org. They will be posted here at the Jesus in Love Blog. Pictures showing the Holy Family as people of color are especially encouraged.
Maybe next year I can organize a gay and lesbian Nativity scene contest.
My original idea was to get two different Nativity sets and have Mary/Mary and Joseph/Joseph as biracial couples. However, it was too hard to find figures of the same size and scale.
I’ll try to find a couple of ethnic-looking Nativity sets in the after-Christmas sales this year. Buying two sets does add to the cost -- just like being a real gay and lesbian couple without marriage benefits.