The Gospel of Candy Darling
A transgender story is a spiritual story
I pick up the published journal of a legendary sex-crossing performer in New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and find a religious story.
“I ask for spiritual enlightenment,” she writes. And jots out lines:
“ask holy spirit to breath into you
Do what you can because there are many things that need doing.
Mission from God”
I’m thinking about Candy Darling.
Candy Darling was Christian, on the New Age side.
I’m reading Cynthia Carr’s 2024 biography Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar, which is full of mentions of books of Christian literature, from the Gospel of Luke to Christian Scientist literature.
At various points Candy might be identified as Christian Scientist, and seems to have been taken with the figure of Mary Baker Eddy, often seen with a much marked-up copy of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Candy would often echo its teachings. “The body is a state of mind,” she’d say. “I think we get sick because other people get sick.”
