Queer Theology

Both Malaysian Syariah and civil laws have collaborated in creating a systemic persecution of Muslim mak nyahs, or male-to-female transsexuals, as sinful deviants and violators of Islam, with the aim of coercing repentance and rehabilitation.  By interpreting my research findings from face-to-face, in-depth interviews with seven Muslim mak nyahs through queer and feminist optics, I show how Muslim mak nyahs not only resist condemnatory representations of God and deprecatory tenets of institutional Islam, but renegotiate and reconfigure them to construct meaningful and life-giving personal spiritualities that I term as “Nyah-Islam.”

Despite the fact that many church going members would like gays and lesbians to leave the Catholic Church, there is a sizable amount of them who refuse to leave. Both the Catholic Church and the gay and lesbian community have organized themselves in to groups with the finality of permitting gays and lesbians to remain within the Church, under different conditions. The Catholic sponsored Courage seeks to allow gays and lesbians in as long as they renounce the gay and lesbian life style and attempt to live chastely. The gays and lesbians who reject this option have constituted themselves in to groups like Dignity and Other Sheep which intend to modify the Church´s discriminatory stance on homosexuality in the future by finding ways to circumvent Catholicism’s historically negative attitude towards homosexuality. The biggest hurdle gays and lesbians have in their dealings with the Church is that their sexual actions, the very actions that are an undeniably important part of their persona and which has helped them primarily to define themselves as a minority,  are seen as sinful by the Church.



In order to revert the perception that homosexual acts equal a sin it is important for the members of the gay and lesbian community to find an explanation to why they have same sex preferences. This thesis is written under the assumption that homosexuality cannot be cured under the guidelines the Church currently offers and as the organization Courage envisions it. Celibacy is undoubtedly an option for the people who wish to pursue it, but not one that many gays and lesbians find realistic in their lives. Their hope is to find ways to justify homosexual relations within Catholicism that have a positive message for homosexuals whether they are single or living as couples. 



Gays and lesbians that want to be accepted by the Catholic Church have attempted to find the answers that justify their homosexuality, with the hope of undermining the premise that they are acting sinfully. There have been two arguments to justify acceptance on the part of the Church of gays and lesbians: one argument was used by John Boswell who attempted to demonstrate that Christianity had at one time accepted gays and lesbians within its fold, and if it had done so in the past, then it could do so in the present.



There are downfalls to this argument, particularly that the Church has used History itself in the guise of tradition to justify the persecution of people who engaged in sodomitical acts for centuries. Another way gays and lesbians have searched for acceptance is by claiming that same sex preference is inborn, thus natural and if it is natural it cannot be sinful. This arguments has several weaknesses as well, which will not be explained fully but can be exemplified with two controversies: the idea that a pedophile or an alcoholic could claim that their desires are genetically predisposed, like homosexuality, and thus makes them less accountable for their actions, can be used to deny homosexuals legal rights. Just because at some point it can be proved that pedophilia is genetic does not mean that society will give them a free pass to engage in sexual intercourse with children, the same with an alcoholic who due to his drinking may be responsible for hurting other people because he drove irresponsibly. It is expected in western society that the individual can and should control urges that damage the fabric of societies well being. These arguments are used against homosexuality as well, if it is genetic they should still restrain themselves from acting on their instincts.



The second controversy this argument causes is that if homosexuality is due to genetics the parents of future children will be able to determine the sexual preference of their unborn child, and that would mean that homosexuality would probably disappear even for parents would surely opt for heterosexuality for their children with the best intentions for the welfare of their unborn child. At this moment the arguments may seem moot, particularly because what causes homosexuality has not been determined, so gays and lesbians are left trying to bargain with the Church using the essentialist and constructionist argument when it suits them. This thesis concludes that the best way to get the Church to accept gays and lesbians is using the argument that in essence gays and lesbians are born with those preferences. The argument lessens the guilt of the parties before the Church’s eyes and may be used as a dialogue starter between both parties. This discourse may be perceived as optimistically naïve, but the counter argument, the one that ascertains sexuality can be chosen, and gays and lesbians can change their sexual preferences to become heterosexual brings an ending to any discussion of assimilation between both groups, with the Church alleging that they must become heterosexual once more or else they are breaking the laws of God.

<p>Religion is often seen as a conservative and retrogressive force in contemporary Africa. In particular, Christian beliefs and actors are usually depicted as driving the opposition to homosexuality and LGBTI rights in African societies. This book nuances that picture, by drawing attention to discourses emerging in Africa itself that engage with religion, specifically Christianity, in progressive and innovative ways--in support of sexual diversity and the quest for justice for LGBTI people. The authors show not only that African Christian traditions harbour strong potential for countering conservative anti-LGBTI dynamics; but also that this potential has already begun to be realized, by various thinkers, activists, creative artists and movements across the continent. Their ten case studies document how leading African writers are reimagining Christian thought; how several Christian-inspired groups are transforming religious practice; and how African cultural production creatively appropriates Christian beliefs and symbols to affirm the dignity and rights of LGBTI people. In short, the book explores Christianity as a major resource for a liberating imagination and politics of sexuality and social justice in Africa today. Foregrounding African agency and progressive religious thought, this highly original intervention counterbalances our knowledge of secular approaches to LGBTI rights in Africa, and powerfully decolonizes queer theory, theology and politics.</p>

Our theological discourse is hampered by the shadow of philosophical and scientific atomism that brings to the table unquestioned, as an a priori truth, the fact that the world and people are divisible into parts. However, our current scientific ontology suggests that our division of the world and the people within it in to distinct Boolean categories rests not in truth about the fundamental nature of the world, but in our limited epistemology. I will argue that the introduction of a Non-Boolean account of personhood in to our theological discussion allows us to acknowledge the full spectrum of sex and gender apparent in humanity, but in doing so raises deep ethical and theological issues regarding the treatment of LGBT people by the Church. In particular I will argue that the Non-Boolean nature of trans and intersex bodies can raise important questions for our theological treatment of homosexuality.

In this paper I explore the theological potential of the trans*formation of the body in popular culture, more specifically, in the performance of drag artist Conchita Wurst (Tom Neuwirth) at the Eurovision Song Contest finale of 2014. Contrary to Dana International, the first (known) trans*woman to win Eurovision for Israel in 1998, Conchita did not 'pass' as either male or female. As a 'bearded lady', she operates on the borderline of the masculine and the feminine, combining the aesthetics of both as she performed the winning song Rise Like A Phoenix. In various media, Conchita was read as a contemporary Christ figure. With her parted long hair, kind eyes, dress and beard she does indeed resemble those representations of Jesus Christ that have become dominant in the 'religious imagery of visual piety' of Western popular culture. Both the performance of the song and Conchita as a stage character play with themes of misrecognition, suffering and resurrection....

This research report presents findings from a project conducted in partnership with the Brave Network, the Australian LGBTIQ+ Multicultural Council (AGMC) and the Victorian Government on recovery support needs of survivors of LGBTQA+ change and suppression (conversion) practices.

This essay examines the complex cultural work performed by the North American disability-focused evangelical group Joni & Friends. We analyze the group’s devotional writing; prison-based volunteer work programs refurbishing wheelchairs for disabled people in the global South; missionary trips; and global acts of solidarity with evangelical activists. We argue that the group’s international practices reflect and circulate a progressive, post–Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) understanding of disability as culturally valued. However, in so doing, Joni & Friends enacts a neoliberal double standard whereby some subjects are rehabilitated for incorporation and inclusion even as others—particularly queer others—are made more abject in and through that incorporation and inclusion. Building on transnational queer and disability studies scholarship, we illuminate how Joni & Friends materializes a new and expansive discursive mobility for disability in the age of neoliberalism, and we attend to the promise and the dangers of this new mobility.

Close examination and critique of Catholic natural law teaching reveals the theological incoherence of the gender essentialism and gender complementarity found in John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. A theology that is queer enough to be able to challenge both gender essentialism and gender complementarity while also using the building blocks of the natural law tradition is required if we are to persist toward an integrative approach to faith and reason in relation to the lives of queer persons. This argument continues counterhegemonic tradition of queer thought by pointing a beam of hospitality towards that which is unknown, towards that which is potentially strange and unsettling. One does not need to posit a pre-existing natural identity that one was “born with” in order to legitimately manifest an identity. Instead, this account emphasizes the journey to- wards an identity, without predetermining which identities count, including identities that are fully chosen.

For British critics, Christopher Isherwood went off the literary radar when he declared himself a pacifist and de-camped to California on the eve of WWII. Nothing he wrote after the Berlin Stories (1939), when his life was barely half over, until Christopher and his Kind, in 1976, when he emerged as a kind of gay literary icon, was accorded much serious attention from Britain's literary establishment. Furthermore, what he published during his long relationship with a guru in the Ramakrishna Vedanta tradition-which culminated in the classic My Guru and his Disciple (1980)-has scarcely been taken seriously, and only a few of the more astute literary critics have detected the influence of Vedanta philosophy in his later work (e.g. Nagarajan 1972). Yet there have been calls for Isherwood to be re-evaluated as a serious religious writer (Wade 2001). 1 If such calls are to be taken seriously there are several issues that need to be addressed, not the least of which would be the dominant cultural expectations surrounding the (im)possibility of a spirituality not predicated on the denial of sexuality. "My personal approach to Vedanta was, among other things, the approach of a homosexual looking for a religion which will accept him," he wrote in 1970 (Bucknell 2000: ix). There is also the problem of an unreconstructed colonialist prejudice towards religious practices associated with a subject people. Here, I review important aspects of the non-dualist philosophy of his Advaita training that allowed Isherwood to integrate his sexuality and his writing with his religious practice. Isherwood was inclined less to approach ideas as abstract principles and more as they were embodied in particular people. With this particular Swami, an exponent of the Ramakrishna Vedanta tradition, Isherwood found his lifelong guide, and the narrative of his spiritual journey is the history of a relationship that deepened over 40 years. That relationship is the other focus of this article.

This work seeks to do two things. First to make an argument for a robust engagement with theology as a theoretical framework for critical educational research. And second, the piece draws upon contemporary queer and progressive Christian theology, in particular, theological interventions from Marcela Althaus Reid's Indecent Theology to think differently about how educational researchers might frame the way we say yes, as Jen Gilbert suggests, to the students who show up in the classroom. This intervention seeks to center theology as a way to think differently with LGBTQ issues in schooling by arguing with an epistemology that is often used to exclude rather than include marginalized populations. Indecent Theology is a theology which problematizes and undresses the mythical layers of multiple oppressions … a theology which, finding its point of departure at the crossroads of Liberation Theology and Queer Thinking, will reflect on economic and theological oppression with passion and imprudence (Althaus-Reid 2000, p. 2). Theology in educational research It is vital to note here, that there are, of course, a great many theologies that pervade both historically and of necessity, then, contemporaneously. My use of theology in the singular is to suggest that the field itself, though vastly heterogenous is one perpetually underconsidered in educational scholarship. Though we exist in something of a magpie's nest of pastiched traditions from philosophy, sociology, anthropology, law, feminisms, and increasingly, to ill effect often, economics, recent educational scholarship has tended to skirt around work with the theological-with happy exceptions (see: Pinar, 2019; Rocha & Burton 2017; Rocha & Sañudo, forthcoming)-for a number of reasons. This has much to do, one suspects, with the suspicious light in which religion is held, to the degree that it's considered at all in the field of educational research broadly: as a legal matter tied in with discourses around identity positions. There's much to say about the active position religion takes in continually shaping the educational (and research) experience, (see: Author, years) but in this case, while acknowledging the significant shading in the Venn diagram here, the paper works to disentangle, just a bit, the theos from religion. In this case, it's useful to think with Calasso who notes that theos "has

Queering Migrations Towards, From, and Beyond Asia explores the intersection of migration and queerness as they relate to ethnic/racial identity constructions, immigration processes and legal status, the formation of trans/national or trans/cultural partnerships, and families and/or love-friendships. Woven into these narratives are explorations of the roles that religious identities, values, and world views play in the fortification/critique of queer migrant identities. These essays explore assumptions of hetero-normativities, gender role expectations, sexual identities, body configurations, and political practices utilized by individuals and group agency. Rather than considering "queer migrants" as a homogeneous population, this book hopes to expose the diversity of power relationalities, ideological or praxis divergences, and sexual particularities that contour the shape of twenty-first century migrant lives.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people are often subjected to suspicion, condemnation and exclusion by mainstream churches based on the perception that they are deviant, pathological and sinful. Consequently, they are treated as objects of unfamiliarity, derision and pity rather than subjects of experiential wisdom who can inform the theological enterprise. Through a detailed analysis and interpretation of the narratives of gay and transgender Malaysian Christians on their interweavings of gender, sexuality and faith, and navigating the postsynodal apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia and the thoughts of various scholars, I argue that LGBTQ people can contribute to the augmentation of Christian theologising – a sort of tutelage from those whose voices are ordinarily marginalised and dismissed due to their non-normative genders and sexualities. Specifically, I propose that LGBTQ theological tutelage can galvanise the processes of (i) recognising and respecting personal theological agency; (ii) challenging gender and sexuality injustices; and (iii) interrogating and rethinking biblical interpretation.

Many have observed that western culture has had a ‘transgender moment’ over the last few years. This paper explores a parallel transgender moment amongst Orthodox rabbinic leaders over the past five years by exploring current halachic (Jewish ritual) discourse that demonstrates increased transgender and non-binary inclusion by examining the how rabbis are willing to be inclusive both in questions over communal prayer and whether they can endorse having sex reassignment/gender reaffirming surgery. I argue moves towards inclusion are not limited to those on the liberal side of Orthodoxy, but rather include also those in the center and some on the right, though backlash against inclusion certainly exists. Further, I argue that glass ceilings remain from both sociological and halachic perspectives, especially for those who do not pursue genital reconstruction, but note that a few Orthodox rabbis are aware of these barriers and even advocate finding ways to surmount them.

I wrote this paper on transgenderism and Christian Ethics as part of my Systematic Theology class  on Christian Ethics looking at an ethical dilemma of those that have children coming out as transgender from Christian Families.  Since I wrote this paper, I have become affirming to the LGBT community.  I do map out possible theological positions on transgenderism as it relates to Christianity

If Isherwood had "come out" as a queer man to his readership with the publication in 1976 of his landmark autobiography "Christopher and His Kind", then jis final completed book, "My Guru and His Disciple" (published in 1980, when he was 76), effected a bold "coming out spiritually," to use Christian de la Huerta's term. Isherwood was acutely aware that this late text would provoke scornful criticism, even from close associates, so its publication was an assertive move, consciously pushing back the "jungle" of religious prejudice to permit the fullest possible exploration of queer potential.
Here Isherwood pointed toward the reclamation of a queer spiritual intelligence... beyond the Abrahamic traditions.

From professing to be the "one true church" to being affirming and welcoming to the Queer/LGBTQIA2S+ Community, Community of Christ has experienced a great deal of change over the years. This paper outlines my research and findings surrounding what exactly may have led the denomination to become affirming and welcoming in some nations around the world.

Victor Marsh, PhD University of Qld


Conference Paper delivered at " PERIPHERAL VISIONS "
Australasian Association of Writing Programs 23rd Annual Conference.  Curtin University, Western Australia. 28 Nov. 2018

ABSTRACT
If, as Socrates is reported to have said: " the unexamined life is not worth living " , then the various genres gathered under the rubric 'life writing' provide potent tools — not only for reflection, but — for the resurrection of parts of self that are otherwise cast beyond the possibilities for being and knowing coercively authorised by dominant discourses.

By insisting on the validity of versions of experience explored and discovered beyond the frame, testimony of heretofore peripheral lived experience may work to turn the so-called 'natural order' upside down (and inside out), dislocating the moorings of 'meaning' itself.

As J.F. Lyotard insists: '[K]nowledge and power are simply two sides of the same question: who decides what knowledge is, and who knows what needs to be decided?' (1986, p. 9).

Texts insisting on different 'valorisations' (Watson & Smith) of identity can form sites of resistance with the power to detoxify and neutralise the political power of discourses hostile to a fuller expression of the potential of human experience, offering testimony of realities otherwise starved of oxygen by the inertia of everyday consensus realities.

"Hear this reed as it complains,
and tells the story of separations.

    "Ever since I was cut from the reed bed,
My tune made men and women to lament.
                  —Jalal ud-din Rumi, Masnawi
                    Book I, lines 1-2. (Trans. Robert Abdul Hayy Darr)

Recapturing a very early memory - involving a  fetish for his mother's yellow dress - an old man recovers the hidden meanings concealed in his childish play.

A short memoir piece for the inaugural Issue of "Infinite Rust", Texas Southern University's online literary journal, Fall 2018.

The task of this article is to construct theo-biblical visions of my sexual createdness as a gay-identifying man of faith. I take on an autoethno-theological approach, or an integration of autoethnographic, and queer theological and scriptural strategies for this task. Then, I employ this integrated approach in the theological meaning-making of my sexual experiences in relation to notions of creator, created and creation as portrayed in Psalm 139. In so doing, I bring a sexual dimension to the idea of creation, and introduce the theme of creation to sexual connections. My main argument is that creation, which is often abstractly understood as God engaging in the task of making the many facets of existence, can be understood from a queer sexual theological perspective as God reveling and engaging in various forms of human lovemaking.

Through engagement with theologies of adoption, pro-natalism, marriage, and queer theology, Susannah Cornwall figures developments in models of marriage and family not as distortions of or divergences from the divinely-ordained blueprint, but as developments already of a piece with these institution's being. Much Christian theological discussion of family, sex and marriage seems to claim that they are (or should be) unchanging and immaculate; that to celebrate their shifting and developing natures is to reject them as good gifts of God. However models of marriage, family, parenting and reproduction have changed and are still, in some cases radically, changing. These changes are not all a raging tide to be turned back, but in continuity with goods deeply embedded in the tradition. Alternative forms of marriage and family stand as signs of the hope of the possibility of change. Changed institutions, such as same-sex marriage, are new beginnings with the potential to be fruitful and generative in their own right. In them, humans create new imaginaries which more fully acknowledge the interactive nature of our relationships with the world and the divine.

Table of contents

Acknowledgements
1. Introducing Un/familiar Theology
2. Generativity: The Disruption of Biological Origins
3. The Content of Marriage: Two and Only Two?
4. Natality: Reproduction and the Possibility of New Beginnings
5: Adopting Our Own: Worldless Newcomers or Children of a Common God?
6: Full Quivers and the Diversities of Generativity
7: Un/familiar Institutions: Repetition and Difference
Conclusion
Works Cited

Reviews

“Cornwall's prolific writing is always fresh and innovative, weaving together classical and contemporary theology with contemporary thought and social practice. Her latest book does not disappoint. Her approach to marriage, same-sex families, adoption, even polyamory (and more) is a tour de force, achieving in her writing what she advocates for Christian traditions more generally - that they are dynamic; and that they must negotiate continuity with change, and identity with difference. Her analysis of 'generativity', whether in 'un/familiar' family forms, or within the theological tradition as it generates new thinking, is timely and convincing, and will also generate much appreciation among her readers.” –  Adrian Thatcher, University of Exeter, UK

This article garners theo-pastoral lessons from the lived realities of gay, HIV-positive Christian men in Singapore. Such lessons are premised on the belief that gay HIV-positive men are prophets with lessons of life and faith for Christian communities, rather than polluted victims of a disease who simply merit pastoral assistance. The analysis of the narratives of three gay, HIV-positive Christian men through a Constructivist Grounded Theory Methodology is assisted by Erlinda N. Senturias’ notion of People Living with HIV and AIDs as bearing God’s mission for human wholeness. It explains that these men see the intersection of their sexuality, serostatus, and faith as invitations to collaborate in the unfolding of God’s plan in their lives, and to form a greater appreciation for their physical bodies and loved ones.

The Shape of Return
Progress, Process, and Repetition in Medieval Culture
International Conference
29-30 September 2017

Organized by
Francesco Giusti and Daniel Reeve

Keynote speaker
Elizabeth Eva Leach (University of Oxford)

The conference will explore the ways in which medieval literary, artistic, musical, philosophical, and theological texts perform, interrogate, and generate value from the complexities of return, with particular reference to its formal and temporal qualities. Reconsidering the practical and theoretical implications of return — a movement in time and space that seems to shape medieval culture in a fundamental sense.

Papers will be given in English, and will be limited to 30 minutes. Please email an abstract of no more than 300 words and a short bio-bibliographical profile (100 words maximum) to theshapeofreturn@ici-berlin.org by 15 April 2017. An answer will be given before 1 May 2017. A full programme will be published on the ICI Berlin website (www.ici-berlin.org) in due course. As with all events at the ICI Berlin, there is no registration fee. We can provide assistance in securing discounted accommodation for the conference period.

This article analyzes the racialized, genderized and sexualized experiences of immigrants that intermingle with theo(ideo)logical discourses. Particularly within the Christian faith, I engage with the dilemmas and complexities of the consequences of the incarnation, that is God made fully human in the image of Jesus. I believe the incarnation to be the place where gender, sexuality, religion and theology intersect as they represent key elements of how humanity unfolds-in-the-world. Cultural artifacts such as films are the sources for my intersectional queer analysis, especially in relation to the lives and stories of their characters. Santitos [Little Saints] is my chosen film for analysis, with the aid of tools provided by queer theory and queer/indecent theology.

The Liberation Theologies Group of the American Academy of Religion invites proposals for papers for a session titled: “Revolution, Not Love.” The 2016 American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting will be held November 19-22 in San Antonio, TX. Paper proposals should be submitted through the PAPERS system. More information is available here: www.aarweb.org/2016-annual-meeting-in-san-antonio-nov-19-22

The second installment of "Deborah Disclosed" article. This recently published article focuses on another women, almost neglected or ignored by readers, yet she is significant in regaining peace. This is an introduction of the entire article.

God and Difference interlaces Christian systematic theology with queer and feminist theory for both critical and constructive ends. Linn Marie Tonstad uses queer theory to show certain failures of Christian thinking about God, gender, and sexuality. She employs queer theory to dissect trinitarian discourse and the resonances found in contemporary Christian thought between sexual difference and difference within the trinity. Tonstad critiques a broad swath of prominent Christian theologians who either use queer theory in their work or affirm the validity of same-sex relationships, arguing that their work inadvertently promotes gendered hierarchy. This volume contributes to central debates in Christianity over divine and human personhood, gendered relationality, and the trinity, and provides original accounts of God, sexual difference, and Christian community that are both theologically rich and thoroughly queer.

Time:  28 August 2015 (Friday)

Venue:  TBC

Language:  Cantonese

Organizer:  Queer Theology Academy （性神學社）

Introduction:

Hannah, as a favoured barren wife, a devout worshiper of God, a prayer and a great prophet's mother, has also long been made an honorable paragon having deep faith in the teachings and the culture of the church.  However, readers of the Bible might not always get positive ideas from the text and the conventional interpretations.  What else then?

How do you understand Hannah's eager of having a son?
How do you like Hannah, her actions and prayer?  What have you learn from Hannah?
How do you like the God who closes women's womb as well as replies to their prayer and remember them? 
For those who think the text, the conventional interpretation or the values of mainstream church behind the interpretation is offensive or oppressive, what makes you think so?

After doing the basic exegesis by means of literary criticism and socio-historical criticism, we will read 1 Samuel 1-2 together from everyone's own viewpoint, share our experience and discuss the issues such as dedication, reproductive rights, Patriarchal family relationship, women's religion and spirituality, teachings in the church and any other relevant topics.

Embodied experiences and insights of LGBTQ persons can challenge and contradict grand metanarratives of sacramental theology that exclude and/or censure these persons. Through a theological investigation of the narratives of Vincent, a 26-year old Malaysian, I examine the dynamics of his self-identifying as bisexual and Roman Catholic in relation to his perception of the Eucharist. Drawing from his narratives and aided by the theologisings of Marcella Althaus-Reid, Andrea Bieler and Luise Schottroff, I explore alternative ways in which the Eucharist can be imagined for LGBTQ Christians.

British expatriate writer Christopher Isherwood (1904 – 1986) lived more than half his life in Southern California, where he wrote for the Hollywood movie studios. Famous initially for his Berlin Stories, written during the rise of the Nazis, he attracted a second wave of interest during the 1970s and 80s with his ‘out’ gay autobiography Christopher and His Kind (1976). 

Much less is known about the writing done during his 40 years as the student of a guru from the Ramakrishna Order, the very tolerant Swami Prabhavananda, head of a Vedanta Centre in Hollywood from the mid-1930s until his death in the late 1970s. That relationship was the subject of Isherwood’s last book, My Guru and His Disciple (1980), regarded as a classic in the genre of spiritual autobiography. Yet the bond with the Swami is usually given short shrift by the literary commentariat.

Isherwood’s engagement with a tradition outside the standard Judaeo-Christian conventions is now raising a third wave of interest in the nonconformist Briton, as it so directly confronts the conventional figuration of the ‘homosexual’ as a religious pariah.  In Mr Isherwood Changes Trains, Australian researcher Victor Marsh interrogates the complex of embedded assumptions and tacit prejudices that have combined to occlude the sincerity of Isherwood’s religious life.  Marsh elucidates those features of the Vedanta philosophy that enabled Isherwood to integrate the various aspects of his dharma:  his vocation as a writer, and a spirituality not predicated on the repudiation of his sexuality.

This article identitfies some of the issues that are at stake in the 'translesbigay' battle for the Bible, arguing that it is the Bible’s continued status as cultural icon mediating the inspired Word of God that makes its appropriation so desirable in contemporary conflicts.  The role of an already-implicated academy in such matters is explored.

There is a problem in the black church. It is a problem with black bodies and a blues problem. This book addresses these problems head-on. It proclaims that as long as the black church cannot be a home for certain bodies, such as LGBT bodies, then it has forsaken its very black faith identity. The black church must find a way back to itself. Kelly Brown Douglas argues that the way back is through the blues.

Although homosexuality in Malaysia has been condemned as a “crime worse than murder,” gay men continue to seek recognition, and resist oppression and discrimination. In this essay, I focus on two Malaysian men who identified as gay—a Malay-Muslim and a Chinese-Christian— whose appearances in an “It Gets Better in Malaysia” video project in December 2010 were subsequently posted on YouTube. These men spoke candidly on issues of sexuality, religion and theology, even at the risk of vitriolic antagonism from political leadership, and mainstream Islamic and Christian institutions. in light of Lacan’s notion of the phallus and James B. Nelson’s analysis of masculine spirituality based on male genitalia, I argue that the “hard” and “soft” approaches of these men in publicly identifying as gay men of faith to counter accusations of lack provide religious and theological signposts which are crucial in the future development of gay theologies in Malaysia.

How do we begin to deconstruct the word sodomy so that it no longer associates and elicits hateful propaganda regarding the sexual activity of consenting gay/queer adults?

Meaning if often produced, not through a one-to-one relation to things in the world, but by establishing the difference you or a particular group of people have in relation to the activity/object you are distancing yourself from. The word sodomy is inextricably linked to the Old Testament (Genesis 19:1-11) and has become a popular manifestation for conservative and fundamentalist social and religious critics to use whenever they are critiquing why gay men are different or deviant from normal, heterosexual adults.  Furthermore, sodomy has been and still is highly involved in constructing both positive and negative sexual ethics that often define and rule over the lives of those who participate not in sodomy but other forms of non-vaginal intercourse.

or some time, a prominent strand of gay and feminist theory and theology has taken it almost as axiomatic that gay men, lesbians, and straight women have a common stake in dismantling patriarchy.  While I have always understood my own work as a gay theologian in terms of that common struggle, recent developments point to a significant challenge to keeping that bond intact in the larger sphere of political activism.

At the end of last year, National Public Radio deemed 2011 an extraordinary year for gay rights.    Buzzfeed listed 40 reasons why it was the best year for gays ever, beginning with a Gallup poll showing that for the first time a majority of Americans supported same-sex marriage.  The list also included the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and several firsts for openly gay elected officials.  Even the world of professional sports is becoming more accepting: in a recent tweet, Ravens’ linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo equated support for same-sex marriage with playing in a Super Bowl when asked about his life’s greatest accomplishments.

Simultaneously, we saw a steady legislative assault on women’s reproductive freedom.