Since around , a chain letter has falsely claimed that a film is in the works in which Jesus will be depicted as gay and involved in a promiscuous swinger lifestyle.
The narrative has morphed over time to claim that the supposed film is an adaptation of the play Corpus Christi , which does depict Jesus as gay, although not in a sexualized manner. Many letters have directed recipients to contact the attorney general of Illinois to demand a ban of the supposed film, peaking at roughly 2, letters per week. In , Attorney General Neil Hartigan wrote a letter to advice columnist Ann Landers asking for her help in publicizing the film's nonexistence.
Entities to fall for the hoax in subsequent decades include the county council of Pictou County , Nova Scotia, and the affirmative action officer of Schenectady County , New York. As recently as , the hoax film remains the subject of complaints to regulators across the globe. The sexuality of Jesus has long been the topic of both theological and popular speculation. The gay pornographic film Him depicts Jesus as gay, but was extremely obscure, and Snopes views it as very unlikely that it influenced the emergence of the hoax.
The s saw a massive letter-writing campaign seeking Christians' assistance in preventing a fictitious attempt by atheist activist Madalyn Murray O'Hair to ban religious content on television.
In reality, O'Hair was involved in no such effort and the Federal Communications Commission terminated an investigation into religious programming on educational networks. This prompted letters to Grove Press , to which Thorsen had submitted the book, and to Senator Mark Hatfield , requesting legislation to censor the book. Hatfield, also a Baptist, responded that neither Congress nor president Jimmy Carter had the power to prevent the film's production.
