The Gospel of John is of particular interest to queer people of faith for its repeated references to the "beloved disciple", or to "the disciple that Jesus loved". These references make clear that whoever he was, this disciple had a relationship with Jesus of particular intimacy. There's the well-known scene from the Last Supper where he rests his head on Jesus' breast (or lap), and at the crucifixion, he is the only man standing among the women at the foot of the cross. He is the one to whom Christ entrusts the care of his mother - rather as a surviving spouse in marriage would assume some responsibility for the care of a mother-in-law. The existence of this special relationship provides much of the argument for the proposition that Jesus' sexual orientation may have been what we call "gay".
