August 23, 2008 | Sex & Society

Gay Jesus poster causes campus fuss

Some students at Lorain County Community College in Ohio are relying on a poster of a half-naked man kissing Jesus' neck to promote atheism.

“We had complaints all day,” said Amanda Lucero, a senior who also works at The Student Connection. “It’s sexually graphic. It’s very suggestive, and it still would be if it were a man and a woman.”

Those who objected gave the same pat responses: “You can’t portray Jesus like that. He believes in matrimony, that relationships like that should be done inside matrimony,” one sophomore opined.

Christopher Burns defended the decision of his group, Activists for Atheism, to put up the poster in the student commons area as part of Club Awareness Week. The intention, he claimed, was not intended to
mock religion.

“The purpose of the poster is to get students to see something they haven’t seen before,” he said. “The chances are it challenges them to challenge something they thought they knew.

“I understand that people will be offended. People will sometimes be offended for the most ridiculous of reasons,” he said.

We're all for discussions of sexuality and religion, but isn't the image of a gay Jesus becoming a tad cliche?