LGBTQ+ Celebrities: Public Universal Friend

Public Universal Friend is a historical religious and lgbtq+ person who in today’s modern terms could be considered an agender or nonbinary person.

They were an American preacher of the Quaker religion who suffered from an illness (likely typhus) in October 1776 that ended up killing them at 24. However, they came back to life, took on a new name and from then on claimed to be a genderless person. They shunned the use of their old name (ignoring everyone who used their old name) and rejected gendered pronouns to be used for them since they did not feel that they were a male (man) or a female (woman). Followers mostly respected these wishes by refering to them only as “the Public Universal Friend" and short forms such as "the Friend" or "P.U.F.". Many avoided gender-specific pronouns even in private diaries in entries written about them. If that amount of respect could be given in the late 1770s, it is unfortunate the same level of respect is not widely spread today.

Anyway, upon death, The Friend claimed that they received revelations from God through two archangels who proclaimed there was "Room in the many Mansions of eternal glory for thee and for everyone". They further said that their soul had ascended to heaven and the body had been reanimated with a new spirit charged by God with preaching his word, that of the Public Universal Friend" which is how they got their new name. The Friend used the words of Isaiah 62:2 to back up their new name change since they believed their new name came directly from God. Isaiah 62:2 states that “the nations shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory; and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord hath named.” The new name itself actually had potentially very human origins though. It referenced the Society of Friends which were religious people who traveled from community to community to preach. People in this group called themselves "Public Friends".

The Friend was an avid reader who could quote long passages of the Bible and prominent Quaker texts from memory. Using this skill and encouraged by their new mission from God, they traveled and preached throughout Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania accompanied by their brother Stephen and sisters Deborah, Elizabeth, Marcy, and Patience.

Early on, the Public Universal Friend preached that people needed to repent of their sins and be saved before an imminent Day of Judgment. According to Abner Brownell, the preacher predicted that the fulfillment of some prophecies of Revelation would begin around April 1780, 42 months after the Universal Friend began preaching, and interpreted New England's Dark Day in May 1780 as fulfillment of that prediction. According to a Philadelphia newspaper, later followers Sarah Richards and James Parker believed themselves to be the two witnesses mentioned in Revelation and accordingly wore sackcloth for a time.

Friend would have long outdoor worship meetings or in houses which often attracted large audiences, including some who formed a congregation of "Universal Friends", making The Friend the first American to found a religious community. These followers included roughly equal numbers of women and men who were predominantly under 40. Most were from Quaker backgrounds, though mainstream Quakers discouraged and disciplined members for attending meetings with the Friend. And several members were black. Friend preached hospitality towards everyone no matter their race or gender. Friend believed anyone regardless of gender or race could gain access to God's light and that God spoke directly to individuals who had free will to choose how to act and believe. They also believed in the possibility of universal salvation.

Popular newspapers and pamphlets covered the Friend's sermons in detail by the mid-1780s with several Philadelphia newspapers being particularly critical; they fomented enough opposition that noisy crowds gathered outside each place the preacher stayed or spoke in 1788. Most papers focused more on the preacher's ambiguous gender than on theology. One person who heard the Friend in 1788 said "from common report I expected to hear something out of the way in doctrine, which is not the case, in fact I heard nothing but what is common among preachers" in mainstream Quaker churches.

While they mostly preached the Quaker faith, The Universal Friend also belived in treating animals well, was welcoming to black and native American people, and was very against slavery. Friend called for the abolition of slavery and persuaded followers who held people in slavery to free them.

In October 1794, the Friend and several followers dined with Thomas Morris (son of financier Robert Morris) in Canandaigua at the invitation of Timothy Pickering, and accompanied him to talks with the Iroquois aimed at producing the Treaty of Canandaigua. With Pickering's permission and an interpreter, the Friend gave a speech to the US government officials and Iroquois chiefs about "the Importance of Peace & Love", which was liked by the Iroquois.

By 1816 the preacher had begun to suffer from a painful edema, but continued to receive visitors and give sermons. The Friend gave a final regular sermon in November 1818 and preached for the last time at the funeral of sister Patience Wilkinson Potter in April 1819. Friend would die later that year on July 1st at age 66.

Close followers remained faithful despite the Friend’s absence, but they too died over time. The congregation's numbers dwindled due to their inability to attract new converts amid a number of legal and religious disagreements. The Society of Universal Friends disappeared by the 1860s.