In LGBTQ History Month it’s worth recognizing how difficult it is not to read modern prejudices or hopes back into the lives of famous characters. Before the 19th-century category of sexual orientation labelled “homosexuality” was invented there wasn’t a way to categorize those we’d today
C.S. Lewis’ thinking on sex, and sexual references in his biography, have puzzled readers and scholars alike. He hasn’t always seemed as “Christian” as some Christians would like. “Is C.S. Lewis too Sexy for America?” the Lewis scholar Brenton Dickieson recently discussed. The suggestions of
It is easy for the blinded oppressor, from an ivory tower of privilege, to look around at the burning world and declare, “everything happens for a reason.” It is easy for the white slack-tivists, who reap the reward of systemic oppression, to ponder quietly the
Today we hear it used to shout down and bully school boards during their public meetings. Nurses, school teachers, flight attendants, and people just walking down the street have heard it used by people while the shouter assaults them. It seems to be an excuse
As I confess a secret vice Mormons (members of the LDS Church) tend to be some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. In fact, I have a secret vice to confess in that respect. But first… Let’s talk about the LDS Church’s cruel homophobia problem. Let’s
Part of an occasional series celebrating Whosoever’s Silver Jubilee. (Author’s note: I use the term “queer” throughout this essay for consistency, even when it is anachronistic.) If I remember correctly, I saw a print edition of Whosoever at a newsstand near my college. I was excited
Gay. Straight. It does not matter. It doesn’t matter how we behave. It doesn’t matter how we’re wired. So said Christian music megastar Amy Grant in a recent interview. What matters, said Grant, is setting a welcome table and loving people as we have been,
Bishops incite anti-trans hate A friend of mine in Puerto Rico tipped me off the other day that the American territory’s Conference of Catholic Bishops was endorsing a massive street protest against local political efforts to make the island safer and more legally equitable for transgender
Read the rest of the series When you hear the word “church,” what first comes to mind? For many of us queer folk, harmful memories may reemerge — memories of people who “loved” us but wouldn’t accept us, and of places where we were “welcomed”
Here I sit in quiet stillness. For 30 minutes, there is no scrolling, swiping, messaging, emailing, chores, work, or needs of any form. For 30 minutes, I kneel before a makeshift altar composed of two candles and a vaguely anthropomorphic stone statue. For 30 minutes,