“Oh, tell me sweet Jesus, I really want to know. Will there be gay people in heaven, and if there’s not, who in the hell wants to go?”
The feisty octogenarian lesbian sang that question at the end of the 1985 groundbreaking film, “Silent Pioneers.” The movie is about the early organization SAGE, Senior Action in a Gay Environment, and its work in New York City to create safe recreational space for LGBTQ people. Since then, SAGE chapters have helped sanctify the lives of the Rainbow Community across the country.
Allow me to offer an answer to this dear soul who has long since discovered on her own that she’s an extraordinarily beautiful angel, meaning that she was a messenger of God. Many LGBTQ people quit believing in God when the church of their youth emotionally and often physically abused them solely because of their very natural sexual and romantic attractions. The vitriol is best summed up by the Westboro Kansas Baptist Church sign, held high at the funerals of LGBTQ people, “God Hates Fags.”
Quite the contrary, God Loves Fags. It’s my personal experience that LGBTQ people are among those most often chosen by the Universe to sing in harmony that God (or whatever name makes you most comfortable) is Love. If there is a Higher Power, a Primal Source, a Sacred Presence, it has long counted on LGBTQ people to be its messengers. I have no doubt whatsoever that I am such a messenger.
Since childhood, I’ve asked God to use me as they wished. Many nuns, and family members, speculated I’d be a priest. A ministry ordained by the Vatican isn’t the direction my life took, but I nonetheless have been a minister since I was young, as is true for thousands of other LGBTQ people living at this time. We have been called to create heaven on earth for those who struggle with their sexual orientation or gender identity. No member of our rainbow community should die questioning whether they are angels.
Religions began as attempts to understand the relationship between humans and things thought more powerful, such as the sun, the moon, Gods living together on Mount Olympus, etc. In order to keep people in line, the religions created dogmas, rituals, and then passed a collection basket. That’s not God. LGBTQ people are sacred messengers whose spiritual awareness is high above the teachings of the golden calf. Our lives manifest the presence of the sacred, and have since the beginning.
Not only are there LGBTQ people in the afterlife called heaven, we’re essential components of the soul of God. One of our jobs is confronting other humans with the time-consuming foolishness of their dogmatic fears and hatreds.
Oh, tell me sweet Jesus, I really want to know. Could there be a heaven without queer people, and do they understand their role in making it so?
