Sex, Love, and an Old Brick Building

A United Church of Canada Congregation Transitions to LGBTQ Inclusion

Bibliographic Data

ID8201632
AuthorsLaurel Zwissler (0000-0003-4567-8344, Central Michigan University, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume87
Issue4
Pages1113-1152
Publication date2019-12-12
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of the American Academy of Religion (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7189 • E-ISSN: 1477-4585
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/jaarel/lfz045
OpenAlexW2965624240
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited76

Whereas much literature focuses on ways that Christian discourses can perpetuate homophobia and transmisogyny, there is less scholarly attention focused on Christian groups that embrace people with diverse gender and sexual identities. As this article demonstrates, it is precisely because of their traditional marginalization that active inclusion of LGBTQ people may come to serve as a signifier of less institutionally oriented and more socially progressive forms of religiosity, especially for communities actively negotiating intersecting neoliberal oppressions. Drawing on sustained fieldwork with a progressive Protestant congregation, this project analyzes two of the community’s foundational narratives: one of a minister coming out as lesbian; and one of giving up their church building. As members connect these stories to their more recent embrace of the first known transwoman to be ordained in the denomination, they reveal tensions surrounding power, embodiment, and sexuality at the core of contemporary conversations about North American religion

Art · Human sexuality · Inclusion (mineral) · Lesbian · Narrative · Negotiation · Political science · Power (physics) · Protestantism · Queer · Religiosity · Social science · Sociology · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · Gender Studies · Law · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Religion and Society Interactions