User:Pingnova/sandbox/The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision

The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision is a series of paintings by Douglas Blanchard that depict Jesus Christ as a modern gay man living the Passion in an American urban setting.

Blanchard, a gay man who has "little love" for the "imperial cult" of Christian organized religion, differentiates between organized religion and faithful followers, who he loves for their "radicalism". About imagining Jesus as gay, he says "All our murdered dead, known and unknown, are images of Christ crucified." For the youthful, white appearance of Jesus, Blanchard drew inspiration from Matthew Shepard.

24 paintings depict scenes such as Jesus arriving in Jerusalem on horseback surrounded by a joyful crowd, which is based on Charle Moore's photographs of Civil Rights movement marches.


 * Son of Man (Human One) with Job and Isaiah
 * Jesus Enters the City
 * Jesus Drives Out the Money Changers
 * Jesus Preaches in the Temple
 * The Last Supper
 * Jesus Prays Alone
 * Jesus Is Arrested
 * Jesus Before the Priests
 * Jesus Before the Magistrate
 * Jesus Before the People
 * Jesus Before the Soldiers
 * Jesus Is Beaten
 * Jesus Goes to His Execution
 * Jesus Is Nailed to the Cross
 * Jesus Dies
 * Jesus Is Buried
 * Jesus Among the Dead
 * Jesus Rises
 * Jesus Appears to Mary
 * Jesus Appears at Emmaus
 * Jesus Appears to His Friends
 * Jesus Returns to God
 * The Holy Spirit Arrives
 * The Trinity

A Facebook ad campaign for the book version of the paintings generated controversy when the ads were rejected by Facebook for being "too violent" and "too sexy". Author Kittredge Cherry argued that there is no nudity in the paintings and Facebook had approved similar campaigns of Jesus crucified from conservative Christian organizations. Four out of six ads were eventually allowed.

Reception
Blanchard believed the paintings would be a "career killer". Conservative Christian individuals and communities call the work "blasphemous".

LGBTQ magazine IMPACT called the series "shocking" and "as true to the Gospel story as any classic Renaissance painting of Christ’s passion."

Second series
Blanchard began painting a second version of the "gay Passion" in 2016, following what he viewed as disturbing actions from the Trump administration that would impact civil rights, particularly those of African Americans. Dubbed "The Large Passion", the gay Jesus in this series is depicted as Black or racially ambiguous.