We Must Find Pride and Power in Queer Spirituality, Writes Transgender Catholic

In an essay for National Catholic Reporter, Maxwell Kuzma, a transgender Catholic, writes about the power and pride of queer spirituality, even in the face of continual hate and discrimination.

Kuzma, who has contributed to Bondings 2.0 previously, begins his essay by emphasizing that LGBTQ+ identities are “uniquely targeted” in the institutional church, specifically when it comes to this community’s language and stories. He writes:

“Our stories are censored, edited or retold in such a way as to make them less queer. Inclusive language, such as identifying one’s pronouns, is rejected in an attempt to make queerness less threatening to cis-het theology and more palatable in a heteronormative society.

“The policing of language within the queer Catholic world — for example, the insistence on using terms like ‘same-sex attracted’ or ‘transgenderism,’ neither of which are embraced within the communities they refer to — is not about being precise or theologically accurate. These terms signal a nonaffirming stance toward LGBTQ+ people and, perhaps even more harmful, serve to isolate queer Catholics from the broader queer community, feeding the narrative that the two communities are exclusive and unable to connect.”

Kuzma emphasizes these attempts are completely a “manmade tradition.” After all, straight and cisgender Catholics, just as their queer co-believers have a “shared creed” and follow the scriptural “message of Jesus Christ.”

While some Christians assume that queer people are not spiritual, Kuzma accurately states that “queerness does not preclude faith.” Rather, many LGBTQ+ Catholics have rich spiritual lives. Some may participate in their church community through music, art, or ministry. Others may find God in more unique ways.  He observes:

“You see, we find God in the places they’ve said we’re not supposed to: in a haircut, in wearing clothes from across the aisle, in holding hands with the one we love. We see beauty in the scars left from a gender-affirming surgery, just as we see beauty in the wounds of Christ. . .

“LGBTQ+ people articulate the Stations of the Cross in a way others have often never considered, because we add details unique to our experience: elevating the leadership of women, emphasizing the importance of having an ally like Simon to help carry your cross, knowing a solidarity with Jesus’ experience of betrayal and condemnation, the way he was deeply misunderstood by the people of his time — even by some of his friends.”

In addition, many LGBTQ+ Catholics find meaning through queer interpretations of traditional Biblical stories:

“LGBTQ+ Catholics have rich spiritualities. We find the queer-coded saints (Joan of Arc, St. Stephen, Julian of Norwich, and many more) despite attempts to hide them away or rewrite their stories. We celebrate the intimacy of same-sex friendships in the Bible (David and Jonathan, Naomi and Ruth, even the relationship between Jesus and the apostle John—’the one Jesus loved’). These examples of holy same-sex friendships provide a unique inspiration for the queer community because they serve as spiritual role models for relationships familiar to us; queer representation doesn’t have to be explicitly romantic in order to resonate.”

Kuzma ends his piece by stating: “We find God as we live out the identity given to us, sharing our gifts in the world with pride. Yes, pride.”

For Pride Month in June, Kuzma wrote an essay in Bondings 2.0 about finding God in his gender transition as the pandemic raged in 2020. You can read that essay by clicking here. For Kuzma’s other contributions, click here.

—Sarah Cassidy (she/her), New Ways Ministry, July 20, 2023