Gay wedding of Jesus and John at Cana explored in new LGBT art show

Detail from “The Wedding of Jesus and John 'the Beloved Disciple' at Cana” by Christopher Olwage

A wedding between Jesus and his beloved disciple is one of the LGBT Christian themes explored in new paintings and performance art by gay New Zealand artist Christopher Olwage.

The artist's stated goal was not to challenge Christian faith, but to get people to think about it more deeply by considering questions such as these: “What if Christ were gay? What if the Virgin Mary was not a virgin? What if Christ had a long-time lover in John the Apostle or even Lazarus whom he raised from the dead? How different would the world be? How different would you be?”

On opening night Olwage did a dance titled “The Passion of Saint Francis” as part of the exhibit, which was hosted by Auckland’s Lot 23 Gallery in August 2015. Other paintings included a self-portrait as Saint Sebastian, who is often known as the patron saint of gay men.

“Self Portrait as Saint Sebastian” by Christopher Olwage

Olwage is an LGBTQ activist and gender-bending ballet dancer who reigned as Mr. Gay World in 2013. His “Ecce Homo” show included monumental homoerotic paintings of Jesus and his male companions and a self-portrait as Sebastian, who is often called the patron saint of gay men.

In one of the most unusual and accessible paintings, he gives a sacred gay interpretation to the wedding feast at Cana. Jesus performed his first miracle at Cana by turning water into wine. The Bible tells the story in John 2:1-11 without ever naming who was getting married.

“The Wedding of Jesus and John 'the Beloved Disciple' at Cana” by Christopher Olwage

Olwage gives flesh to a long-standing but little-known tradition that Jesus and his beloved disciple John were the bridal couple at the Cana wedding feast. The idea is expressed in the second-century apocryphal Acts of John, where Jesus intervenes three times to prevent John from marrying a woman. Eventually John “binds himself” to Jesus “who didst make my joining unto thee perfect and unbroken.” The idea that John and Jesus married at Cana continued in medieval Europe and is re-affirmed in contemporary times by British theologian Gerard Loughlin in his introduction to the book “Queer Theology: Rethinking the Western Body.”

In Olwage’s painting, John caresses and kisses a hunky Jesus as their halos merge in the midst of an all-male gathering of servants and wedding guests. Among them stand the six stone jars holding the water that Christ transforms into the best wine. The handsome men look spiritually aware and ready to celebrate the miracle of love with their bodies and souls.

A group of men surround Jesus in Olwage’s “Crucifixion,” which appeared in the Auckland show and was featured previously on the Jesus in Love Blog. All are figures that Bible scholars believe may have had male-male sexual relationships: John, Lazarus and the Centurion and his servant.

Christopher Olwage dances in “The Passion of St. Francis”

Olwage incorporated his "Ecce Homo" painting into his dramatic vision of the Passion of Saint Francis of Assisi during his opening-night dance He put the action into words for the Jesus in Love Blog:

“I wanted to depict St Francis' mindscape as he journeyed to Mount La Verna, how he was overcome with immense Joy and Suffering at the sight of the six-winged Seraphim and how the stigmata appeared amidst the vision.

In the entrance to the performance I wore a Franciscan habit, and carried a small wooden box with a scourge in it. I'm not sure if St Francis scourged himself but I wanted to set the scene of total bodily repudiation in search of the ultimate love in Christ, a love so consuming that it bordered on the erotic. Whilst the flagellating occurs, blood began to appear on my back as the welts begin to take form (this was fake blood of course) and I became quite frighteningly elated.

From within this moment and from my mouth I began to pull a rainbow flag... a sign of love, a sign of suffering. My love for Christ was as for a lover. In the throes of my agony and ecstasy, I began to derobe myself, freeing myself of my earthly bonds and baring my flesh, and then the bandages began to seep with blood as the blood from my stigmata began to flow. My final pose saw me reaching to the Picture of Christ as if it were myeverything, recognizing my lover, contemplating our union... the lights faded and I exited stage right.”

Poster for “Ecce Homo” event by Christopher Olwage

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Related links:
Water into Wine: Jesus's Gay Wedding at Cana (Queer Spirituality Blog)

Blessed Bernardo de Hoyos: Mystical same-sex marriage with Jesus

For a new version of this article, click this link:

Blessed Bernardo de Hoyos: Mystical same-sex marriage with Jesus

“The Mystical Marriage of Blessed Fr. Bernardo de Hoyos y de Sena, SJ”

By William Hart McNichols © 

Blessed Bernardo Francisco de Hoyos y de Seña is an 18th-century Spanish priest who wrote vividly of his mystical gay marriage to Jesus. He was beatified in 2010 and his feast day is tomorrow (Nov. 29).

Bernardo (1711-1735) was 18 when he had a vision of marrying Jesus in a ceremony much like a human wedding. He described it this way:

Always holding my right hand, the Lord had me occupy the empty throne; then He fitted on my finger a gold ring.... “May this ring be an earnest of our love. You are Mine, and I am yours. You may call yourself and sign Bernardo de Jesus, thus, as I said to my spouse, Santa Teresa, you are Bernardo de Jesus and I am Jesus de Bernardo. My honor is yours; your honor is Mine. Consider My glory that of your Spouse; I will consider yours, that of My spouse. All Mine is yours, and all yours is Mine. What I am by nature you share by grace. You and I are one!”
(quoted from “The Visions of Bernard Francis De Hoyos, S.J.” by Henri Bechard, S.J.)

Bernardo’s vision inspired artist-priest William Hart McNichols to paint an icon of Bernardo’s wedding with Jesus.

“I was so taken with this profoundly beautiful account of Jesus’ mystical marriage with Bernardo, including all the symbols of a human wedding,” McNichols wrote.

Bernardo de Hoyos
(Wikimedia Commons)

Official Roman Catholic accounts emphasize how Bernardo went on to become “the first apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Spain,” but the church downplays the queer vision that inspired him. Bernardo’s marriage with Christ can justifiably be interpreted as a “gay Jesus” story.

Bernardo spent nine years in the Jesuit formation process and was ordained in January 1735. His pastoral ministry was cut short later that same year when he died of typhus on Nov. 29, 1735. Some call him a “boy saint” because he only lived to be 24. His dying words indicate that he felt the presence of his Spouse Jesus at the end. Bernardo’s last words were, “Oh, how good it is to dwell in the Heart of Jesus!”

After his death Bernardo’s reputation for holiness continued to grow, but church politics slowed his path to sainthood until recently. His beatification ceremony was held in April 2010 in the northwestern Spanish province of Valladolid, where Bernardo spent his entire life.

While the Catholic church refuses to bless same-sex marriages, the lives and visions of its own saints tell a far different story -- in which Christ the Bridegroom gladly joins himself in marriage with a man.

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This article is available in Spanish at:

Beato Bernardo de Hoyos: El matrimonio místico entre personas del mismo sexo con Jesús (Santos Queer)
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This post is part of the LGBT Saints series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. Saints, martyrs, mystics, heroes, holy people, deities and religious figures of special interest to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) and queer people and our allies are covered on appropriate dates throughout the year.

It is also 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.

Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/
Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts

Cartoons look at Kim Davis controversy: Conservative Christians vs. marriage equality

Gentle LGBT-affirming humor is needed now as news reports magnify the conflict between conservative Christianity and marriage equality.

Two cartoons by Canadian artist David Hayward may make people smile while pointing out some of the paradoxes behind the headlines:

Kentucky clerk Kim Davis was jailed last week for refusing to issue marriage licenses because granting them to same-sex couples “conflicts with God’s definition of marriage.”

Such conservative Christian certainty about God’s judgment is addressed in a scene at the pearly gates of heaven in one of Hayward’s all-time most popular cartoons. A new arrival insists, “I’m NOT going in there with all those homosexuals!”

The godly gatekeeper replies, “Who said you were going in there?”

Hayward looks specifically at the Kim Davis controversy in a new cartoon with both humor and humanity. She becomes boxed in and separated from Jesus and the rest of humanity by the words she scrawls over and over: “My religious beliefs.”

On his Naked Pastor blog, Hayward explains, “The humble truth is that Kim Davis would believe it is my belief that separates me from her. The problem is belief. Belief is not the way to unity. Is there a way to transcend belief? Is there a way to manifest the union that surely exists between us other than through conformity or compatibility of belief?”

Hayward has a master's degree in theology and 30 years of pastoral experience. His books include “The Art of Coming Out: Cartoons for the LGBTQ Community” and the 2015 autobiography “Questions Are The Answer.”

This week Davis was released, but the controversy -- and the cartoons -- will continue.

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Related links:

Kentucky clerk Kim Davis on gay marriage licenses: ‘It is a Heaven or Hell decision’ (Washington Post)

David Hayward (nakedpastor): How do LGBT people know God loves us?

Queer Kwanzaa: Black Jesus icon by David Hayward honors African American holiday

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This post is part of the Artists series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. The series profiles artists who use lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and queer spiritual and religious imagery. It also highlights great queer artists from history, with an emphasis on their spiritual lives.

Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/
Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts

Blessed Bernardo de Hoyos: Mystical same-sex marriage with Jesus

For a new version of this article, click this link:

Blessed Bernardo de Hoyos: Mystical same-sex marriage with Jesus

Mystical same-sex marriage affirmed in Renaissance art and new book "Saintly Brides and Bridegrooms”

“The Calling of St. John,” a 12th-century miniature, shows Jesus coaxing John away from his bride, and John resting his head Jesus’ chest. The text means, "Get up, leave the breast of your bride, and rest on the breast of the Lord Jesus." *

By Kevin Elphick

Carolyn Diskant Muir’s new book, Saintly Brides and Bridegrooms: The Mystic Marriage in Northern Renaissance Art is not only impressive as a scholarly work, but it has numerous beautiful paintings of male-male intimacy with Christ. Muir devotes a chapter to St. Bernard of Clairvaux, including his poem of marital bliss with Jesus and numerous images of Bernard and Christ. Another entire chapter is dedicated to St. John as the Bride of Christ.

With more than half of the saints Muir introduces being male, one cannot help but come away from her book with the impression that the Renaissance church was much more comfortable with the concept of same-sex marriages, albeit “mystical” marriages at that. In point of fact, the descriptor “mystical” does not diminish the marriage concept, but instead hyper-accentuates it, setting up mystical marriage as the ideal to strive for. The Renaissance church appears to have had no problem with male-male mystical marriage as an idealized model for conjugal bliss.

The book could not be more timely. While the work was delayed in publication, it ended up being available from its publisher in the same year as the U.S. Supreme Court’s recognition of same-sex marriages, and in which a record number of states (as well as tribal jurisdictions) passed their own same-sex marriage laws. Opponents of same-sex marriage equality have frequent recourse to the mistaken belief that marriage has been a monolithic institution through all of human history: one male, one female, united (often “by God”) for the purpose of progeny.[1] Dr. Muir’s book vividly demonstrates the many forms of marriage depicted in Renaissance art, drawing upon textual evidence, illustrated manuscripts, paintings, and sculptures.

Muir, associate professor of art history at the University of Hong Kong, vividly demonstrates to her readers that in the European tradition, “marriage” had another canonically sanctioned reality: marriage to God. (How ironic it is that in English we have the word, “deicide,” to connote the killing of God, but no word describing the act of wedding God!) In this book, Muir examines five saints who experienced this mystical marriage to God and were subsequently depicted in Renaissance art. In the Christian tradition, human marriage is a sacrament that points beyond itself to a greater reality, that of Christ wedded to the Church: “This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” (Ephesians 5:32) Human marriage is transitory; marriage to God is an everlasting destiny. Where marriage of two partners is a finite event in history culminating at death, marriage of the Divine and Human is a transhistorical event toward which humanity was first created and ultimately oriented. “For your Maker is your husband.” Isaiah 54:5

Images of a saintly bride wedding Jesus might seem normative in the Christian tradition (think of the Parable of the Wise Virgins in the Gospels and the Bride of the Lamb in the Book of Revelations), but a male saint wedding the Christ is startling to modern audiences. Instead, Carolyn Diskant Muir begins her book with discussions of St. Catherine and St. Agnes, both depicted as paradigmatic brides of Christ. St. Catherine of Alexandria is the saint most often depicted in mystic marriage in Renaissance art. However, the potential for an implied sexualized dynamic to their marriage is precluded by the images of Christ being the Infant Christ or the Christ Child, often accompanied by his chaperoning Mother. The marriage “act” depicted is the bestowal of a wedding ring to these faithful virgins. As a play on words, St. Agnes’ marriage partner is not infrequently depicted as the Lamb of God, the Latin “agnus” meaning “lamb,” again obviating any overt sexual connotation to their wedded union.

Of the male saints in her book, Blessed Henry Suso represents a good figure to focus on to see the tension present in portraying a male disciple loving a God who is typically gendered as “male.” (This same tension is explored in a Jewish context by Howard Eilberg-Schwartz in his ground-breaking book, God’s Phallus: and other problems for men and monotheism.) In Bl. Henry we see a mystical marriage to Wisdom-Sophia, an ancient hypostasis for God, who has been portrayed as both male and female. There has been some scholarly research which suggests that the historical figure of Lady Wisdom developed in the ancient Jewish world specifically to traverse the tension felt by male heterosexual practitioners, loving an otherwise male-imaged God. Henry Suso draws upon this sapiential Wisdom tradition to give expression to his mystical marriage to God. Because the broad sweep of Wisdom literature portrays divine Wisdom as both male and alternately female, Blessed Henry does the same. However, each individual Wisdom literature author typically maintains a specific and consistent gender throughout their writings for their rendering of Wisdom. 

Suso however is conscious of his intentional gender switching for Wisdom and explains: “And so the style changes from time to time to suit what is then the subject….” In so doing, Suso presents a fluid image of the Divine without a rigid and set gender. In the overabundance of Suso’s experience of intimacy with God, a single gender role proves inadequate, necessitating his use of all available gendering to communicate the ineffable love of the Divine. The rich images Dr. Muir provides of Blessed Henry and his beloved Wisdom portray the vacillation between male and female partners in the person of Wisdom. In his writings, Suso leaves us a legacy of intimacy with God, in which God is both wife and husband, lover and beloved.

Interestingly, Dr. Muir makes no mention of German Renaissance mystic and theologian Jacob Boehme in her exploration of Bl. Henry Suso. Like Suso, Boehme transmutes his love affair with God into a relationship with Lady Wisdom. While at the far end of the period Muir is studying, this Protestant mystic had interesting similarities to and explicit contrasts with Suso. Like Suso, Boehme courts Lady Wisdom. However, in Boehme’s writings, Wisdom remains clearly and intentionally female. In point of fact, Boehme’s spirituality perceives an affectional relationship with the divine female Wisdom to be the natural order for humanity. For Boehme the “unnatural” and disordered relationship would be his pairing with the explicitly male Devil, who strives to entice good Christian men into what Boehme characterizes as an unnatural relationship. It is unclear if Boehme’s spirituality was translated into the visual arts as with Suso, although his influence is seen in Angelus Silesius, William Blake, and Milton.

“Christ Embracing St. Bernard of Clairvaux” by Francisco Ribalta

Muir’s second male mystic is St. Bernard of Clairvaux. A 12^th century monk, Bernard is one of the founders of affective spirituality, an incarnational spirituality that incorporates personal feelings and emotions into meditation on the lives of Christ and the Saints. One of Bernard’s most influential works is his 86 sermons on the Biblical love poetry of the Song of Songs. In these sermons Bernard allegorizes the love affair between God and the human individual. When writing of the individual soul in the abstract, the soul is feminized in relation to a masculine God. In his own encounter with God, Bernard maintains his male identity with a male God. Bernard also applies the love poetry fashioned by the Song of Songs to the inner life of the Trinity. In the Trinity, the language of the kiss between lovers in the Song of Songs  is taken by Bernard to ultimately point to the Holy Spirit who is the “Kiss” between the First and Second Persons of the Trinity. Through our union with the Incarnate Christ, Bernard believes we too participate in the Trinitarian embrace and “Kiss.”

Muir recounts an event from Bernard’s life in which, while praying before an altar, the crucified Christ reached down and embraced Bernard, after Bernard had reverently kissed him. This event from Bernard’s life precipitated a poetic prayer attributed to Bernard, which is the basis for the Bach hymn, “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded.” The 74 verse prayer is vividly focused on the crucified and wounded body of Christ. Muir describes it as “sensual -- even at times erotic -- in tone, with the verbs ‘kiss’, ‘feel’, ‘touch’, ‘explore’, ‘embrace’, ‘lick’, and ‘taste’ being freely used…” (p. 93)  to describe the encounter with the suffering, passionate body of Christ.

For Muir, this embrace between Bernard and the crucified Christ is their moment of mystical marriage. The poem-prayer is the song celebrating their nuptial bliss, the Incarnate body of Christ reaching out to unite itself to the body of Bernard. Muir’s artistic interest is then in the imagery of this union which she labels: “Bernard’s Embrace with Christ.” An example is Francisco Ribalta’s  “Christ Embracing St. Bernard” (1625-27). Muir provides numerous examples of this motif, with varying degrees of physical intimacy demonstrated between Bernard and Christ.

While Muir acknowledges that the motif of Christ embracing a mystic saint from the cross exists in other hagiographic traditions, she finds no visual arts tradition for others prior to the 17^th century. (p. 113, footnote 16) Interestingly, she includes Francis of Assisi among these saints. However, she otherwise appears to be unaware of Francis himself as a mystical bride of Christ and his stigmatization conceptualized as the consummation of their nuptial union. Ubertino da Casale, a 14th century Franciscan (and a figure in the historical novel The Name of the Rose 1980), recognizes St. Francis' mystical marriage as taking place in his stigmatization. He describes the five wounds of the stigmata as "five of the freshest roses which adorn his nuptial bed." He goes on to explain that Francis was "in soul and body... beloved spouse to Him" [Christ] (Arbor vitae crucifixae Jesu Christi, Ch. 4, 1305 C.E.) In a similar manner by which Bernard's embrace by Christ is recognized as "mystical marriage" by Muir, so also is the penetration of Francis' flesh in the stigmata, his consummation of marriage with Christ. It would be further fascinating reading if Muir were to explore this rich literary and artistic tradition, all the more so given the later conflation in art of the image of Francis being embraced by the Crucified, derivative of the Bernard tradition.

“Saint Francis Embracing Christ” by Francisco Ribalta (Wikimedia Commons)

Of the five saints explored by Muir, the most intriguing is St. John the Beloved. Where historians like John Boswell had pointed to a limited tradition depicting St. John's marriage to Christ, dependent largely upon St. Aelred, Muir unearths a cascade of images of this tradition, demonstrating that not only was it widely known and venerated, but heavily influencing both women's and men's vowed spirituality.

Muir cites the apocryphal Acts of John, the Golden Legend, Pseudo-Bonaventure, St. Bernard, and Origen, as sources identifying the Beloved Disciple, John, as having been married to Christ. In some sources, the gospel story of the Wedding Feast at Cana is creatively recast as John’s own marriage. Jesus’ attendance occasions his call to John to forsake his new bride and follow him “to a higher wedding.” John necessarily follows this call, becoming Jesus’ beloved. As a virgin himself, John becomes the prototype for all subsequent nuns, monks, and religious.

Detail from “The Last Supper” from The Small Passion by Albrecht Durer (Wikimedia Commons)

Muir produces abundant examples of Renaissance art depicting Christ and John as a wedded couple. Many of these draw thematically upon the gospel narrative of John resting his head upon Jesus’ breast at the Last Supper.  One example in the book is Albrecht Durer's renowned Last Supper.  The little-known 12th-century C.E. miniature, “The Calling of St. John,” (pictured at the top of this article) depicts two scenes:  Christ calling the disciple John to leave his bride and follow him, and John resting his head on the breast of Christ, who in turn cups his chin. Notably, both Jesus and John are beardless. The depicted physicality of their shared intimacy is evident in the artworks she selects for this chapter, made all the more so by known artistic conventions to depict romantic intimates, such as joined right hands or a hand tenderly cupping the beloved’s chin. To undergird the legitimacy of an orthodox same-sex marriage tradition, there are fewer heavyweights possible than invoking the Savior himself wedding the namesake of the fourth Gospel.

Muir does address the question of the potential homoeroticism these images could evoke. But for her, “…that is not the issue here. In a way this entire debate is rather ironic. To modern eyes, it is the male-male embrace that has been considered shocking and potentially problematic, whereas such an embrace would have reflected the actual behavior of medieval men who did embrace on various occasions…” (p. 155) That being said, Muir’s work with mystical marriages in art surfaces a literary, theological, and artistic tradition that not only tolerates same-sex marriage, it is comfortable with idealizing it.

Muir's book reminds us of a medieval church at ease with male-male physical intimacy, even ascribing it to Jesus himself. In her Introduction she quotes the 12th century Benedictine, Rupert of Deutz, describing his mystical encounter with Christ: "I took hold of him [Christ] whom my soul loves. I held him. I embraced him. I kissed him lingeringly. I sensed how gratefully he accepted this gesture of love when, between kissing, he himself opened his mouth, in order that I kiss more deeply." (p. 11) Pope Benedict XVI called Rupert "a fervent theologian endowed with great depth." (December 09, 2009) But it would be wrong to dismiss these passionate images solely as symbolic metaphor. The images work effectively only if there is an already implicit affirmation of the erotic intimacy. Rupert is fervent not only in spirit, but as enfleshed male loving the fully-human Jesus.

Surfacing these images and traditions at this time in human history serves to remind us in the fervor of our same-sex marriage debates that at some level, the church and society were once comfortable with images of same-sex intimacy and commitment, to the point of divinizing it. Restoring these images and traditions to the worship space and the sphere of normative Christian life and perceptions will serve to ease the transition toward mainstream churches accepting same-sex marriage and normalize (moreover, actually restore) the practice within our faith communities. With this book, Muir has showered down a blessing from history upon the LGBT communities.

While not inexpensive at $132, Muir's book is comparable to other coffee-table size art history books. This hardcover edition captures over one hundred images and 16 full-color plates, serving to highlight those Renaissance artworks which most compellingly demonstrate her thesis. (And who wouldn't want, at their next dinner-party debate over same-sex marriage, to note that not only did Jesus support same-sex marriage, he was in just such a marriage with St. John? And thereupon open Muir's book to Chapter 3 to share the sumptuous images of their blissful marriage, a veritable Renaissance wedding album.).

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[1] To illustrate a typical re-write of marital history in which marriage is portrayed as having the same form seemingly forever throughout history, one can look at an example found in the NY Catholic Bishops’ Statement on Marriage from June 1^st, 2009. The eight bishops collectively wrote: “Throughout history, different cultures have had different customs regarding marriage. But the one constant has been the conviction that marriage is the union of a man and a woman in an enduring bond, ordered for the procreation and stable rearing of children.” (While re-writing marriage history, the bishops stealthily neglect to mention that their own definition of marriage considers a “woman” to be marriageable at 15 years of age; the requirement for the male being inexplicably older for licit marriage. Code of Canon Law, Canon 1083). Just to highlight some of the many historical variants deviating from this misleading portrayal of marriage through the ages, the bishops themselves conveniently forget the practice of child marriage, the polygamy of the Jewish patriarchs, the Levirate marriage obligation, the professed, virginal marriage of Mary and Joseph, and the Catholic tradition of marriages of continence (fully abstaining from otherwise licit marital sex) in their own faith tradition.

* Latin inscription on "The Calling of St. John" is: "Tu leve conjugis pectus respuisti supra pectus domini Ihesu recumbens."

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Kevin Elphick is both a Franciscan scholar and a supervisor on a suicide prevention hotline in New York. He wrote a thesis on “Gender Liminality in the Franciscan Sources” for a master’s degree in Franciscan studies from St. Bonaventure University in New York. Elphick also has a master's degree in Religious Studies from Mundelein College in Chicago and a Doctorate in Ministry from Graduate Theological Foundation with a focus in ecumenism.

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Related links:

Saints Bernard of Clairvaux and Malachy: Honey-tongued abbot and the archbishop he loved

Francis of Assisi’s queer side revealed by historical evidence

John the Evangelist: Beloved Disciple of Jesus

Blessed Bernardo de Hoyos: Mystical same-sex marriage with Jesus

Blessed John of La Verna: Kissed by Jesus

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Related books:
"The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion" by Leo Steinberg. University of Chicago Press, 1996. This is the definitive work on the subject, with 300 illustrations.

“Tantric Jesus: The Erotic Heart of Early Christianity” by James Hughes Reho with a foreword by Matthew Fox. Published by Destiny Books. (2017)

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This post is part of the Queer Christ series at Jesus in Love. The series gathers together visions of the queer Christ as presented by artists, writers, theologians and others.

Blessed Bernardo de Hoyos: Mystical same-sex marriage with Jesus

For a new version of this article, click this link:

Blessed Bernardo de Hoyos: Mystical same-sex marriage with Jesus

My marriage-equality protest photo runs in national magazine Tikkun

Marriage equality protestor (photo by Kittredge Cherry)

My photo of a marriage-equality protestor appears in the current issue of Tikkun, a national magazine on politics, spirituality and culture.

Tikkun’s fall 2013 issue features my photo of an elderly woman in a wheelchair wearing a rainbow scarf and a shirt that proclaims, “Marriage is a human right, not a heterosexual privilege.” She was wheeled to the protest in a wheelchair by her daughter.

My photo illustrates the article “Our Issues Entwine: LGBTQ Aging and Economic Justice” in an issue devoted to “Identity Politics, Class Politics, and Spiritual Politics: How do we build world-transforming coalitions?”

The photo originally appeared in my article “Creative signs stop hate at protests” here on the Jesus in Love Blog. It presents photos from a 2008 “stop the hate” protest in Pasadena, California where people rallied against the state's newly passed Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage.

The photo was taken was almost exactly five years ago in November 2008. A lot has changed for the better since then. In 2013 the Supreme Court ruled for marriage equality and eight US states legalized same-sex marriage, bringing the total to 16 states.

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Related link:
Queer spiritual art appears in national magazine Tikkun

Resurrection added to LGBT Stations of the Cross: Jesus rises with marriage equality

“Station 15: The Resurrection Of Christ” from “Stations of the Cross: The Struggle For LGBT Equality” by Mary Button, courtesy of Believe Out Loud

Jesus rises from the dead as the Supreme Court rules for marriage equality in a new painting that completes the series “Stations of the Cross: The Struggle For LGBT Equality” by Mary Button.

The Tennessee artist unveiled the 15th and final painting in series last week. The first 14 paintings made their debut earlier this year during Lent, but Button waited until the Supreme Court decision before creating the last picture.

It shows the risen Christ greeting Mary Magdalene against a kaleidoscope of scenes related to the Supreme Court’s June 26 decisions legalizing same-sex marriage. Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, plaintiffs in the Proposition 8 case, marry each other at a wedding that finally gives legal status to their love. Edie Windsor, plaintiff in the Defense of Marriage Act case, is shown with her late partner Thea Spyer, whose bequest prompted the landmark lawsuit. Behind Jesus is text from the Supreme Court ruling: “DOMA’s principal effect is to identify a subset of state-sanctioned marriages and make them unequal….” Jesus even appears to be holding a rainbow banner.

The resurrection image provides a celebratory and suitable ending for the LGBT Stations series, which shows that Jesus suffers with LGBT people. Button juxtaposes his journey to Calvary with milestones from the last 100 years of LGBT history, including Nazi persecution, the Lavender Scare, the Stonewall Rebellion, the assassination of gay politician Harvey Milk, the AIDS pandemic, the murder of transgender woman Rita Hester, and LGBT teen suicides.

Resurrection scenes are the rarest images in queer Christian art. Button’s version makes the glorious connection between the crucified Christ coming out of the tomb to new life and persecuted queer people coming out of the closet to celebrate our love with weddings that are just as valid as any other. The resurrection of Christ is the ultimate act of God’s triumph over the forces of death and destruction. Likewise the legalization of same-sex marriage is a contemporary example of love’s victory over hate. The idea of a gay or lesbian couple getting married used to be unthinkable. It seemed as unlikely as a dead man rising from the tomb.

“The grouping of Perry, Stier, Windsor and Spier with Mary Magdalene carries with it a deep theological significance,” Button wrote in her reflection on the painting at Believe Out Loud, an online network empowering Christians to work for LGBT equality. She points out that Mary Magdalene was a trusted disciple and “apostle to the apostles” who has been unjustly stigmatized as a harlot.

“It is only fitting that Mary Magdalene would accompany the women in this painting, who together challenged systematic discrimination against LGBT people in our nation’s highest court,” Button concludes. “With faith, I pray that this image will signify a greater shift in public opinion as we move beyond baseless stigmatization of the LGBT community to embrace our diversity as a blessed gift from God.”
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Related links:

“The Resurrection Of Christ: Mary Magdalene Meets Supreme Court Plaintiffs” reflection by Mary Button (Believe Out Loud)

LGBT Stations of the Cross show struggle for equality (Jesus in Love)
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Special thanks to Colin for the news tip.

This post is part of the Artists series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. The series profiles artists who use lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and queer spiritual and religious imagery. It is also included in thee Queer Christ that series gathers together visions of the queer Christ as presented by artists, writers, theologians and others.

Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/
Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts

Marriage equality wins at Supreme Court: Religious reactions

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Today the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality.

Let the weddings begin!

DOMA is done!

Praise to all-loving God!

Thanks to everyone who worked and prayed to make this happen!

My email in-box is overflowing of statements from various LGBT religious groups:

“Freedom and equality won today as the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the US Constitution and every family.” -- Rev. Dr. Nancy Wilson, moderator of Metropolitan Community Churches

“As members of the Catholic Church and citizens of the United States, we are elated that the U. S. Supreme Court has both struck down the Defense of Marriage Act and cleared the way for marriage equality in the state of California. We are especially pleased to see that Justice Anthony Kennedy, a Catholic, wrote the opinion striking down DOMA, and that Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who is also a Catholic, concurred in this historic decision.” -- Equally Blessed, a coalition of four Catholic organizations

“Today, the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down DOMA’s Section 3 and dismissed California’s Proposition 8 case on lack of standing. These historic rulings affirm that all families deserve equal respect and treatment under the law.” -- Joseph Ward, director of Believe Out Loud, an online network empowering Christians to work for LGBT equality

“June 26, 2013 will be remembered as the day this nation took two giant steps forward toward making liberty and justice for all not just a pledge but a reality for LGBT Americans. By affirming the federal district court ruling that found California's Prop 8 unconstitutional, and by striking down Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the Supreme Court made history with rulings that told all loving and committed couples who marry that they deserve equal legal respect and treatment.” -- Rev. Susan Russell, Episcopal priest and past president of Integrity, in Huffington Post

“I welcome today’s decision of the United States Supreme Court that strikes down the 17-year-old law prohibiting federal recognition of same-sex civil marriages granted by the states. …
I am deeply aware that faithful Americans find themselves on all sides of these issues, including those who have not yet clearly discerned an effective or appropriate response. It is possible to disagree AND work together for the good of the larger community. That is the bedrock of our democratic political system. It is also the foundation of life in the Body of Christ. “
--- The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in an official statement

Last but not least:
“I applaud the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act. This was discrimination enshrined in law.” -- President Barack Obama

Thanks to the Ms. Foundation for Women for permission to share the image “Marriage for all is a Constitutional right! June 26, 2013.”

Adam and Steve welcome marriage equality

“Adam and Steve in 14 Countries” by Tony De Carlo

Congratulations to Minnesota for becoming the 12th state to approve marriage equality today! And a belated congrats to New Zealand for legalizing marriage equality last month!

In honor of these events, here is “Adam and Steve in 14 Countries” by Tony De Carlo -- the newest in his ever-expanding Adam and Steve series. He began the series in response to people who oppose LGBT rights with the foolish argument that “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.”

In this painting Adam and Steve, the original same-sex couple, stand together on an island made of flags. “I cut this out with my scroll saw from a piece of plywood, used the obvious biblical references and then added the flags of the 14 countries that now recognize marriage equality for all of its citizens,” De Carlo said. Those countries are: Argentina, Canada, Uruguay, Belgium, The Netherlands, France, South Africa, New Zealand, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland.

Soon he will probably have to paint a new version as more states and countries legalize marriage for lesbian and gay couples. How can we keep up with all this equality?!

De Carlo is a native of Los Angeles, now living in Savannah, Georgia. His work is exhibited regularly in museums and galleries throughout the United States.

For more on Tony De Carlo and his art, see my previous post:
Gay saints, Adam & Steve, and marriage equality art affirms LGBT love: Tony De Carlo Interview (Jesus in Love)

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Related links:
TonyDeCarlo.com

Tony De Carlo on Facebook

Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/
Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts

Marriage equality vigil lights the way to justice

Kittredge Cherry, right, and Audrey at a marriage equality vigil in Los Angeles on March 24

I’m standing up for the freedom to marry while the Supreme Court considers the issue this week. I attended a candlelight vigil for marriage equality on the steps of the Los Angeles City Hall on Sunday.

About 400 people gathered to show support for same-sex marriage now because the US Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments in the Prop. 8 and DOMA cases today and tomorrow March 26 and 27.

A man held a sign that said it all: “Marry who you love.”

Flags flew and I stood tall for equality on the steps of City Hall.

Hundreds filled the steps of Los Angeles City Hall. A sign proclaims: The "gay agenda" = equal rights."

We saw a lot of people carrying signs in Spanish for "igualidad" and "marimonio para todos."

We lit our candles after the sun set.

My prayer is that our candles will light the way to justice.

 

Can you see all the candles like tiny points of light in the darkness?  It was actually kind of romantic to be there with Audrey in the candlelight, with the moonlight, listening to musicians sing “Marry me,” surrounded by signs that proclaimed, “I do.”

It reminded me of another marriage equality demonstration 20 years ago. I helped organize The Wedding, a demonstration for marriage equality and a group blessing of 2,000 lesbian and gay couples by Rev. Troy Perry in front of the IRS building at the 1993 March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation. Twenty years have passed on the long march to justice.

This was me standing for the rights of same-sex couples in 1993 in front of one of the banners at the Wedding.

Station 13: Jesus removed from cross / same-sex marriage ban

Jesus is taken down from the cross as same-sex marriage is banned in Station 13 from “Stations of the Cross: The Struggle For LGBT Equality” by Mary Button, courtesy of Believe Out Loud

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2004: In sweeping homophobic legislative measures same-sex marriage is banned in Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Virginia, and Wisconsin
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Mini-commentary by Kittredge Cherry:

A map of states banning same-sex marriage forms a colorful backdrop as Jesus is taken down from the cross. Denying legal rights to lesbian and gay couples is another insult to the body of Christ. Is the body of Christ buried in states without marriage equality?

For Americans, it's powerful to see Jesus with a map of the USA.  Jesus was crucified in ancient Jerusalem, but this image brings home the message that the Christ is alive here and now.
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“Stations of the Cross: The Struggle for LGBT Equality” is a new set of 14 paintings that link the crucifixion of Jesus with the history of LGBT people.

Artist Mary Button painted the LGBT Stations series for Believe Out Loud, an online network empowering Christians to work for LGBT equality. They invite churches and faith groups to download and use the images for free.

The whole series will also be shown here at the Jesus in Love Blog this week. Click here for an overview of the LGBT Stations by Kittredge Cherry, lesbian Christian author and art historian.

Gay Nativity scene in Columbia sparks outrage

Gay Nativity scene in Columbia at the home of Andrés Vásquez Moreno and Felipe Cárdenas Gonzalez

A gay Nativity display in Columbia was condemned by the national Catholic Church as “sacrilege” while thousands of Columbians are criticizing the gay Nativity on social media websites.

A storm of controversy erupted when a gay couple in Columbia displayed a Nativity scene with two Josephs at their home in Cartegena this week.

Andrés Vásquez Moreno, a political analyst, and Felipe Cárdenas Gonzalez, an entrepreneur, set up the gay manger scene in hopes of helping their country move toward marriage equality. The couple was united in a civil union four years ago, and Columbia is considering laws to legalize same-sex marriage.

I have been in touch with them, and Moreno told me, “Thanks for your message and support, in Colombia has been very violent against us.” He gladly gave permission to share their photo of the gay Nativity scene here on the Jesus in Love Blog.

The attacks prove the ongoing need for religious images that affirm LGBT people. I believe that queer Nativity scenes are true to the spirit of the Christmas story in the Bible: God’s child conceived in an extraordinary way and born into disreputable circumstances. Love makes a family -- including the Holy Family. Everyone should be able to see themselves in the Christmas story.
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Special thanks to Colin for alerting me to this news story.

Related links:
Nativity Scene With Two Josephs Enrages Conservative Colombians (Advocate)

Outrage over gay couple’s homosexual Nativity scene with two Josephs and no Mary (Daily Mail)

Hate crime targets gay and lesbian Nativity scene at California church

Vandals knocked over the same-sex couples in a manger scene at a church in Claremont, California in 2011. Police investigated the attack as a hate crime.

Gay and lesbian nativity scenes show love makes a family
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.

Conservatives attack my lesbian and gay Nativity scenes

Nasty accusations of blasphemy were hurled when conservative bloggers discovered my gay and lesbian Nativity scenes. “Love..is NOT the criteria for making a ‘Family,’,” said one of the critics.

Can you imagine? A gay Nativity scene

Video and commentary on Amsterdam’s gay Nativity scene with live actors

Queer Nativity project

Seven people from 3 countries sent images for the 2011 Queer Nativity project at the Jesus in Love Blog. They present Christ's birth in an amazing variety of liberating, loving new ways.




Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/
Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts

Pope blessing a gay marriage?! See it now in ad for power company

“Same power, different attitude” ad from Powershop

The Pope blessing a gay marriage?! This startling image is the newest ad for a New Zealand power company. It points to a whole different kind of power: the sacred power of love to overcome religious bigotry.

The two happy grooms make a handsome interracial couple as they exchange rings over an open Bible with a Papal blessing. Everyone is smiling and daisies surround them in a joyful burst of flower power.

I celebrate this bold image of the realm of God that is coming into being: A place where love between couples is honored and blessed by church and society, regardless of gender, race or sexual orientation. I believe that same-sex couples already have marriage equality in the eyes of God. This image provides a picture of what it can look like here on earth.

It’s part of Powershop’s ad campaign with the slogan, “Same power, different attitude.” Their main website shows other witty images with a progressive twist, including wartime President Nixon with an afro hairdo wearing a peace sign.

Powershop’s same-sex marriage ad appears on billboards in New Zealand and is being debated now at a micro-site that they set up to receive comments. A company statement there explains that Powershop’s founding principle of individual choice can apply to LGBT weddings as well as to electricity:

“The latest version of Powershop’s long-running campaign is intended to be both thought provoking and satirical. Kiwis have widely debated the issue of marriage equality over the last year, so we’ve used the issue to point out that large institutions can sometimes lose touch with their modern constituents. The power industry is dominated by crusty utilities, many of whom remain resistant to the changes happening in our world.”

Powershop granted me permission to share their ad on the Jesus in Love Blog, but asked me to state that the views I express are my own and not the views of Powershop as an organization. More power to them!

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Related links:
Pope gay marriage ad not targeted at Catholics (New Zealand Herald)

Cartoon shows Pope mad at nuns and Jesus for not condemning homosexuality (Jesus in Love)

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Copyright © Kittredge Cherry. All rights reserved.
http://www.jesusinlove.blogspot.com/
Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts

Blessed Bernardo de Hoyos: Mystical same-sex marriage with Jesus

For a new version of this article, click this link:

Blessed Bernardo de Hoyos: Mystical same-sex marriage with Jesus

Gay saints, Adam & Steve, and marriage equality art affirms LGBT love: Tony de Carlo interview

“Adam and Steve and the Banana Tree” by Tony De Carlo

Artist Tony De Carlo affirms the holiness of gay love with colorful, festive paintings of gay saints, Adam and Steve, same-sex marriage and much more -- all with a zesty Latino flavor.

Gay saints in his art include the martyred male couple Sergius and Bacchus and a series on Sebastian, the protector against plague. De Carlo began his ongoing Sebastian series in response to the AIDS crisis. He also paints many whimsical made-up saints ranging from Saint Tranny and Santa Banana to the Patron Saint of Flying Dogs.

De Carlo has done more than 20 paintings of Adam and Steve as the original gay couple. He says that they are his answer to those who condemn homosexuality based on the “ridiculous argument” that “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.”

“Adam And Steve In Eden” by Tony De Carlo

Raised Catholic, he started painting saints to counteract the church’s demonization of LGBT people. His paintings confront the hypocrisy of the church, which has a long history of homoerotic images but condemns homosexuality.

“Saint Sergius and Saint Bacchus” by Tony De Carlo

De Carlo’s art grows out of his own experience. He features the people, neighborhoods, landscapes, cityscapes, dogs and flowers that he sees in his daily life. A native of Los Angeles, he now lives in Savannah, Georgia.

De Carlo is a self-taught artist who learned to draw and paint by keeping a visual journal every day starting in childhood. As an adult he switched to painting on canvas and wood, but he still approaches his paintings like pages from a diary.

Some of his work mixes religious iconography with gay subjects, blending homoeroticism and spirituality. His vivid, sensuous paintings are bursting with color and often convey a delightful sense of fun, but he also addresses suffering with series on Saint Sebastian and the Day of the Dead.

Many of his favorite themes combine in “Marriage Equality,” one of the newest paintings in an ongoing series on same-sex marriage that he began in 1992. He shows a gay couple surrounded by the state flowers of the five states that had legally recognized same-sex marriage at that time. “One day, I hope I can paint all 50 flowers,” De Carlo said. Shown here are:
-Connecticut: Mountain Laurel (far right)
-Iowa: Wild Prairie Rose (center)
-Massachusetts: Mayflower (white flowers at top)
-New Hampshire: Purple Lilac (left and right behind shoulders)
-Vermont: Red Clover (bottom left)

“Marriage Equality” by Tony De Carlo

De Carlo’s work is displayed regularly in museums and galleries throughout the United States, and his paintings are in collections around the world. He has also exhibited at various LGBT Pride and Latino Pride events. His work is featured in a variety of publications, including The Art of Man: Fine Art of the Male Form Quarterly Journal.

De Carlo discusses his life and work in the following interview with Kittredge Cherry, art historian and author of Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ, and More.

Kittredge Cherry: How did you get the idea to combine gay and Christian subjects in your art? Does this come from your own experience?

Tony De Carlo: I was raised Catholic and as the oldest child in my family, my parents ensured I went to Catechism, and to church every Sunday and through all of the rituals. I grew up with the imagery of saints in cathedrals, statues, paintings and stained glass windows. I first started painting saints as a response to the Catholic church's tirades and attacks on, and demonization of, gay people.

KC: You have painted many santos -- both official saints and made-up saints. Please tell about some of the gay saints in your paintings.

TDC: With 10,000 official saints in the Catholic church, they're all made-up in my view. So I've added my own saints to the list, some sarcastic, some comical, but all of them with the same number of videotaped miracles: 0. My series of saints includes: The Patron Saint Protector Against AIDS, The Patron Saint of Chain Smokers, The Patron Saint of Triplets, Saint Aaron the Surfer, San Labios (Saint Lips), The Patron Saint of Ants, Boy Saint of The Birds, Saint Ranunculus, El Hijo Virgen (The Virgin Son), The Pisces Saints, Santo De Los Chihuahuas, San Perro (Saint Dog), The Patron Saint of Schizophrenics, Saint Bamboo, The Patron Saint of Siamese Twins, The Patron Saint of Flying Dogs and others.

“Homage to Sebastian” by Tony De Carlo

I've also done a series of Saint Sebastian that I continue to add to each year, which now numbers 40+. I first started painting him in the 1980s as a response to the AIDS epidemic, and chose him because he was known as the Patron Protector Saint Against the Plague, as the Plague was sweeping Europe. It wasn't until the year 2001 when I went into a Catholic store in New Mexico, picked up a pewter statue of Saint Sebastian, and saw a label on the bottom that said "Patron Saint of Homosexuals". I knew then that it was official. I've also painted Saints Sergius and Bacchus, long rumored to have been lovers. And in my Dia de Los Muertos/Day of the Dead series, I've painted "real" saints like Santa Luz, Santa Sophia and San Antonio.

“Adam Y Steve” by Tony De Carlo

KC: Adam and Steve appear together as a couple in several of your paintings. What do Adam and Steve mean to you?

TDC: My Adam and Steve series, now number 20+, were initially a response to that ridiculous argument "God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve" that I heard over and over from self-professed Christians. I know that gay people and their relationships are no less valid or worthy than anyone else's. I continue to add to this series a painting or two per year, often in domestic settings, with titles like "Adam and Steve At Home" and "Adam and Yves."

“End the Ban on Love” by Tony De Carlo

KC: Why did you decide to do a series of paintings on marriage equality?

TDC: This is another series I continue to add onto each year. The first in the series was painted in the early 1990s as a response to the discounting and dismissal, usually by religious people, of the love between two people because of their gender. I've tried to focus on the love and bond between the two people, instead of the hatred and bigotry of the others.

”Life, Liberty And The Pursuit Of Happiness” by Tony De Carlo

KC: I see that you have exhibited your work in Latino Pride events and you paint some popular Mexican subjects such as Juan Diego.  What is your connection to Latino culture?

TDC: I painted a number of "San Juan" paintings years before he was officially bestowed sainthood by the Catholic church. Like gay marriage, I am happy I recognized the worth and value of this subject before the Catholic church did. I participated in the very first (and second) Latin Pride festivals in Los Angeles and most of the galleries and venues I exhibit at today are Latino.

KC: Has your art caused any controversy because of your gay-positive spiritual vision?

TDC: I have not heard any negative feedback from my Saints series of paintings, but my series of the Virgin of Guadalupe paintings and odd takes on her has caused a couple of people to confront me for my portrayal of her because she is such a revered image to some.

KC: Thank you, Tony, for sharing your art on the Jesus in Love Blog! Thank you, Stephen Mead, for introducing me to Tony’s art.

“37 Santos” (37 Saints) by Tony De Carlo (tonydecarlo.com)

“37 Santos” by Tony De Carlo shines a spiritual light on a wide variety of real and imaginary figures from Latina/o, queer, and pop culture perspectives. They are San Albino, Patron Saint of Hillbillies, San Toupee, Patron Saint of Draft Dodgers, San Kamehameha (King who united the Hawaiian Islands), San Luchador (Wrestler), San Cannabis, San Voodoo, San Corazon (Heart), Patron Saint of Hummingbirds, Patron Saint of Marionettes, San Hollywood, San Pescado (Fish), San Igualdad (Equality), Patron Saint of Deer, Patron Saint of Artists, San Scuba, Santa Frida, Patron Saint of Protesters, San Chihuahua, Saint Tranny, Santa Hula, San Ojos (Eyes), Santa Anthurium, San Bozo, Patron Saint of Split Personalities, Saint Ginger, San Tattoo, San Chorizo (Mexican sausage), Patron Saint of Smokers, San Kudzu (The “vine that ate the South”), Patron Saint of Prisoners, Patron Saint of Pill Poppers, Santa Banana, San Calavera (Skull) and Santa Flores Del Sol (Sunflowers).

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Related links:

Obituary: Tony de Carlo (58) died at his home in Savannah, GA. Aug 16, 2014 after a short illness.

Queer Creation in art: Who says God didn’t create Adam and Steve?
(Jesus in Love)

Adam and Steve welcome marriage equality (Jesus in Love)

Tony De Carlo Facebook page

Presenting Tony de Carlo, Painter Extraordinaire! (gaytravel.com)

Tony De Carlo: El Sublime Arcoiris de la Protesta Gay (in Spanish)

LGBT Saints series (JesusInLove.org)

Adam and Steve by Toby Johnson

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This post is part of the Artists series by Kittredge Cherry at the Jesus in Love Blog. The series profiles artists who use lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and queer spiritual and religious imagery.