Fact Check

Gay Bible

The forthcoming 'gay revision of the Bible' from Pink Cross Publishing is a bit of satire from 2010, not a real thing.

Published May 15, 2012

Claim:

Claim:   Pink Cross Publishing is about to publish a gay revision of the Bible.


FALSE


Example:   [Collected via e-mail, May 2012]


Gay revision of Holy Bible on Sead Serious News ... is this truth?

 

Origins:   In April 2010, the Dead Serious News web site published an article proclaiming that "a newly revised gay-friendly Bible was "set to go on sale in the next few weeks," describing the forthcoming work thusly:



Move over Adam and Eve. Here comes Adam and Steve, as well as Samantha and Delilah. A newly revised gay-friendly Bible is set to go on sale in the next few weeks. Reaction to the announcement has been met with venom from conservative Christian groups.

Pink Cross Publishing, the same company that published a gay-friendly version of the Koran, stated that they were adding the finishing touches to the newly revised Bible. Mary and Joseph will be replaced by Mary and Josephine, a lesbian couple unable to have children the conventional way, hence the virgin birth of Jesus. All of Jesus’ disciples will be gay except for Judas. In the new Bible, all of the disciples will pair off after the Last Supper with the exception of Judas. Satan will also be straight. The new gay-friendly Bible has yet to be named.


Dead Serious News followed up that article with another a year later stating that the book's publisher, "flush with cash after the success of their gay-friendly bible, has promised to put a copy of the controversial book in every motel room in North America."

In May 2012, perhaps prompted by President Obama's then-recent remarks in support of gay marriage, we began receiving inquiries from readers referencing the Dead Serious News articles and wondering about the existence of these "gay-friendly Bibles." However, both of the

cited articles were nothing more than spoofs: the Dead Serious News web site's "About" page notes "Dead Serious News is a satirical website that is updated on an irregular basis. With the exception of the names of public figures, all names are fictional."

Some readers have cited the publication of the Queen James Bible as an instance of this satire's becoming reality, but that work is not nearly the same in nature as the one described in the satirical piece referenced above. The Dead Serious News spoof posits a Bible that has been radically rewritten to alter the gender, sexuality, motivations, and behaviors of major biblical figures, but the Queen James Bible is merely a reprinting of the standard King James Bible in which the editors have provided alternate translations for eight verses they maintain are ambiguous and have been incorrectly interpreted as condemnatory of homosexuality.

Last updated:   10 January 2013

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.

Article Tags