The Ashes of Our Martyrs

Today on Ash Wednesday queer martyrs rise from the ashes as we recall the thousands who were executed for homosexuality throughout history. This is not just a historical issue. The death penalty for homosexuality continues today in ten countries (Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Mauritania, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, and United Arab Emirates). Christians traditionally put ashes on their foreheads as a sign of repentance on Ash Wednesday. It is an appropriate time to reflect on the sins of the church and state against queer people, including the burning of “sodomites” and thousands of executions for homosexuality over the past 800 years.

– Kittredge Cherry
Excerpted from "Ash Wednesday: Queer Martyrs Rise from the Ashes"
Jesus in Love Blog
February 18, 2015

Lest We Forget: Remember the Ashes of Our Martyrs – Terence Weldon (Queering the Church, February 13, 2013).
"Burned for Sodomy": A Chronological List of All Those Killed for Homosexuality in Church- or State-Sanctioned Executions – Terence Weldon (Queer Saints and Martyrs).
War on LGBT Community: ISIS Executes Five "Gay Men" in One Month – CBS San Francisco (February 5, 2015).
Lenten Reflection Series: Our Daily Cross – Millennial (February 19, 2015).
Giving Up Homophobia for Lent: Queering the Christian "Way of Sorrows" – H. Adam Ackley (The Huffington Post, February 24, 2015).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• The Blood-Soaked Thread
• Louis Crompton on the "Theological Assault" of the Ulpianic-Thomistic Conception of Natural Law (Part I)
• Louis Crompton on the "Theological Assault" of the Ulpianic-Thomistic Conception of Natural Law (Part II)
• Liberated to Be Together
• Ash Wednesday Reflections
• Lent: "A Summons to Live Anew"
• "Here I Am!" - The Lenten Response
• Lent: A Time to Fast and Feast
• Lent with Henri
• Waking Dagobert

Image: The knight of Hohenberg and his servant, accused of sodomy, were executed by burning in Zürich in 1482. (Wikimedia Commons).