Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Lesbian Artists Transform Christmas Legend (12/7/05)

LOS ANGELES, CA – Dec. 7, 2005 -- Lesbian artists are transforming the Christmas story by showing the baby Jesus with two moms.

“It’s important for queer people to see ourselves in the stories that shape our culture, especially at Christmastime when many of us feel isolated from holiday traditions,” said Kittredge Cherry, founder of JesusInLove.org, the first website focused on LGBT Christian art. “Lesbian artists are redefining the Holy Family as two women with the baby Jesus.”

A prime example is “Madonna, Lover and Son” by Becki Jayne Harrelson, which includes a turkey baster hidden in the bushes. Most galleries are afraid to exhibit this lesbian Christmas image, but JesusInLove.org displays the controversial painting on its links page.

“Lesbians can relate to the myth of Mary’s virgin birth because we use artificial insemination to have babies without heterosexual sex,” Cherry explained.

JesusInLove.org’s impressive links page also connects with “Alternative Conceptions” by Nancy Duff. Her “corrective painting” adds a pair of lesbian moms to Leonardo DaVinci’s classic portrait of the baby Jesus with his mother and grandmother.

Cherry points out that pro-woman views of the virgin birth go back at least as far as the famous 1851 speech by abolitionist Sojourner Truth. “Where did your Christ come from?” Truth asked. “From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.”

The theology behind the lesbian Madonna is explored in a variety of new books listed at JesusInLove.org. They include a sneak preview of Kittredge Cherry’s forthcoming fictional autobiography of the queer Christ, “Jesus in Love.”

For more information, contact JesusInLoveInfo@aol.com or visit http://www.JesusInLove.org.
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