Today’s topic comes from QSFer Jim Comer:
“Do we need a gay messiah? Do we want one? Basically, despite all of the “Jesus-was-gay” stuff, what would a QUILTBAG messiah be like? What would an LGBT Buddha be like? Do we want a queer Muhammad? Can we tell this kind of story? SF is fill of messiahs, such as Phil Dick’s VALIS books and Heinlein’s ‘Stranger in a Strange Land.'”
Jim supplied this link to Rufus Wainwright’s video for the song “Gay Messiah”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV7UGntnEks
So let’s tackle this from a sci fi angle – there are many religions in the world today. Looking forward, where will they go? How will they evolve? And how will the LGBT rights movement and community figure in?
What do you think a would a queer messiah look like – whether he/she is Christian, Mormon, Islamic, Buddhist, whatever? What views would they espouse, and how would they change society? And how would you tell their story?
I do indeed feel we need a gay messiah — because Christianity is being used to justify hate and discrimination against gay people. In the Bible Jesus preached love for all and befriended sexual outcasts. Every community presents Christ figures in their own way. Artist Doug Blanchard did an amazing series of paintings showing Jesus as a gay man of today in a contemporary city. I wrote about them in my new book “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision.” More info at: http://www.passionofchristbook.com.
That’s not Rufus Wainwright’s video for the song Gay Messiah (which is his). The linked video was made by an admirer of his music.