List of works depicting Jesus as LGBT

A number of artistic works have depicted Jesus as LGBT or involved in same-sex romantic or sexual relationships. Jesus' sexuality is a topic of significant academic discussion.

Films and screenplays

• The Many Faces of Jesus , also called The Sex Life of Jesus and The Love Affairs of Jesus, a 1973 pornographic screenplay by Jens Jørgen Thorsen that depicted Jesus in sex acts with both men and women. After outcry and government intervention in multiple countries, Thorsen abandoned plans at producing the film, instead making a less explicit film, The Return   [ da ], in 1992. ^[1]
  • Thorsens Jesusfilm, a 1975 Danish book translating the script for The Many Faces of Jesus. ^{[2] : 26–27}
• Him , a lost 1974 gay pornographic film by Ed D. Louie.
• The First Temptation of Christ , a 2019 satirical comedy by Porta dos Fundos in which Jesus is depicted as having a boyfriend. ^{[3] [4] : 64}

See also

• Corpus Christi: Playing with Redemption , a 2011 documentary about the play Corpus Christi(see below), but not itself a depiction of Jesus as LGBTQ.
• The gay Jesus film hoax, a long-running chain letter that claims that a film will soon be released depicting Jesus as gay, initially related to The Many Faces of Jesus(see above) ^[5] and later including references to Corpus Christi(see below). ^[6]

Literary works

• "The Love That Dares to Speak Its Name", a 1976 poem by James Kirkup published in Gay News , which led to a successful private prosecution by Mary Whitehouse for blasphemy. ^{[7] : 15}
• Jesus in Love: A Novel (2006) and Jesus in Love: At the Cross (2008), novels by Kittredge Cherry depicting Jesus as a bisexual, transgender, gender-fluid erotic mystic. ^{[4] : 62–63}
• "Dayspring", a 2019 short story by Anthony Oliveira which describes the events of the gospels from the perspective of the disciple whom Jesus loved. ^{[8] [9]}
  • Dayspring , a 2024 novel by Oliveira adapting the short story. ^[10]

Music

• "Gay Messiah", a 2004 song by Rufus Wainwright from the album Want Two , which depicts a Second Coming wherein Jesus is "reborn / from 1970s porn" as the titular gay messiah. ^{[11] [12]}

Photography

• Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin's Ecce Homo (1998) consisted of depictions of Jesus in a LGBT context. ^{[13] : 261  [14]}

Stage

• Corpus Christi , a 1997 play depicting Jesus as a gay man from Corpus Christi, Texas, who is murdered for being gay.
• The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven  [ pt; ru ], a 2009 monologue written by Jo Clifford, depicts Jesus as a trans woman. A Portuguese translation by Natalia Mallo was performed in 2014 by Renata Carvalho.
• The performer Heath V. Salazar has played the drag king persona Gay Jesus since 2016. ^[15]

References

1. Stevenson, Jack (2015). "Appendix I: Jens Jørgen Thorsen: The Jesus Chronicles". Scandinavian Blue: The Erotic Cinema of Sweden and Denmark in the 1960s and 1970s. McFarland & Co. pp. 233–246. ISBN   9781476612591.
2. Gade, Rune (9 March 2018). "Liderlighedens fædreland—Noter om pornografiens frigivelse og religionsspørgsmålet" [Homeland of Lust—Notes on the Release of Pornography and the Question of Religion]. Slagmark—Tidsskrift for idéhistorie[Battlefield—Journal of the history of ideas] (in Danish) (61): 17–32. doi: 10.7146/sl.v0i61.104057 .
3. "Brazil: Netflix 'gay Jesus' parody film ban overturned". BBC News . 9 January 2020. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
4. Shore-Goss, Robert E. (2021). "Queering Jesus: LGBTQI Dangerous Remembering and Imaginative Resistance". Journal for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies: 47–70. doi: 10.17613/9exn-n122 .
5. Simbro, William (18 June 1984). "Crusade revives war on non-existent sex film". The Des Moines Register . p. 3A – via Newspapers.com.
6. Mikkelson, Barbara (17 January 2017) [April 21, 2000]. "Will Jesus Be Portrayed as Homosexual in an Upcoming Film?". Snopes . Retrieved 25 November 2023.
7. Tracey, Michael; Morrison, David (1979). Whitehouse. Communications. London & Basingstoke: Macmillan. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-16200-0. ISBN   978-1-349-16200-0.
8. Anthony Oliveira (2 May 2019). "Dayspring". Hazlitt . Retrieved 27 March 2024.
9. "National Magazine Awards Winners 2020". Canadian National Magazine Awards. 12 June 2020. Archived from the original on 23 September 2020. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
10. Noël, Caroline (24 June 2024). "Red-Letter Gay". Literary Review of Canada. Retrieved 5 September 2025.
11. Deusner, Stephen M. (15 November 2004). "Rufus Wainwright: Want Two". Pitchfork . Condé Nast . Retrieved 11 March 2024.
12. Adams, Tim (20 February 2005). "Crystal clear". The Observer . Guardian Media Group . Retrieved 11 March 2024.
13. Igrutinović, Danica; van den Berg, Mariecke (2020). "Ecce Homo in Sweden and Serbia: State, Church, and Blasphemy" (PDF). Public Discourses About Homosexuality and Religion in Europe and Beyond: 261–283. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-56326-4_12.
14. Söderberg, Kajsa (21 March 2016). "Ecce Homo inleder Springpride Eskilstuna" [Ecce Homo starts Springpride Eskilstuna]. Kyrkans Tidning (in Swedish). Retrieved 21 November 2025.
15. Isador, Graham (7 September 2018). "Toronto's 'Gay Jesus' Can Protest and Get Naked at the Same Time". Vice News . Retrieved 5 December 2023.