Inside and Outcast

Multifaceted Stigma and Redemption in the Lives of Gay and Lesbian Jehovah's Witnesses

Bibliographic Data

ID3637804
AuthorsJanja Lalich (California State University, Chico), Karla Mclaren (California State University, Chico)
Year2010
Volume57
Issue10
Pages1303-1333
Publication date2010-10-29
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Homosexuality (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0091-8369 • E-ISSN: 1540-3602
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00918369.2010.517076
PMID21058148
OpenAlexW2014698293
LanguageEN
Citations received15
References cited34

Homosexuality has become a divisive issue in many religions and congregations. Like many other fundamentalist denominations, Jehovah's Witnesses condemns homosexual acts, thoughts, and feelings. Consequently, gay and lesbian Witnesses experience not just stigmatization and conflict between their sexual and religious identities in the social world, but also a nearly impossible task in their inner world. This inner task adds a new facet to our understanding of stigma (Goffman, 1963). This study explores the written narratives of a subset of gay and lesbian former Jehovah's Witnesses who were able to comprehend, negotiate, and, in most cases, resolve their multifaceted stigmas and conflicts through struggle, self-determination, and eventually connecting with networks of peers who faced or are facing similar stigmas. This research contributes to other work on the intersection of religion, family, and homosexuality; in particular, the findings have implications for the study of other strict fundamentalist religions

Coming out · Feeling · Homosexuality · Lesbian · Narrative · Negotiation · Psychoanalysis · Sexual orientation · Sociology · Stigma (botany · Gender Studies · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Philosophy · Psychology · Religion and Society Interactions · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology · Social Psychology

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