Queer Nativity imagery
I have a lovely carved wood nativity set that incorporates traditional Korean culture. I like it a lot.
Nativity sets based on a variety of cultures from around the world are easily found (it can be argued that white Europeans were among the first to put their culture onto the characters of the nativity and their version became the norm for how we think of the Nativity). It is affirming to people of a culture to view the nativity in their own paradigm.
Reverend Kittredge Cherry remembers going to a huge exhibit of Nativity scenes. They had hundreds of statues of Mary, Joseph and baby portrayed as every conceivable racial and ethnic identity.
In 2009, Reverend Cherry, who is lesbian, decided its time her own community see themselves portrayed in the Nativity. She simply put Mary with Mary and Joseph with Joseph.
Reverend Cherry believes her nativity scenes are true to the spirit of the Christmas story in the Bible: God’s child conceived in an extraordinary way and born into less-than-reputable circumstances. According to the Bible story, the Virgin Mary had Jesus without having sex with a man, much like lesbian mothers who use artificial insemination. Joseph was an adoptive father, and it’s love that makes them a family, true as it is of any family.
She made a video and took some photos and posted them online. Most Christians seemed to disagree, her images were seen as controversial and generated a lot of outrage
While a lot of Christians were seething, many queer people were surprised at the feelings they had in seeing themselves included in the Christmas imagery. Other queer people started creating & sharing their own versions. They may have two dads with the baby, or two moms, or perhaps kept a traditional mom & dad but had gay couple worshiping the baby.
True, these may not be biblically accurate – but neither is having the holy family dressed in Mexican folk costumes, or having the shepherds and wise men at the scene at the same time.
In 2011, for Christmas, instead of a traditional nativity scene, Claremont United Methodist Church had 3 couples holding hands beneath the star of Bethlehem with the words “Christ is born.” A small tree of life was atop a statement pointing out that “Christ was the victim of hate and intolerace while he taught love and compassion.”
They wanted their display to convey that Christ is born anew to every couple, regardless of their sexual orientation. That people of all sorts of sexual orientations are following the star in search of Christ and hoping there will be room at the manger for them.
Unfortunately, one night someone pushed over the two gay couples and left the heterosexual couple standing. The artwork suffered at least $3,000 worth of damage. Police investigated it as a hate crime.
Jon Trouten who lives in Iowa with his husband and their two sons was thinking about the backlash all these gay nativities generate and the message it sends. He created a display of a gay couple holding hands as they walk toward a manger scene far in the distance. Their path is blocked by two bouncers with a sign that says, “Limited seating in the manger. VIPs only.”
The scene illustrates that queer people are stopped from full participation in the church. There was no room at the inn for Mary and Joseph 2,000 years ago, so Jesus was born in a lowly stable. Likewise there is no room in many churches today for queer people who want to get closer to Jesus.
Trouten says this image is a metaphor of the ongoing struggles for same-sex marriage, ordination of queer clergy and full religious rights for queer people.
Despite the red rope and bouncers, the gay couple is moving forward. I like that the couple is surrounded by a halo of white light. While the church & its bouncers may stop them, they’re already accepted and loved by Jesus.
We’ve had 10+ years to get used to seeing images of gay couples in nativity scenes. What is new is seeing trans people included in portrayals of the nativity.
Much about the nativity is there to reinforce the idea that God doesn’t favor the wealthy or the powerful. We’re all prized by God. Including queer people doesn’t harm this message but bolsters it. What if we saw all families as holy, each child as divine, regardless of the parents’ sexual orientation or gender? If we can see ourselves in the nativity, then we can understand our own sacred connection to the holy.
