Our Global LBGT History: The First Recorded Death on 9/11 Was a Catholic Priest/Chaplain Who Also Happened to be Gay

Father Mychal Judge, OFM, May 11, 1933 - September 11, 2001

The body bag marked “Victim 0001″ on 11 September 2001 contained the corpse of Father Mychal Judge, a Catholic chaplain with the fire department of New York. When he heard about the disaster at the World Trade Centre, he donned his Catholic collar and firefighter garb and raced downtown.


His was the first recorded death from the attacks that morning. His life’s work should be central to the tenth anniversary commemorations of the 9/11 attacks: peace, tolerance and reconciliation.


Father Mychal was well known to the poor and afflicted of New York City and New Jersey. He helped the homeless, and people with HIV/Aids. As a member of the Franciscan order, he would often wear the traditional brown robe and sandals. But there was a half-known secret about him: he was gay. In his private diaries, the revered Catholic priest wrote, “I thought of my gay self and how the people I meet never get to know me fully.”


A very deep and sincere Hat tip to Terence Weldon at Queering the Church blog for the information included in this post. The original post may be found here.