By Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins

October is the month that gives us National Coming Out Day. It is the month when Matthew Shepard was killed, and of course, it brings us Halloween. October is also a month to celebrate Queer heroes, martyrs, and saints. 

October 4 commemorates St. Francis of Assisi. There are traditions that suggest that some of his friends called him “Mother.” He called a friend assigned female at birth, “Brother Jacoba,” and he had a vision of the Trinity as being female. Even in the Thirteenth century, Francis was not limited by prescribed binaries. 

October 6, 1968, is the date that a gay, defrocked Pentecostal minister, Troy D. Perry, started Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC), an LGBTQ+ affirming faith movement. 

October 7 is the feast day of Saints Sergius and Bacchus who some historians believe were lovers. They were martyred in the third century for their faith, not their relationship. Bacchus died before Sergius and appeared to him in a vision to say that they would be reunited in heaven. 

And October 10 is a feast day in the Episcopal Church for Vida Dutton Scudder (1861 – 1954), a college professor who participated in the Social Gospel and Christian Socialism movements. She lived with another woman, Florence Converse, for 35 years. 

May the memories of our LGBTQ+ forebears bless and inspire us always. 

Rev. Durrell Watkins, MA, MDiv, DMin is the Senior Minister of Sunshine Cathedral in Fort Lauderdale. SunshineCathedral.org