part 2: the queer creators
This blog post is the second section of a seven part essay of mine called “Finding the Queer Christ in Mormonism.” I’ll be posting a new section of this essay every Monday for the next six Mondays until the entire essay is published.
(To read the first section of this essay, please click here).
“Christ and the Two Marys” by William Holman Hunt
“They always give us wastelands and we always turn them into music and gardens.”
–Connell O’Donovan, Queer Liberation Activist, Historian of Early Mormonism. From his essay, Reclaiming Sodom.
“Since time began, the world has been inspired by the work of queer artists…We’ve given so much to that world: democracy, all the arts, the concepts of love, philosophy and the soul, to name just a few of the gifts from our ancient Greek Dykes (and) Fags.”
“In the beginning God created…”
“How can a gay couple have eternal increase?” some Mormons ask me, imagining the role of future gods and goddesses as sexual procreators for little spirit children to inhabit planets like ours.
Imagining the creation of our spirits as the product of a purely heterosexual act makes heterosexual sex become this sacred and eternal sacrament and seems to give little room for queer people who don’t wish to participate in such.
And yet, does creation have to be imagined as perpetual sex and pregnancy?
“The Creation of Eve” by William Blake (Please note the lack of heterosexual procreation)
Taylor G. Petrey suggests in his essay, “Toward a Post-Heterosexual Mormon Theology,” that there are three “births” in the Mormon canon which are claimed to have involved no heterosexual sex.
1. The creation of Adam from the dust of the Earth.
2. The creation of Eve from his rib.
3. The birth of Jesus through a virgin.
If these supposedly physical births could occur without heterosexual activity, why do our spiritual births need a heterosexual couple to make them occur?
“Bacchus and Ariadne” by Titian
I think we should imagine the creation of both our spirits and the universe in a new way. We must begin imagining a queer communal creation that goes beyond the limitations of our understanding.
I imagine that “the Gods” that Abraham speaks of creating the universe are our Queer Christ (this time in the form of the sexless Jehovah) and his queer companions and queer artists, sculpting and painting the ultimate mural, planting and pruning the ultimate garden, singing and dancing to the ultimate song.
And I believe that we as queer people can continue participating in this Queer Creation through our words and inspirations, through our relationships and discoveries, through our stories and our fashion and our art and our songs.
Further Reading:
Towards a Post-Heterosexual Mormon Theology
Rob Lauer discusses the potential of a queer exaltation in Joseph Smith’s theology in four parts. His sources are amazing and I really think his whole essay is worth checking out:
Young Mormon Feminists 
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Thank you for posting this series! I am theologically wrapped up it what it means to be a physical, eternal being right now, and I am in a queer bible class, so your paper and the links you provided are super useful to me.
I’m glad you enjoyed this series