Was Jesus Gay? Anglican Priest Says 'Probably'

On Good Friday, Paul Oestreicher (left), an Anglican priest and a chaplain at the University of Sussex in England, preached on the last words of Jesus as he was being executed. It is a tradition that began with the Jesuits and was adopted by many Anglican churches. But Oestreicher felt Jesus Christ's intimacy with John had to be addressed that day, and told the Wellington, New Zealand congregation it was most likely that Jesus was gay. Oestreicher explained this belief in a piece written for The Guardian newspaper:

"That disciple was John whom Jesus, the gospels affirm, loved in a special way. All the other disciples had fled in fear. Three women but only one man had the courage to go with Jesus to his execution. That man clearly had a unique place in the affection of Jesus. In all classic depictions of the Last Supper, a favorite subject of Christian art, John is next to Jesus, very often his head resting on Jesus's breast. Dying, Jesus asks John to look after his mother and asks his mother to accept John as her son. John takes Mary home. John becomes unmistakably part of Jesus's family.

Jesus was a Hebrew rabbi. Unusually, he was unmarried. The idea that he had a romantic relationship with Mary Magdalene is the stuff of fiction, based on no biblical evidence. The evidence, on the other hand, that he may have been what we today call gay is very strong."

Oestreicher, who was ordained priest in St Paul's Cathedral London in 1960, wrote that it was only after much reflection, and with no wish to shock, that he felt left with no option but to suggest that Jesus was homosexual.

"Had he been devoid of sexuality, he would not have been truly human. To believe that would be heretical.

Heterosexual, bisexual, homosexual: Jesus could have been any of these. There can be no certainty which. The homosexual option simply seems the most likely. The intimate relationship with the beloved disciple points in that direction. It would be so interpreted in any person today. Although there is no rabbinic tradition of celibacy, Jesus could well have chosen to refrain from sexual activity, whether he was gay or not. Many Christians will wish to assume it, but I see no theological need to. The physical expression of faithful love is godly. To suggest otherwise is to buy into a kind of puritanism that has long tainted the churches."

Read Oestreicher's complete column for The Guardian here.