Down to the Studs

HGTV recently aired a pilot for a potential new show called Down to the Studs, which would star husbands PJ and Thomas; a couple that refer to themselves, somewhat artlessly though appropriately, as the “Property Lovers."

In order to ramp up interest in the show, PJ and Thomas have been pleading with their Instagram followers — did we mention the shared Instagram account? — to support the show by using the hashtag #HGTVDowntotheStuds. 

“PLEASE SHARE and TAG HGTV*** YALL,” they wrote. 

“Here’s our news that we’ve been keeping secret for a year and a half! We can finally tell you!!! We have a pilot premiering TOMORROW on HGTV called Down to the Studs! This is a HUGE step for the LGBTQ community! But guys, we need your help!” 

So far, there’s been no news about whether or not the series is being picked up, so you’re encouraged to hashtag your little heart out if you happen to like the pilot, which was really good.

Home

By the time this blog posts this morning, I will in the air on my way home. My parents know I am coming home, but the rest of my family doesn't know. It's going to be a big surprise. July 4th has always been a big holiday for my family and we will have a big BBQ on that day. I'm really looking forward to it.

Being home also means that I have limited internet access. I will do my best to post, but if I don't, don't worry. It just means that I didn't have internet access.

Stonewall

Something unremarkable happened on June 27, 1969 in New York's Greenwich Village, an event which had occurred a thousand times before across the U.S. over the decades. The police raided a gay bar. The events that followed marked the beginnings of the Gay Rights Movement.  


The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. They are frequently cited as the first instance in American history when people in the homosexual community fought back against a government-sponsored system that persecuted sexual minorities, and they have become the defining event that marked the start of the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world.

For more information about the beginnings of the Gay Rights Movement in the United States and the Stonewall Riots, please check out my series of post on Stonewall.

HAPPY GAY PRIDE!!!

Knoxville, Tennessee

Knoxville, Tennessee

by Nikki Giovanni, 1943

I always like summer

best

you can eat fresh corn

from daddy's garden

and okra

and greens

and cabbage

and lots of

barbecue

and buttermilk

and homemade ice-cream

at the church picnic

and listen to

gospel music

outside

at the church

homecoming

and go to the mountains with

your grandmother

and go barefooted

and be warm

all the time

not only when you go to bed

and sleep

The Picture Says It All

My new gym doesn't have locker rooms, but I wish it did.

The Rainbow

Rainbow Christ Prayer: LGBT Flag Reveals The Queer Christ

By REV. KITTREDGE CHERRY

Colors of the rainbow flag reveal the many faces of the queer Christ in the following Rainbow Christ Prayer I wrote with gay theologian Patrick S. Cheng. 

Rainbow flags were flying around the world in June for LGBT Pride Month. Rainbows are also an important symbol in many religious traditions. The Rainbow Christ Prayer honors the spiritual values of the LGBT movement. 

The prayer matches the colors of the rainbow flag with the seven models of the queer Christ from Patrick’s book From Sin to Amazing Grace: Discovering the Queer Christ.

Let us pray... 

Rainbow Christ, you embody all the colors of the world. Rainbows serve as bridges between different realms: heaven and earth, east and west, queer and non-queer. Inspire us to remember the values expressed in the rainbow flag of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community.

Red is for life, the root of spirit. Living and Self-Loving Christ, you are our Root. Free us from shame and grant us the grace of healthy pride so we can follow our own inner light. With the red stripe in the rainbow, we give thanks that God created us just the way we are.

Orange is for sexuality, the fire of spirit. Erotic Christ, you are our Fire, the Word made flesh. Free us from exploitation and grant us the grace of mutual relationships. With the orange stripe in the rainbow, kindle a fire of passion in us.

Yellow is for self-esteem, the core of spirit. Out Christ, you are our Core. Free us from closets of secrecy and give us the guts and grace to come out. With the yellow stripe in the rainbow, build our confidence.

Green is for love, the heart of spirit. Transgressive Outlaw Christ, you are our Heart, breaking rules out of love. In a world obsessed with purity, you touch the sick and eat with outcasts. Free us from conformity and grant us the grace of deviance. With the green stripe in the rainbow, fill our hearts with untamed compassion for all beings.

Blue is for self-expression, the voice of spirit. Liberator Christ, you are our Voice, speaking out against all forms of oppression. Free us from apathy and grant us the grace of activism. With the blue stripe in the rainbow, motivate us to call for justice.

Violet is for vision, the wisdom of spirit. Interconnected Christ, you are our Wisdom, creating and sustaining the universe. Free us from isolation and grant us the grace of interdependence. With the violet stripe in the rainbow, connect us with others and with the whole creation.

Rainbow colors come together to make one light, the crown of universal consciousness. Hybrid and All-Encompassing Christ, you are our Crown, both human and divine. Free us from rigid categories and grant us the grace of interwoven identities. With the rainbow, lead us beyond black-and-white thinking to experience the whole spectrum of life.

Rainbow Christ, you light up the world. You make rainbows as a promise to support all life on earth. In the rainbow space, we can see all the hidden connections between sexualities, genders and races. Like the rainbow, may we embody all the colors of the world! Amen.

I got the idea for the Rainbow Christ Prayer as I reflected on Patrick Cheng's models of the queer Christ. Patrick and I each spent years developing the ideas expressed in the Rainbow Christ Prayer. It incorporates rainbow symbolism from queer culture, from Christian tradition and from the Buddhist/Hindu concept of chakras, the seven colored energy centers of the human body. The prayer is ideal for use when lighting candles in a rainbow candle holder.

The Rainbow Christ Prayer has been welcomed and used by many progressive Christian communities, but denounced as blasphemy by conservatives at Americans for Truth About Homosexuality.

I first wrote about linking the colors of the rainbow flag to queer spirituality in my 2009 reflection on Bridge of Light, a winter holiday honoring LGBT culture. Meanwhile Patrick was working on his models of the queer Christ based on LGBT experience. In 2010 he presented five models of the queer Christ in his essay Rethinking Sin and Grace for LGBT People at the Jesus in Love Blog.

In a moment of inspiration I realized Patrick’s various queer Christ models matched the colors of the rainbow flag. 

Patrick and I joined forces and the Rainbow Christ Prayer was born. With wonderful synchronicity, Patrick had already added two more queer Christ models, so he now had seven models to match the seven principles from Bridge of Light. He wrote a detailed explanation of all seven models in his book From Sin to Amazing Grace published in spring 2012 by Seabury Books.

Gay spirituality author Joe Perez also helped lay the groundwork for this prayer in 2004 when he founded the interfaith and omni-denominational winter ritual known as Bridge of Light. People celebrate Bridge of Light by lighting candles, one for every color of the rainbow flag. Each color corresponds to a universal spiritual principle that is expressed in LGBT history and culture. I worked with Joe to revise the Bridge of Light guidelines based on my on own meditations on the chakras and their connections to the colors of the rainbow flag.

The symbolism of the rainbow resonates far beyond the LGBT flag. 

In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the rainbow stands for God’s promise to support all life on earth. It plays an important role in the story of Noah’s Ark. After the flood, God places a rainbow in the sky, saying, "Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth." (Genesis 9:15-16).

Lastly, in the Book of Revelation, a rainbow encircles the throne of Christ in Heaven.

Originally published on Jesus In Love; Image via Andrew Craig Williams

Moment of Zen: Pietro Boselli

Keep It Real

Last night I watched "Is Genesis History?" which my boss recommended. The program tries to prove that Genesis is literal history. It attempts to convince the viewer to believe that yom (י֔וֹם) means a literal day not a period of time. Yom can mean either. It also tries to say that the Grand Canyon was created by the Great Flood of Noah. I just don't buy it. If Genesis is literal than mankind is only 6,000 years old, but we know from science that mankind has been around for much longer. I believe that Genesis is allegorical. All I have to say to the filmmakers is the same thing on the guy's shirt above--keep it real.

Disappointment

I had a major interview set for this week. It was with a world celebrity who happened to get a graduate degree from my school. I can't say who she is, but know that this was going to be a big interview. To be honest, I was a bit nervous. Disappointingly, she's had to cancel our interview due to some unforeseen issues. She didn't cancel it completely, but it just won't be in person or this week. We will have to do the interview by phone in a few weeks. The phone isn't the best option because the sound quality is not as good, but it's better than nothing.

Summer

Today is the first day of summer. The picture above is the epitome of summer for me. Sitting with a friend by the pool eating a juicy watermelon. Yum. Celebrate summer. If it wasn't so hot, it would be my favorite season.

Last night, I had Chinese for supper. My fortune cookie was a little naughty if you take it a certain way. It said, "Love is like a sweet peach, good to the last drop." Am I the only one who sees something dirty in this, or is it just my mind in the gutter? 

By the way, the "divided peach" is a term for homosexuality in China.  Mizi Xia was the favorite of Duke Ling of Wei (534-493 BCE). One day Mizi Xia bit into a peach and finding it sweet, he stopped eating it and offered it to the ruler. The ruler was moved by his 'considerate behavior'. From hence came these expressions for homosexuality: "a preference for the leftover peach", and "the love of the divided peach."

Sonnet 18

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? (Sonnet 18)

By William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? 

Thou art more lovely and more temperate. 

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, 

And summer's lease hath all too short a date. 

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, 

And often is his gold complexion dimmed; 

And every fair from fair sometime declines, 

By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed; 

But thy eternal summer shall not fade, 

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, 

Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade, 

When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st. 

      So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, 

     So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Summer begins tomorrow.

Unproductive Weekend

For most of the weekend, I suffered from a major headache. It meant that a lot of things I'd planned to do, did not get done. I did a little bit of the housecleaning I'd planned to do, but not enough. It was also very hot this weekend which hampers me from doing much besides sit in front of the fans. Most Vermonters don't believe in air conditioning, and thus my apartment doesn't have one. I'd planned to go get an air cooling system, similar to an air conditioner but not quite one, however, my headache prevented me from making that trip to Burlington. Hopefully, this week will be more productive.

We Shall Overcome

We shall overcome,

We shall overcome,

We shall overcome, some day.

Oh, deep in my heart,

I do believe

We shall overcome, some day.

We'll walk hand in hand,

We'll walk hand in hand,

We'll walk hand in hand, some day.

Oh, deep in my heart,

I do believe

We shall overcome, some day.

We shall live in peace,

We shall live in peace,

We shall live in peace, some day.

Oh, deep in my heart,

I do believe

We shall overcome, some day.

We are not afraid,

We are not afraid,

We are not afraid, TODAY

Oh, deep in my heart,

I do believe

We shall overcome, some day.

The whole wide world around

The whole wide world around

The whole wide world around some day

Oh, deep in my heart,

I do believe

We shall overcome, some day.

"We Shall Overcome" is a gospel song which became a protest song and a key anthem of the Civil Rights Movement. The song is most commonly attributed as having descended lyrically from "I'll Overcome Some Day", a hymn by Charles Albert Tindley that was first published in 1900.

A couple of the usual haters appeared at Knoxville Pride yesterday afternoon to wave their anti-LGBT banners and shout abuse. Not having it was the touring Washington Gay Men’s Chorus, who encircled the haters to deliver a rousing rendition of We Shall Overcome. 

Thanks to Joe.My.God for the part about Knoxville Pride.

Moment of Zen: Cowboys

Whitman Sampler

Walt Whitman would have turned 198 years old last month had he not succumbed to bronchial pneumonia way back in 1892.

To mark the occasion, Whitman superfan Hugh Ryan at Broadly has been poring over what appears to be a series of seven nude black and white photographs of a man who bears a striking resemblance to the great American poet.

The photos, labeled simply “Old Man,” were taken 141 years ago by famed artist and photographer Thomas Eakins (July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916). They depict a slender man (with just a slight ponch) with a long white beard fully naked from several different angles: full-on, in profile, and from behind.

Ryan sent the photos to several different Walt Whitman experts to get their opinions.

Karen Karbiener, a Whitman scholar and professor at NYU, replied to Ryan’s inquiry by saying:

The size fits. He was six feet tall, never had a gut, was always in reasonably good shape even when he was older… I haven’t seen a lot of 80-year-old men naked, but presumably this is good shape for an 80-year-old man!

Not just that, Karbiener said, but Whitman was one of the most photographed men of the 19th century, and he also wasn’t shy about things like sex and nudity, as anyone whose read Leaves of Grass knows.

“I don’t think Walt would have any shame about posing for these,” she hypothesized. “Especially for Eakins. There was a mutual affection and respect there.”

Eakins and Whitman met around 1887 and bonded, no doubt, over their mutual affection for younger gentlemen.

Ryan also approached Ed Folsom, a Whitman scholar and co-director of the Walt Whitman Archive online, about the photos.

Folsom wasn’t sure if the man in the photo was Whitman, so he submitted them to a neurologist. His hope was that the neurologist would find physical evidence of the strokes and other health problems Whitman suffered in the years when this photo was taken. (Whitman had his first of several strokes in 1873.)

The results? Inconclusive.

In his investigation, Ryan concludes:

Whitman would have been 198 years old today; were he still alive, perhaps that photo would grace his Grindr profile. Some might consider it indecorous to commemorate one of America’s literary treasures with an investigation into his penis, but it’s oddly fitting for Whitman. This was a man who loved puzzles, new technology, and—yes—penises. He reveled in the body, and in thumbing his nose at Victorian morality. Sharing this photo, whether or not it is actually of Whitman himself, is perhaps the most Whitman-ic way we could celebrate his birthday.

Technical Difficulties

Some of my blog followers have let me know that in recent weeks email notice of my daily blog posts have been sporadic. If you signed up on my WP site to follow me, please let me know if you have not been receiving daily email notice of my blog posts.

Rural Women

Yesterday, I sent in a proposal to present at a rural women's conference. You might wonder why. Well back in graduate school, I conducted oral histories with a special group of rural women. The conference isn't until next year, but I'm hoping that my paper gets accepted. It's a unique story that should be told. If I am chosen to present, I will likely be the only male presenter. However, women's history was my minor field, so I hope they overlook my gender and allow me to present.

Near Miss

Near Miss

 By Fanny Howe

I almost met you

On a Saturday

In Gloucester.

The wind blew easterly.

There was a jar of mums

On a table near the window.

 

Their yellows were calling

To each other.

 

Place-names

Were put back

In the pencil drawer

Before I noticed your shadow.

About This Poem

 

“This is a poem composed by the words themselves, calling out their sounds to each other. Compared to them, listless human longing for an unknown friend amounts to nothing. I can say that the name Gloucester, so resonant in my mind, set off the poem in the first place.”

—Fanny Howe

This poem remind me of the "Missed Connections" section on Craig's list. Some are very funny to read. I've often wondered if they worked.

Treadmill

I went to the gym Friday. It wasn't too crowded, and I look forward to going back. No one was to be found to ask about a trainer, but I will get to that. I just walked on the treadmill for 30 minutes and worked up a good sweat. I went back yesterday and did the same thing although there weren't very many people there on a Sunday afternoon. I'm really enjoying this and plan to go back after work today.

Blessed

1 Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the LORD delivers him; 

2 the LORD protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; you do not give him up to the will of his enemies. 

3 The LORD sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health. 

4 As for me, I said, "O LORD, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you!" 

5 My enemies say of me in malice, "When will he die, and his name perish?" 

6 And when one comes to see me, he utters empty words, while his heart gathers iniquity; when he goes out, he tells it abroad. 

7 All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me. 

8 They say, "A deadly thing is poured out on him; he will not rise again from where he lies." 

9 Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me. 

10 But you, O LORD, be gracious to me, and raise me up, that I may repay them! 

11 By this I know that you delight in me: my enemy will not shout in triumph over me. 

12 But you have upheld me because of my integrity, and set me in your presence forever. 

13 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! Amen and Amen.  - Psalms 41

Moment of Zen: Beautiful Eyes

Museums

Two museums in one day is a lot when the first museum is an hour and a half away and the second is another hour and a half away. The first museum was the Vermont Folklife Center where we listened to some oral histories about the Colonial Dames. It was interesting how the oral histories were presented. They were presented by having a number you call on your cell phone and listening to the oral histories clips. The second museum was Hildene, The Lincoln Family Home. The house was beautiful as were the grounds. Then we headed home. It was a long day.

Gym

I've needed to get in better shape for a while now. In the last few months I've gained weight, enough that my clothes don't fit as well anymore. So I decided to do something about it. I joined a gym. Joining was step one. Step two is actually going. Because my membership card has not come yet, I can only get in between 10 am and 6 pm, which means I can't go tonight after work because I have to work late. My boss and I are taking a sort of field trip to check out two other museums in the state. We likely won't get back before 6 pm. Therefore, my plan is to go after I get off work Friday.

Forgot

I simply forgot to do a post last night for today. Ugh, it makes me mad at myself, but I had other things on my mind. More about those things tomorrow.

D-Day

I must return

I must go back to Normandy

to look out upon the sea,

Where once a great armada

carried troops, including me.

I must go back to Omaha

to walk along the shore,

and let my mind go back in time

to when there was a war.

When I go back I know I’ll mourn,

and shed some tears and feel the pain.

But I must go back and reminisce,

and think, and pray for those who there remain.

For they, too, were out upon that sea,

and then they died in Normandy.

Now from their graves above the shore,

they’ll keep their watch out on that sea, forever more.

I must go back to Normandy,

and, with them, once more,

look out upon that sea.

Sergeant Frank J. Wawrynovic landed on Omaha Brach on D-Day with C Company of the First Battalion, 115th Regiment, 29th Division.  On June 17, he was wounded while scouting ahead of the American line in an orchard near the Norman city of St. Lô.  He was evacuated, hospitalized for nearly two years, and discharged with a medical disability.  After the war he returned to school and had a successful business career.  Over the years he and his wife, Stella, gave very generous support to a variety of charities and non-profit organizations, including Normandy Allies.  Many years after the war, his thoughts returned to that episode, leading him to write the poem shown above.  He died in 2005, and his wife followed him in 2013.

D-Day occurred 73 years ago today and led to the liberation of Europe from Hitler's Nazi regime.

LGBTQ History Matters

LGBTQ people have always existed, but our history has either not been recorded or has actively been erased. Berlin in the 1920s and early 1930s was the gayest city on the planet, easily the San Francisco of its day. Yet the Nazis erased everything, putting gay men in concentration camps, where they were either worked to death or forced to have lobotomies performed. Unlike gay men, lesbians were not generally regarded as a social or political threat. Anthropologists are revealing the existence of LGBTQ people in cultures across the globe. 

LGBTQ history is important not only for our community but for everyone. Part of the richness of LGBTQ culture and history is that it poses alternative social structures to the patriarchal and hierarchical model that saturates modern society. Because of the ubiquity of LGBTQ people, our continuing liberation movement is part of and a collaborator with other liberation struggles. 

The recent presidential election in the U.S. heightens the importance of all of us resisting together. Saturday, June 10, Vermont will hold an LGBTQ Solidarity March on Montpelier. The March is an act of solidarity with the LGBTQIA National Unity March on Washington. LGBTQ people from across Vermont and other states will march on the Vermont capital of Montpelier.

The Two Types of Pride

Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else.  Galatians 6:4

Selfish pride can be defined as "excessive confidence or glorification in one's self, possessions or nation." The concept is found in the Bible, along with pride itself, in words such as arrogance, haughtiness and conceit, among others, all of which are opposite of Godly humility. The wrongness of self-centered pride is essentially twofold. On a spiritual level, it inevitably leads to disregard, disrespect and disobedience to God i.e. self-centered pride is primarily what transformed the once-righteous Lucifer into the wicked Satan after he became too impressed with himself: "I will make myself like the Most High" (Isaiah 14:14). On a worldly level, selfish pride very often results in self-destructive behavior because, while a form of self-delusion, it isn't necessarily as much an overestimation of one's self as it is a dangerous underestimation of others, hence "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Proverbs 16:18).

The Bible warns us about the dangers of pride, by which it means an arrogant, haughty, self-centered attitude that looks down on others and feels no need of God.  This kind of pride is wrong in God's eyes because it can make someone act as if he/she is the most important person in the world. That cuts us off from others; no one likes someone who's constantly acting as if they're better or more important than anyone else. A prideful attitude also cuts us off from God, because we think we can get along without Him. But the Bible warns, "The eyes of the arrogant will be humbled and human pride brought low" (Isaiah 2:11).

The Bible also speaks of a good pride, but it differs greatly from selfish pride, what we might call a healthy understanding of what God has given us, and a humble determination to do our best for His glory. This can be good, giving us the confidence we need to meet challenges and undertake new tasks. The Bible says, "Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else" (Galatians 6:4).

Be on guard against a self-centered pride that ultimately will destroy you. Instead, see yourself the way God sees you, and humbly accept the gifts He has given you. Most of all, humble yourself at the foot of the cross, and commit your life and your future to Jesus  Christ.

As LGBT Christians we should take pride in keeping the faith, even when others tell us we are not wanted.  A friend of mine sent me a quote the other day, that I found very inspirational and I believe it is a perfect example of why we should look at pride in a different way.

Maybe our journey in life isn't so much about becoming anything. Maybe it's about unbecoming everything that isn't really you so you can become who you were meant to be in the first place.

Our experienced help shape us, but they don't define us.  Sometime we have to unlearn things or peel away those things that hold us back.  We are taught by most ministers that pride is evil, but can we not have a humble pride? We should take pride in God and the life he has created in us.  For me this type of pride is about glorifying God.  We are made in the image of God, and we should take pride in that.  We are a witness to God’s radical love, and his love is everlasting and unconditional.  God promises us eternal life, but we must believe and have faith and follow his word (as a member of the churches of Christ, I feel compelled to say "and be baptized" but I know not everyone believes in the necessity of baptism). Our faith is miraculous: as LGBT Christians we are constantly told that we are the living embodiment of sin, but we have kept the faith, because our loving God encourages and guides us to the truth. We are called to transform the world:  it is our duty to show others that God's love is everlasting and unconditional. God journeys with us, and He is with a us at all times, in good or bad.  Our experiences teach us how to love authentically and not to listen to those who are naysayers or preach hate. As LGBT Christians, God has freed us from shame for we have nothing to be shameful of, because we have kept the faith. By embracing ourselves, we bring inner peace because we know who we are and we have "unbecome" what others told us to become because we have followed the path of God's truth.  We are unique creations of God.  Without that uniqueness we'd all be the same, and God made us all diverse and wonderful people who are filled with the capacity to love.

Some gay people find pride to be one time of the year when they do not feel alone, isolated, cut-off, rejected, hated and despised. Pride helps gay people feel they are not a tiny, powerless minority group. Through pride, many gay people find a sense of belonging, a sense of being worthwhile. Society has long taught gay people to hate themselves. By taking pride in who they are in Christ, gay people can start the long process of overcoming self-hate. Standing side-by-side with God, gay Christians are an accepted, loved, connected and powerful majority!

Gay Christians can find meaning in pride. They are start to feel able to freely and openly celebrate who they are in Christ. God wants that! God wants gay people to stop hating and fearing themselves, because those who live secret lives of pain are not able to fully celebrate their identity in Christ. Through gay pride, God calls gay Christians to live as though the world waits for them, waits for them to passionately praise God, to love as faithfully as God loves and to celebrate life, as they walk hand-in-hand with Christ into eternity.

So take pride in our struggles.  We need that good, unselfish pride to show others the true light of God.  So as we celebrate the forty-fifth anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, with Gay Pride Month coming to an end, and next Friday, we celebrate the pride we feel in the independence of the American spirit, we should rejoice with others that God allows us that feeling of warmth in our hearts that is our unselfish pride. 

The picture at the top of this post is the reaction to this group of Chicago Christians who showed up at a gay pride parade to apologize for homophobia in the Church.

Moment of Zen: Rivers

A Posthumous Wedding

Gay Man Makes History By Marrying Cop Killed In Terrorist Attack

Curtis M. Wong is the Senior Editor of HuffPost Queer Voices 

A gay police officer killed by a gunman in Paris was married in a posthumous wedding that’s believed to be a historic first. 

Xavier Jugelé, 37, was shot dead April 20 on the Champs-Élysées three days before the French presidential election. The Islamic State later claimed responsibility for the attack, which left two other officers wounded. The gunman, identified as Karim Cheurfi, was shot dead by security forces.

Though details of Wednesday’s nuptials are scarce, Etienne Cardiles married Jugelé in a ceremony attended by former French president François Hollande and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, The Guardian reports. It’s believed to be the first posthumous same-sex wedding to take place in France (where marriage equality has been the law of the land since 2013) and possibly the world, according to the BBC. 

The U.S. does not recognize posthumous matrimony under federal law, but its origins in France can be traced back to 1803. The practice became particularly popular during World War I, when it allowed women to wed slain soldiers, thus legitimizing any children conceived beforehand and entitling them to a pension.  

France’s current legislation allowing people to marry the dead dates back to 1959, when a woman named Irène Jodard requested permission from former French President Charles de Gaulle to wed her fiancé, André Capra, after he had drowned. Hundreds of people have since applied for post-mortem matrimony under the law, which requires applicants to send a formal request to the president, according to The New York Times. 

Cardiles made global headlines when he delivered an impassioned eulogy at an April 26 memorial service for Jugelé, who had also been deployed during the Nov. 13 terror attacks in Paris. 

“As far as I’m concerned, I’m suffering without hate,” Cardiles said in the speech, which was transcribed by Time magazine. “This hate, Xavier, I don’t have it because it never existed in you... Because tolerance, dialogue and temperance were your best weapons. Because behind the policeman there was the man. Because you become a policeman by choice; the choice to help others and to fight against injustice.”

An associate described Jugelé as having been “really committed” to queer causes. Mickaël Bucheron, who is the president of Flag, a French association for LGBTQ police officers, said Jugelé had been active with the group for several years. “He protested with us when there was the homosexual propaganda ban at the Sochi Olympic Games,” Bucheron told The New York Times. 

Here’s to hoping the union gives Cardiles some comfort following his tragic loss.