80 More Gays Around the World: Part 18) Fighting Against AIDS and Art

Last time on “80 More Gays”: Geophysicist 47) Allan Cox (1926-1987) provided proof of continental drift which had been suggested in studies of plants and lichens by 48) Elke Mackenzie (1911-1990), a member of the secret Operation Tarabin sent to the Falkland Islands, where the long-running Anglo-Argentine dispute over them is continued by 49) Gustavo Mellela (b.1970), the most recent openly gay provincial governor since 50) Jared Polis (b.1975).

50) Jared Polis was elected Governor of Colorado on 6th November 2018. Even though 49) Gustavo Mellela is the most recent openly gay governor to take office (as the Argentine Governor of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and the Southern Atlantic Islands) Jared is still the most recent who was openly gay when running for office. Before becoming governor Jared was a member of the US House of Representatives.

Jared Polis is Colorado born and bred. Though he is entitled to live in the governor’s mansion in Denver he has chosen to live there only during legislative sessions. The mansion was built in 1908 as the home of a tycoon’s widow. In 1957 it came into the possession of the Boetcher Foundation and they offered it to the state of Colorado. On New Year’s Eve 1959 the then Governor, Stephen McNichols, accepted the gift and it has been the governor’s official residence ever since.

The Governor's Mansion, Denver, Colorado.

Jared Polis is not the mansion’s first gay residence. The son of Governor McNichols spent some of his childhood there. His name is 51) William Hart McNichols (b.1949). Although his immediate family background is in politics, William chose to study art and religion. His dream was to illustrate religious books for children. Since 1982 he has illustrated many books for the Paulist Press and other Christian publishers.

William was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1979. When AIDS began its devastating effect on the gay community Father William volunteered at the St. Vincent Medical Centre in New York as a chaplain in the AIDS hospice team.

In 1986 he came out publicly. Two factors influenced his decision which, in those days, could easily have meant being fired, both as a chaplain and as a priest. The first influence was his desire to minister to AIDS patients who had a deep-seated suspicion against the church and felt uneasy talking to a priest. He felt that as an openly gay priest he could help to overcome the unease. The second influence was publicity at that time around sexual abuse by priests. By coming out Father William wanted to present a positive gay Christian figure. Both the hospice and the church agreed to let him continue his ministry.

During his AIDS hospice ministry Father William created many religious images, in particular in the style of traditional icons for which his is now famous. In 1990 he went to study icon writing (the official term for icon painting) from Robert Lentz, a renowned icon writer another openly gay Catholic. The result was a series of commissions for Father William to produce icons for churches and clergy. Some of his work, and that of Robert Lentz, has depicted aspects of gay life and gay role models. Many examples of their work can be found online.

Although a Catholic, Father William has excelled in an art-form synonymous with the Eastern Orthodox Churches. But icons were not always popular. In the 9th century the Orthodox Church was split in a controversy that had been going on for some time. Some priests believed icons were idolatrous, forcing their way into churches and smashing every icon they saw (recent attacks on statues of people with links to slavery illustrates the same degree of passion). Other priests supported the use of icons as a means of obtaining a closer communication with Christ. The icon destroyers were called iconoclasts, and the supporters were called iconodules. Eventually, icons were banned and iconodules such as 52) St. Methodios I of Constantinople (d.847) were persecuted.

Methodios was arrested in 821. He was tortured and his jaw and teeth were smashed and after that he wore a cloth bandage abound his jaw for the rest of his life, as depicted in the icon below. He was then banished to solitary confinement on an island.

St. Methodios I of Constantinople

When the infant emperor Mikhael III succeeded to the throne in 842 the tide turned. Mikhael, by the way, was number 39 in my first “80 Gays” series. The regent, Mikhael’s mother Theodora, re-introduced icons and Methodios soon found himself being appointed Patriarch of Byzantium, the highest religious office in the Orthodox Church. His appointment and the return of the icons was marked with a magnificent procession through Byzantium on 11th March 843. This day is still commemorated as the feast of the Triumph of Orthodoxy.

Methodios still had his opponents who tried to discredit him. He was accused of sexual assault by the mother of one of his iconoclast enemies. At a tribunal Methodios stripped in front of the judges revealing himself to be intersex. His male sexual organs were not developed enough for him to perform any sexual activity and he was exonerated. Methodios claimed that he had been miraculously transformed by divine intervention during his solitary confinement. This is recalled in his medieval biography which, like most lives of saints from that period, was highly apocryphal to emphasise the saints’ holy character. It is more likely that Methodios was born intersex.

Methodios’s term of office ended with his death in 847. He is venerated as a saint in both the Orthodox and Catholic churches. His successor as Patriarch was a eunuch called Ignatius. The Orthodox Church didn’t reject gender variations from high office of state, church or army.

The Byzantine military had several intersex, third gender or eunuch commanders. One of the greatest of these was 53) Narses (c.478-c.573).

Next time “80 More Gays”:  The blues and greens riot, the blues and buffs go to war, and we get buried on a field of puns.