Identity in ink

Jesus on the cross decorates his left arm. On his right arm are symbols of equality and love.

Linking both arms, across his chest, is the Walt Whitman quote, “Each of us here as divinely as any is here.”

For senior Angel Collie, a religious studies major who is a transgender and a Christian, tattoos are about identity. Covering most of his body are works of art that represent his spirituality, his sexuality and his life’s story.

“As an LGBTQ activist, I’m a believer that sexuality is a gift from God, and they’re not at odds with each other,” he said. “I believe spirituality and sexuality are connected.”

Collie said his tattoos — the first of which came at age 14 — became a way of expressing beliefs, ideologies and personal identity to others.

“I feel as if gender transcends the social constructs we are socialized into,” he said.

His perspective on his own gender identity is displayed upon his legs.

“I have a dragon representing my masculine side with aggression, dominance and control. I also have a turtle representing my feminine energy — moving in the undercurrent, steady, unmoved by the dragon,” he said. “In the midst of that is a fish, which represents a neutral balance of the two energies mixing.”

Collie’s lifestyle and body alterations led to being kicked out of his Franklin County church at age 16, he said. Having lived his life as a Christian, he said he considered turning his back on religion.

“I was told I was sickened, sinful and God didn’t love me,” he said.

Despite being cast out by his church, Collie began a journey to find religion and God in his own way — a journey that is now proudly displayed in colorful ink across his body.

“I realized what I had grown up with were my parents’ beliefs. And now for the first time, I was finding my own,” he said.

Collie began a mission not only to reclaim faith for himself, but to join with others who were trying to create a place where members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community could practice and explore spirituality.

“No one truly fits society’s roles 100 percent. We all embody a mix of energy in some way,” he said. “The rainbow stars on my right arm and the word ‘Worthy’ on my left arm basically say that the LGBTQ people are worthy of the inclusive love of Christ.”

Collie became a member of St. John’s Metropolitan Community Church in Raleigh once he was a student. The church started as a primary outreach to the LGBTQ community.

“What impressed me the most about Angel was how so many people in the church turned their backs on him, but he still believed in it and fought for it,” said Maria Lorenz, a close friend and graduate student who met Collie in 2003.

Through the church and other organizations, Collie has traveled to universities and around the world to teach other members of the LGBTQ community about finding God.

“It means a lot to travel for those reasons,” he said. “There aren’t a lot of role models for us.”

His trips took him to Europe, the Dominican Republic and parts of the former Soviet Union. Each journey is now commemorated with tattoos.

Now, with markings covering a good portion of his body, Collie said that body art has been life -changing.

“Having ink has given me opportunities to meet people and make connections in places and ways that I wouldn’t have been able to,” he said. “It has closed the doors that would have been limiting and opened the ones of inclusion and acceptance.”

One of Collie’s favorite tattoos asks, “Would Jesus discriminate?”

“I think that one is pretty clear,” he said.



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