MyOutSpirit.com Gay Spirituality Blog

Gays are Not Three-Fifths of a Human Being

 {by Rev. Paul M. Turner, Gentle Spirit Christian Church of Atlanta}

"Marriage Equality" - those two words have become the center of the final battle for gay rights.

How far we have come and how far we have yet to travel. I remember when I was much younger and first coming to understand my sexual attraction and orientation the thought of marriage was not on my mind.

In fact, my first long term relationship didn’t consider getting married as most of who we were in fact was considered illegal.

The majority of our life was spent trying to get housing which was safe, not to be fired from our jobs and not get the crap kicked out of us for daring to live together.

The early “gay affirming” church called the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches” had a liturgy that was called a “Holy Union”. This pretty much copied the traditional church wedding ceremonies’ and changed the pronouns to fit the same gender couple.

For a hot second that was enough, that is to have a church recognize your relationship and hold it as blessed in the eyes of God.

Of course the longer we were together with our partners the more we found out that while God may love us and embrace us, no one else was and especially the law.

We had no visitation rights for our partners when hospitalized, because we weren’t married.

We had no rights to our partner’s body when they died, because we were not married. In the late 70’s and mid 80’s people were dying at an alarming rate.

We had no rights to pass on property without it being contested by family members, because we weren’t married.

If our partner had something catastrophic happen to them, we had no say in their treatment or care, because we were not married.

We could not have children, because we were not married.

We could not adopt children, because we were not married.

We could not be considered for credit together, because we were not married.

The longer a couple was together and the everyday obligations of living life became more and more complicated because we were not married.

As a couple we suffered at the hands of the IRS and tax breaks and credits because we were not married.

The list of discriminatory practices used against gay couples simply because they were not married amounts to thousands of laws both on a federal and state level.

Of course if a couple had an endless stream of cash flow, they could find a good lawyer to write up all kinds of legal documents for protection of the relationship that may or may not hold up in court, because - wait, here it comes - we were not married.

Thus began the fight for equality.

Now, I could write page upon page of horror stories of what has happened to couples in the 31 years my partner and I have been married in the eyes of our church.

In this journey of time one has heard all the arguments for and against allowing gay people to be treated equal in the church and in the eyes of the law.

We have heard all the negotiations for giving couples some rights by calling our relationships “civil unions”, “holy unions”, “domestic partnerships."

We have seen the definition of marriage defined, re-defined and re-defined again.

Thanks to straight people the definition of marriage does not hold the same personal life time commitment of fidelity, integrity and love that I am sure we all want it to.

With divorce for first time marriages approaching 50% and 60% of 2^nd marriages I failed to see how the gay community gets pulled into the argument of re-defining marriage.

This does not even take into consideration of the new reality TV shows for putting a man and women together or the lunacy of the Las Vegas marriage. The straight community hasn’t needed us to destroy marriage; they have done very well on their own.

We have more than our fair share of folks in our own community who do not believe marriage is the ultimate goal for our community simple because straight people have been less than good role models of marriage at the minimum and total hypocrites at the worst.

So what is really at the bottom of this snake pit of fiery rhetoric and endless court battles?

Equality! However, it is not equality the way it is being discussed and debated. The issue is not about what the church will have to do or not do, accept or not accept.

It is not even about laws that allow for people to live their lives in relative safety and the pursuit of happiness.

The same-sex marriage fight is about whether or not straights see gay people as equal to them as human beings.

When I saw the movie “Lincoln” there is a piece of dialogue which clarified what actually is going on with “Marriage Equality."

At one point in the movie Lincoln is in a conversation with a political ally about getting the 13^th Amendment passed. The ally is trying to explain to the President why it's so hard to pass the 13^th Amendment.

The challenge, it turns out, is not putting an end to slavery but rather the country with the passage of the 13^th Amendment will have to give the “negro” the vote. In other words once one could not hold people in slavery, one must recognize they are full human beings with all the rights and privileges that go with that.

Now I know that didn’t come till much later (100 years to be more exact) but this little piece of prophecy set the stage for the civil rights movement and the definition of “human rights."

This struggle for “Marriage Equality” is the final argument of whether or not gay people are fully human, are on equal footing with the rest of this creation we call human.

It is the 3/5 of a human being all over again debate all over again.

Oh, I know the religious and political right have not used this exact language, it has been carefully avoided under the cover of morality and ethics of faith dogma or what is natural or not natural.

However, that is exactly what is being said to us. As long as we are denied marriage equality the so called right can rest in the blessed assurance we are not fully human and therefore do not have to be treated equally under the law.

The conservatives within the Black community say this is not a civil rights issue and our community has taken heat for arguing for what we called our civil rights.

Of course for all the wrong reasons they are correct, this argument, this fight, this pitched battle has never been about civil rights, it is in fact about being seen as fully human, yes that is correct human rights!

My brothers and sisters in my community have gotten sucked into the wrong conversation. We have been fighting for the right to not get fired, the right to live where we want in relative safety, the right to medical care etc. Yet, even if we get all of that we will still be considered 3/5 of a human being because our love and expression of that is not equal.

We can now serve in the military, but we are not equal.

We can set up partnerships, but we are not equal.

We can serve in churches, but we are not equal.

We can have our jobs as long as we don’t claim to be equal.

The political and religious right is saying they are 6 foot tall and we are only 3.6 feet tall, so we can never fully have what they have.

They will give us civil unions, but that is not fully equal.

They will give us domestic partnerships, but that is not fully equal.

We can spend thousands of dollars to get legal paper work done, but it will not hold up because we are not fully equal.

We can fight and win the right of job protection, but we are not equal.

We can have hate crime laws passed, but we are not equal.

As long as they can say our relationships are not a marriage, they can continue to say we are not equal. The religious and political right will find comfort in the phrase from the book Animal Farm: "All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.”

I think our adversaries know the moment they let us say “I do,” they have lost the battle. So they will fight us tooth and nail by giving us a crumb here and there, but not anything beyond 3/5 of a human being.

Understand this; DOMA says we are 3/5 of a human being.

Georgia’s State Constitution says we are 3/5 of human being.

When insurance companies can deny your spouse coverage they are saying you are 3/5 of a human being.

When families can step in the middle of a medical crisis or death and take over it is because by law we are 3/5 of a human being.

Let us no longer be fooled by the crumbs of these so called rights they will eventually give us, but never the full banquet.

We are fully human, and “Marriage Equality” puts us on equal footing with our adversaries.

My partner (husband) and I (also husband) will have been“married” for 31 years come June 25, 2013. In that time we have paid our taxes, voted, served our country, one in the military, one as a pastor, contributed to our country's economy, played and officiated in the sports world, owned a home, fed the hungry, clothed the naked, given drink to the thirsty, and visited the sick and imprisoned.

In this country, that means we have long since passed the expectations of the vast majority of marriages. I think it is more than past the time of being seen as 3/5 of a human being and being recognized for what we are; fully human in the eyes of God, the church and the law!

Right Wing Lies to Leave Behind in 2012

{by Rev. Paul M. Turner, Gentle Spirit Christian Church of Atlanta}

July 2012 was the last time I wrote. Did I go on vacation? Quit writing blogs? Run out of things to write about or say?

No, No, and God knows No!

Simply put, I just got tired of having to write about the crap the religious and political right keeps lying about. How many times does one have to prove something is a lie before people begin to understand the game that is being played?

I realize one of the many reasons “stupidity” rules is because most people are like lightening. That is they take the path of least resistance. Most, (not all folks) are too lazy or too trusting to really check out information coming their way and so people who are looking to have power and control get it.  Maybe one day we will really take hold of the old sayings:  “Trust Allah … but tie up your Camel” or today's translation “Trust But Verify”.

So as we go into 2013 I thought I would do something which will allow me to write about more interesting things and to help the reader not be bored to death with repetitive stuff.

With the next couple of blogs I am going to cover the most obscene lies and un-truths the religious and political right continue to say, write, and shout out on almost a daily basis.

This way, you the reader get to read the truth, once. We deal with the fact it is a lie and why, once, and when they bring it up again I can simply refer back to this blog. Sweet!

So without further delay here are the lies listed in bold type and my answers or thoughts concerning each.

Was Justice and Mercy Served?

{by Rev. Paul M. Turner, Gentle Spirit Christian Church of Atlanta} 

Sometimes one of the toughest parts of the job of being a pastor and to be considered a community leader is offering counsel to the community that is divided.

Recently Georgia's LGBTQIA community was faced with a deep and sharp divide.

 

February 4, 2012, a young gay man was savagely beaten as he came out of a store in his neighborhood.  This young man, Brandon White, became an instant poster child for a hate crime law in Georgia because the idiots who felt they had the right to beat him filmed it and, well, the rest is history.

On February 8, 2012 CNN reporter Moni Basu wrote the following about the crime:

“A video circulated online shows three men punching and kicking White after he stepped out of the JVC Grocery and Deli in southwest Atlanta's Pittsburgh neighborhood. The men, believed to be members of a gang called Jack City, yelled: "No faggots in Jack City."

Blog vs Rant

{by Rev. Paul M. Turner, Gentle Spirit Christian Church of Atlanta} 

This is supposed to be a blog, but today suffice it to say it is also a bit of a rant. Is it me or does it seem like the divide and discourse in this country and our community is as bad as it has ever been?

I know it is an election year, but this divide has been getting steadily worse since the beginning of the POTUS term and with every step forward the LGBTQIA makes.

The mess going on in Washington...and the awful things they are saying about and to each other, the news media behaving like vultures and people maneuvering for positions to be called a hero.

We watch with embarrassment the political fighting which stands in the way of making sure the folks of our country are protected, secure and safe...did you know our country has not had an official budget for 3 years!

How either of the leaders from the US House or Senate can stand in front of cameras and speak with any kind of authority is beyond me…the approval rating in congress in at 9% the last I looked.

The leaders from the religious right pretend to be good and loving and kind Christian folk, yet when one tries to work with them to find common ground one quickly finds there is no such thing.

If one does not accept their brand of theology it gets pretty ugly quick!

Of course in our own LGBTQIA community all one needs to do is look southwest of North Avenue or walk down Ponce de Leon and the divides in our community are evident. Funny it is not much different from other leadership, because our leadership has done precious little to make the divides less divisive.

“Wag the Dog” of Christmas

Well, we are nine days away from what Christians have come to call Christmas.  I find it hard to understand and almost laughable at how twisted and screwed up this “church” celebration of it’s founder has become.

 

I want to share this obvious observation: Even if there were some remote chance I could become pope…they would never let me. The reason is simple and it is not because of my progressive views of Christian theology, or the fact that I am unapologetically gay or even the fact that I do not believe the bible is the inerrant word of God.

 

Nope, it is because I believe December 25th is one of the biggest scams ever pulled on humanity.

 

Those who are pastors know that what I am suggesting is very true. Y’all went to seminary and know that saying Jesus was born on December 25th is like saying there is a real living breathing Santa Claus. Of course this is but one of many transparent lies and traditions that are based on fiction rather then fact.

 

We have kind of a “Wag the Dog” scenario.  You remember the movie: The story of a US President running for office and before elections, a spin-doctor and a Hollywood producer join efforts to "fabricate" a war in order to cover-up a presidential sex scandal.

 

I think the first time I heard this Christmas script of a “war on Christmas” was from Bill O’Reilly. What has now become the ultimate fundraiser of those on the “Christian and political right”: “The War on Christmas” is fought for the entire 12 weeks leading to December 25th. Do you say “Happy Holidays” or “Merry Christmas”? Legal fights jam our courts over these phrases or worse when a nativity scene gets set up. Conservative Christian websites fire up the war by warning their readers and members that “Christmas is about to be stolen from them so send us money to protect you!”

 

However if you really think about it, this so-called “War on Christmas” is simply a ridiculous marketing idea that fits our arrogance, selfishness and greed to a “t”.  Read me clearly here: the conservatives, fundamentalists, liberals and progressives have all bought into a huge marketing adventure of “wag the dog”.

 

For the Christmas season, which begins long before the 1st Sunday in Advent, actually right after Halloween, we are subjected to twelve weeks of Christmas messages that have little to do with or about our Christian faith. In fact, most of the preparations and so-called traditions have been borrowed or should I say stolen from pagan practices! Although many marketing people cleverly package their presentations in the form of a cute little baby in a cute well-manicured and warm manger scene.

 

People begin making plans for family gatherings and the perfect gift to make the perfect statement of love or impression. This is all destroyed when Johnny announces he is bringing Tom home for Christmas or Susie tells the family she will be spending this holiday with Tammy and her family.

 

Money, jobs, friends, illness, those dying, families, the homeless, starving children, criminals of all kinds and political games all become the all consuming thing that will happen in that particular year or in a lifetime coming up to December 25th.

 

Starting with Thanksgiving and through Christmas day every story has a Christmas slant meant to make one feel guilty, or believe it is possible for one day if enough money is spent, to be a day of perfect perfection.

 

Almost every retail business, in America anyway, is geared to this time as making or breaking them for the entire year.

 

Legislation, which is vital to so many people’s lives, is either held hostage or used as extortion leading to December 25th.

 

Also, starting with Thanksgiving our food consumption just simple goes off the charts, eating far too much of everything and especially the wrong things. Alcohol consumption also goes off the charts but hey, you got to drink something with all that food.

 

The normal everyday challenges of life become a crisis of faith because “tis the season”.

 

People’s social and pageant schedules become so jammed there is no time to take a breath or enjoy a quiet moment of peace and wonderment at God’s creativity in this world in which we live.

 

We are pushed to acts of kindness because it is the Christmas season, rather than it is the right and just thing to do.

 

I could go on and on but you get the point.

 

Now for those who have at this point decided I am some sort of Scrooge or Grinch that stole Christmas, be patient and give me a few more sentences.

 

When I was young my Grandfather told me the reason one should not lie is because once you tell a lie, you have to tell another lie to cover the first and another to cover the 2nd and pretty soon you are just having to lie all the time because you have lost track of the truth and you can’t remember what you said and to whom.

 

We have been told and believe so many lies concerning Christmas that we have almost completely lost why this particular birthday is important, why we celebrate a life which in thirty-three years (a couple years more or less) had such an impact as to change the very course of human events.

 

In all the perfection we strive for in the holiday season, we forget this birth was anything but neat, clean and glamorous. We forget or by cheesy tradition, explain away that this child was conceived out of wedlock, borne in abject poverty and grew up in a world that was most certainly as dangerous to human life as it is today. We forget or don’t talk about how the gossips of the day must have had a field day both inside the temple and outside.

 

We jump past the truth of this story which tells us that no matter how bad things are or get God can raise us up out of the ashes of despair to a place with the Creator.

 

We forget this is a birth that gave us a moral compass for living a life that would be pleasing to the God who created us because it leads to a life of doing justice, acting mercifully and walking humbly with God.

 

When we first bought the lie of December 25th, it became easier to buy the other lies. In fact the Christian and political right’s fear of Christmas being stolen while a lie itself was a self-fulfilling prophecy. For you see, I don’t think we have to worry about Christmas being stolen…it already has been stolen and replaced with the craziness that we call the “Holiday Season”.

 

It is the fact that Jesus of Nazareth was born that we celebrate. The truth of the date is somewhere between April and August depending on whose math you believed. About the only thing certain about the date is it was not the 25th of December. The story of the circumstances of his conception and birth give us real hope that it gets better. Jesus’ life and work gives us a working model and road map for our life. His life is indeed one we can look up to and not be disappointed in what we see. His arrest, faulty conviction and the administration of capital punishment followed by a resurrection give those us who call ourselves followers of “The Christ”, the assurance that nothing in this world including death of the physical body can keep us from God.

 

Maybe the date we celebrate the birth in the wider view is not as important as getting back to why we remember this birth like no other birth in history.

 

So it is with the spirit of being authentic in our celebration I ask us to consider how our “Christmas” celebration this year will measure up to the words attributed to the one we celebrate, we remember, we strive to be like:

 

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

 

Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

 

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Creator in heaven. Matthew 5:3-16 (New International Version, ©2010)

 

It seems to me that December 25th is as good as any day to get back to the authentic reason for giving honor to the birth of the one called Jesus.  So to those who have bought into the “Wag the Dog” scenario of Christmas, how about we just get back to basics and let people enjoy the season in peace?

To boycott the Salvation Army or not to boycott?

By Joe Perez

I am  joining other leaders in the LGBT community in calling for a boycott of the Salvation Army during this holiday season, but I want to add an important qualification.

Join in a boycott of donating to the fundamentalist Christian organization during the holiday season IF you do so as a intentional practice of ethics that arises from your Unique Self. That is to say, boycott if it is the way you can most beautifully and splendidly express your inner divinity out in the world. And if a different impulse of Love arises from your perspective on the world which leads you to make a different choice, I want to respect and even applaud that impulse as well. There is no one-size-fits-all response to the Salvation Army's red kettle.

The fundamentalist religious organization needs to hear the message that if they are going to support discrimination and gays and lesbians, there is a price to pay. But it will hear this message no matter what you or I do, as there are already thousands of individuals committed to boycotting the organization. The choice you and I make could be one of following the hordes who donate or the hordes who boycott based on spiritual beliefs or ideological principles, or we can choose based on doing what comes naturally to us when we act out of our Unique Self.

The Salvation Army has a prominent presence at public locations such as shopping malls during the holiday season, riging bells and soliciting donations intended for charitable causes. You probably know the ideological rationale for not giving them money. If you don't, Bill Browning of Bilerco gives a run-down of the organization's shortcomings, which have included lobbying campaigns worldwide to make consensual same-sex relations illegal:

The Salvation Army has a history of active discrimination against gays and lesbians. While you might think you're helping the hungry and homeless by dropping a few dollars in the bright red buckets, not everyone can share in the donations. Many LGBT people are rejected by the evangelical church charity because they're "sexually impure."

The church claims it holds "a positive view of human sexuality," but then clarifies that "sexual intimacy is understood as a gift of God to be enjoyed within the context of heterosexual marriage." The Salvation Army doesn't believe that gays and lesbians should ever know the intimacy of anyloving relationship, instead teaching that "Christians whose sexual orientation is primarily or exclusively same-sex are called upon to embrace celibacy as a way of life."

On its webpage, the group claims that "the services of The Salvation Army are available to all who qualify, without regard to sexual orientation." While the words are nice, their actions speak volumes. They blatantly ignore the position statement and deny LGBT people services unless they renounce their sexuality, end same-sex relationships, or, in some cases, attend services "open to all who confess Christ as Savior and who accept and abide by The Salvation Army's doctrine and discipline." In other words, if you're gay or lesbian, you don't qualify.

The organization also has a record of actively lobbying governments worldwide for anti-gay policies - including an attempt to make consensual gay sex illegal.

For Christians, charity begins with recognizing the dignity of other human beings as created in the image of God; at higher degrees of consciousness it can include identification with Love itself, and a felt sense of being one with all beings through Christ. There is no charity in the Salvation Army's prejudiced decrees and harmful, disrespectful acts.

Personally, my challenge to myself this holiday season in living my Unique Self is to not hold judgments the bell-ringers outside the grocery store or Westlake Center, or even towards the fundamentalist leaders of the organization. I do not believe they are bad people. I do not believe they hate gays. I believe they are ME.

Joe Perez's Awake, Alive & Aware

By Joe Perez

July is a memory. August was my second month back blogging since I returned from a public writing hiatus, and it afforded me the opportunity to explore a wide variety of topics on my mind while experimenting with quantity, frequency, style, and delivery medium. In 75 posts on Awake, Alive & Aware, my attention focused on giving you the contours of how I see the integral worldview in general and Integral Christianity in particular.

However, some of the most popular posts concerned the topic of finding one's vocation in life. This blog asked, "How much social media is too much?" and noted some of my experiments with finding a good relationship with Twitter. The former post caught the eye of career guru Penelope Trunk, who is the first "big name" blogger to visit my comment boxes. I'm stilling find my way into an appropriately integral relationship to Twitter, and I'll post more on the subject next month.

About the word "integral"

I've experimented with writing the word "integral" in different ways: Integral, integral, and just plain integral. I've called "integral" a consciousness, worldview, community, culture, perspective, philosophy and spirituality. And then there's Integral Theory, which has a definite style guideline. I don't buy into the idea that there is a big "Integral" for Ken Wilber's Integral Theory and a little "integral" for everything else. That's just too fixed. My approach is not to set a style and stick to it, but to gradually find my way into a good mix of usages appropriate for various contexts.

I'm gravitating towards a mix of integral (to describe a level of consciousness) and integral (to praise attributes that are positive). In this approach, I am putting into practice a distinction which I wrote about in the month's most popular post, "Defining Integral, or: What Harvey Milk might say to the Integral movement today."

One of my personal favorite posts of the month is "Are Big Ideas dead? Here's one to watch out for," because it helps to explain why integral thought is marginalized in the culture. It's not a reflection so much of the merits of Ken Wilber's thought, the article suggests, but a problem with modern culture's relationship to information. Many comprehensive, Big Idea thinkers are just as marginalized as the Integral ones, and this post offers recommendations for helping to break integral memes out of the cloister and a bit more into the mainstream.

Is the Presbyterian Church "deathly sick" with strife over homosexuality?

By Joe Perez
Note: Cross-posted at Awake, Alive & Aware.
In "Conservative Presbyterians to discuss alternatives," Peter Smith of the Louisville Courier-Journal explains that there is growing anxiety in the Presbyterian Church USA that some see as "mushrooming" and could lead to a split in one of the largest mainline Protestant denominations.

 

The meeting planned this week is attracting more than 70 regional and national church officials including many conservatives for the first meeting since the denomination passed a constitutional amendment in May that allows the ordination of non-celibate gays and lesbians.

Paul Detterman, executive director of Presbyterians for Renewal, tells us what is at stake:

[T]he conference is “a potentially historic event, perhaps the beginning of yet another denominational division,” writes Jack Haberer, editor of the independent Presbyterian Outlook journal. More than 70 national and regional church officials are attending, Detterman said — a sign they’re taking this seriously.

It started early this year, when several pastors of large Presbyterian churches signed a letter calling for less church bureaucracy and more evangelization, growing congregations and developing leadership.

They described the denomination as “deathly ill,” citing such things as the loss of more than half its members since its peak in the mid-1960s. (Membership is now at 2 million.) Seventy-eight congregations, some of them large, have moved to other, mostly conservative Presbyterian denominations since 2007.

Detterman said the gathering is drawing everyone from conservatives who are still comfortable working within the denomination, especially if they're from a like-minded local presbytery, to those ready to bolt altogether.

There is no way of predicting what will unfold for the Presbyterians with certainty. Really the future of their community is in their hands. To be one, to be two, or to be many.

What is the disease infecting Christianity?

And yet we have seen similar events unfold recently in other Christian denominations (and even outside of Christianity). The growing dis-ease between traditional religionists, modern religionists, and postmodern religionists is manifesting as "disease."

Hunky Jesus contest: A queer way to reclaim Christ

By Kittredge Cherry, Jesus in Love

For me as a lesbian Christian, there’s a lot to love about the Hunky Jesus contest held every Easter in San Francisco by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group of “queer nuns” who do street theater for charity.

First and most important, it makes me feel like Jesus is right here with us, queer or not -- living up to his name Emmanuel, which means “God with us.” 

Happy crowds attend the costume competition every year to see the sexy side of Jesus exposed by contestants with nicknames such as Stimulus Package Jesus, Gym Bunny Jesus and Victoria’s Secret Jesus.

The Hunky Jesus contest is packed with living, breathing gay Jesuses -- or “Jesi,” as they are called.  Many of Hunky Jesus photos are wonderful, and two favorites are posted here.  I put a lot of energy into promoting images of a queer Christ in order to heal the damage done by homophobes in Jesus’ name.  You can see them on this blog and in my book “Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ, and More.”  The Hunky Jesi can free people who feel left out when Jesus is presented as a straight man.  Maybe they can even enlarge the way some people see God. 

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence say that the Hunky Jesus contest is a fun way to promote the ideal of a loving God who has a sense of humor.  It’s also a birthday party for their organization, which has raised more than $1 million for LGBT groups, AIDS service organizations, and other non-profits that don’t see a penny from conservative Christians.

It’s no surprise that the Hunky Jesus contest offends the religious right.  But even gay Christians are denouncing it in the news media this year.  Some LGBT Christians and our allies fear that such events could provoke a backlash.  Political commentator Andrew Sullivan, a gay Catholic, attacked it as “the tired, lame bigotry of some homosexuals” and gay Catholic priest Donal Godfrey of San Francisco called it “sacrilege” at Queerty.com.

I wouldn’t go that far, but parts of it do disturb me.  I decided against posting the recent 2011 Hunky Jesus contest video here because it includes nudity, the f-word and simulated gay sex.  A link to the video is at the end of this article. 

I’m sure that Jesus felt sexual attractions for both men and women, but the more extreme Hunky Jesus contestants express it in a hyper-sexual way that seems, well, unChristlike.  Even many progressive Christians will be offended. 

Still, the critics are wrong when they say that the hunky Jesus contest is hate speech against Christians.  As Sister Zsa Zsa wrote in her recent defense of the event, “Offending prudes and tyrants is not our purpose, but we consider it a bit of a bonus.”  In my opinion, the real purpose is reclaiming Jesus from bigots who have attacked LGBT people in Christ’s name.  We are the body of Christ, ALL of us, of every sexual orientation and gender identity. The contest is also about healing the split between sexuality and spirituality.  And that can get messy, very messy. 

Let’s not forget that Jesus himself was accused of blasphemy.  It was one of the charges leading to his crucifixion.  He broke rules, hung out with prostitutes and other “sinners,” taught that God loved everybody, and got killed for it.  The Christ who appears at the Hunky Jesus contest is not an object of worship, but he does remind me of the Jesus who angered the Pharisees by eating and drinking with “sinners.”  In the Bible, Jesus is always trying to demystify God, comparing God to some ordinary, even vulgar thing like yeast or a poor woman desperate to find a lost coin.

Founded in 1979, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence have a vision statement that says, “We believe all people have a right to express their unique joy and beauty and we use humor and irreverent wit to expose the forces of bigotry, complacency and guilt that chain the human spirit.”

Surely Jesus, hunky or otherwise, is with them.
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Here are additional resources on the Hunky Jesus contest:

Video of the 2011 Hunky Jesus contest
(Warning: contains profanity, male nudity and simulated gay sex.)

More photos! The photos here by Xero Britt come from the following sets:
2008    2009    2011

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Kittredge Cherry is a lesbian Christian author and art historian who blogs about LGBT spirituality and the arts at the Jesus in Love Blog.

Photo credits: Brokeback Mountain Jesus and Hunky Jesus contestant by Xero Britt

Artist envisions a gay Passion of Christ

{Rev. Kittredge Cherry, Jesus In Love}

Jesus is a contemporary gay man in “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision,” a series of 24 paintings by gay artist Douglas Blanchard with text by lesbian author Kittredge Cherry.

The images show Jesus jeered by fundamentalists, tortured by Marine look-alikes and rising again to enjoy homoerotic moments with God and friends. He faces forms of rejection that feel familiar to contemporary LGBT people. He stands up to priests, businessmen, lawyers, and soldiers—all of whom look eerily similar to the people holding those jobs today.

The paintings make Christ more accessible to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and our allies. Christ’s story is for everyone, but queer people often feel left out because conservatives use Christian rhetoric to justify hate and discrimination.

For example, “The Last Supper” (above) appears with this text:

“This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” -- Luke 22:19 (RSV)

Jesus’ friends didn’t know it would be their last meal with him, even though he tried to prepare them. All his closest friends were there, including the man whom Jesus loved. Jesus snuggled his Beloved and talked about love, and then about betrayal, and then a lot more about love. Jesus said he was going away and urged them all to love each other as he had loved them. The greatest love, he told them, is to lay down your life for your friends. He handed bread to them and said something strange: Take, eat; this is my body. Then he passed around a cup of wine, saying, Drink, all of you, this is my blood. He gave and they received completely, an act of true communion. The wine tasted sweet, with a touch of bitterness.

Jesus, thank you for feeding me!

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“The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision” is running in daily installments at the Jesus in Love Blog on LGBT spirituality and the arts. Image credit: “The Last Supper” by Douglas Blanchard.