For Pride Month, we’re peeling back the layers of time to uncover a truth many of us were never taught: that queer and trans people were once the sacred ones. Before the rise of Christian empires and colonial moral codes, gender-diverse people held powerful, revered roles in ancient spiritual life. From the ecstatic priests of Inanna in Mesopotamia to the third-gender Hijra of India and the Gallae priestesses of Rome, queerness and gender transgression weren’t just accepted — they were central to the divine.
In this episode of The Sanctuary of Sin Podcast, we explore the deep spiritual history of trans, nonbinary, and same-gender-loving people across the ancient world. We talk about how many pre-modern religions embraced gender-fluid priests, sacred sex workers, and shamanic healers as intermediaries between the mortal and the divine. These weren’t fringe roles — they were institutional, celebrated, and, in some cases, legally recognized.
We trace the lineage of:
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The Gallae, transgender priestesses of Cybele, who castrated themselves in sacred ritual and led ecstatic worship in the heart of the Roman Empire.
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The Qedesha, holy trans or same-sex-attracted priests of the Canaanite goddess Asherah, later demonised in the Bible as “sodomites.”
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The Hijra of India, whose roles in ritual, healing, and goddess worship were once protected by sacred texts — and how British colonialism tried (but failed) to erase them.
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The depiction of third nature people in the Kama Sutra and ancient Indian medical and literary traditions.
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The broader tradition of queer shamans and priests across the Americas, the Pacific, and South Asia — from Two-Spirit traditions to the bakla and kathoey.
We also dig into how Christian doctrine and European colonialism conspired to rewrite these histories — flattening a diverse sacred landscape into one of sin, shame, and silence. It’s a story of deliberate erasure: mistranslations, legal bans, violent suppression, and the ongoing rebranding of ancient queer identities as deviant or modern anomalies.
But what emerges is a powerful counter-narrative:
We were not born out of rebellion. We were born of the temple.
We were not a break from tradition — we are the tradition.
This episode is for anyone who’s ever been told that queerness is unnatural, modern, or sinful. It’s for the trans folks finding their power, the sex workers reclaiming their sacredness, the nonbinary witches and queer theologians building new paths from old stories. You are walking in the footsteps of thousands. You are not new. You are ancient.
Join us as we remember what was taken — and what still lives in us.
📝 References & Further Reading
https://www.worldhistory.org/Inanna/
https://news.lgbti.org/transgender-identities-in-the-ancient-mediterranean/
https://medium.com/@shokti_36711/gay-priests-of-the-goddess-776b1b6411ca
https://www.academuseducation.co.uk/post/ancient-mesopotamian-transgender-and-non-binary-identities
Meanwhile… we had a divine night at Torture Garden 💋
Last weekend we were lucky enough to attend Torture Garden and it was everything we needed and more — stunning outfits, beautiful energy, incredible performances, and some of the most iconic people we know.
Massive thanks to the amazing Pictures in blood for capturing the night in all its gothic, glittery glory 📸
We had such a fun time partying with our fabulous friends Selenia Castle and Sergio Cosme — from the stage shows to the afterparty, we were absolutely living.
Already planning our fits for TG in November 🖤