I remember the Catholic guilt gnawing at my insides when I thought about her, when I felt butterflies flutter in my heart as I glanced at her. I remember teachers in religion classes making it clear where the Church stood on someone like me. I remember hearing about the Bible verses — the dreaded Leviticus 18:22 — and reading about sodomy in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I remember looking up to the sky, thinking, “If this is true, why would you make me this way?”
Ellos Quieren Sangre
Her shoulders drooped with the weight of her Catholic guilt as the statue of white Jesus stared down at her, telling her, I know what you’ve done. His dark eyes seemed to be in perpetual melancholy as her own peered into them. That statue always scared her, always seemed to follow her home from church; it was the first thing she’d see in her grandmother’s kitchen, a miniature version of the statue hung up in her room right in front of the doorway. She had always accepted that Jesus would be a permanent part of her life, just as she had accepted that she bore responsibilities, as the eldest daughter and the first grandchild, to fall in line with what her family expected from her..
The Right To Discriminate?: Religious Exemption from Title IX Compliance
Illustrated by Paheli (She/Her) Content warning: homophobia, transphobia, religious language, mentions of depression and suicide Title IX protects against sex-based discrimination. Beginning with Bostock v. Clayton County, the Supreme Court ruled that Title IX’s protection extends to transgender and gay…
Bible by the Bedside
“If a man practices homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman, both men have committed a detestable act. They must both be put to death, for they are guilty of a capital offense.” Leviticus 20:13. Such a verse reverberates emphatically in my soul and has all throughout my life.
Archaic
Illustrated by Christopher Ikonomou (Xe/He) This poem was originally published in our Winter 2022 Volume 1 zine “Queer Rage, Resistance, & Renaissance.“ assembled in the literal and reaching out to touchsuits and ties and evil eyes on years and years…
Thy Neighbor was a MAN?! A Case for the Historically Queer Jesus
Jesus has long been a figure representing wholesome celibacy in the Christian faith, but assuming he was a real person, the odds are that he had sexual desires like the rest of us. One way Jesus could have handled those…
7 Reasons Why Catholicism is the Gayest Religion Ever
The first time I masturbated, I cried. I finally cave in to my carnal desires. But once the waves of ecstasy subside, my heart becomes heavy with Catholic guilt. Years of religious teaching on sexuality instills the idea that sexual…
