Sometimes it’s hard to see all the progress for the losses. Here we are in 2024 with non-binary residents of the state of Arkansas having to fight legal battles simply to protect rights already established at the federal level and most other states.
And yet… there is a lot that has changed, much for the better. In particular, there has been a wholesale theological reframing. We are no longer in an era when the church furtively and uncomfortably discussed whether to be inclusive. What has emerged, wonderfully, is inclusive theology at the heart of the theological enterprise itself.
So, for Pride Sunday (which our congregation will observe on the 23rd, prior to our walk in the Pride parade the week following and hosting of our annual Queer Camp in July), I offer this brief progress report.
A lot of the work began as apologetics. One of the common questions among traditional Christians has long been, “Can you show me in the Bible where it says it’s okay to be gay?” As the Queer Theology podcast says, “When we came out (ages ago) there weren’t very many resources for LGBTQ+ spiritual seekers and pretty much all of the resources that DID exist only asked if it was okay to be gay. While that question matters and is a great starting point, there’s so much more!” Some faithful (and very patient) queer Christians did the work, wrote books addressing the (very few) passages in Scripture that address same sex relationships, put those out in the world, and those apologetic texts accomplished much. Sometimes, it even changed people’s minds.1
More recently we have seen a flowering of queer theology. As Liz Edman, author of Queer Virtue, recently wrote: “The biggest development, in my opinion, is the emergence of queer experience as a source of authority in comprehending the essence of faith. You hear this most clearly from queer and trans folx who are drawing spiritual lessons from their own lives. But increasingly, non-queer progressive Christians are also seeing models for themselves in queer experience. For example, trans people have a lot to teach Christians about resurrection. Queer people know a great deal about how flesh and spirit interact — what flesh teaches us about spirit and what spirit teaches us about the flesh — which is what incarnational theology is all about. And of course disrupting false binaries, one crucial definition of queerness, is an essential demand of Christian ethics. In other words: people both queer and not queer are increasingly recognizing that queer and trans folk are highly attuned to the sacred, and that the lessons from our lives are also lessons in how to encounter the sacred with life and energy and joy.
A side benefit: a rethinking of Pride inclusive of feminist perspective. There's been a lot of feminist theological work problematizing identifying pride as the primary sin because for many people, their struggle is the opposite of pride. Their struggle is self-abnegation. If you look at Christian theology, and examine how pride plays out in Scripture, you realize that people are both celebrated and challenged in specific ways: so for example, Paul in his epistles will boast in his sufferings (2 Corinthians 11) and actually even makes a long list of those things he's boastful about, and in some ways, they're not far off from many of the posts made during Pride by the queer community, about the things they've undergone that have made them stronger and better people. But also, there is a strong thread throughout Scripture identifying people as good, as very good. God calls a beloved people, God’s sheep, and often in the Psalms and prophets proclaims who the people can be, how beloved they are, and that thread all the way through Scripture is what's picked up in Christian theology when people claim, rightly, that in many ways how they were made is itself good. A responsibility of Christians is to work hard trusting that what God has called good is good, and when others call it something else, that we push back against that and say, No, I'm proud of who I am and who God made me to be.
Some of the most generative theology of any era emerges out of the queer experience. As two wonderful examples, see Girardian Catholic James Alison and Marcella Althaus-Reid’s Indecent Theology, where she writes: “Indecent Sexual Theologies ... may be effective as long as they represent the resurrection of the excessive in our contexts, and a passion for organizing the lusty transgressions of theological and political thought. The excessiveness of our hungry lives: our hunger for food, hunger for the touch of other bodies, for love and for God. ... [O]nly in the longing for a world of economic and sexual justice together, and not subordinated to one another, can the encounter with the divine take place. But this is an encounter to be found at the crossroads of desire, when one dares to leave the ideological order of the heterosexual pervasive normative. This is an encounter with indecency and with the indecency of God and Christianity.”
The era of pushback: Ok, admittedly, we now live in the era of pushback. When conservatives wear t-shirts that read “fuck your feelings,” we kind of know who that’s targeting. And we see politicians and other public figures (all the way up to J.K. Rowling) vocally espousing transphobic and homophobic views. Folks are, in most of these instances, reacting. It’s pushback against queerness becoming welcome, out, celebrated. All the pushback, even if recognized as such, is still hurtful, oppressive, exhausting, life-sucking. But the pushback is so energetic because so much has progressed.
On just wanting to live life: We are observing increasingly now that space has been established for queer people to be themselves. There’s a commitment to just living life, the freedom to just be. It’s not life-giving (at least not for everyone) to have to spend energy constantly fighting for rights others take for granted. For many, existence is resistance. And joy an act of profound resistance. Those are enough and more than enough.
This means queer vitality is everywhere and yet embattled. As one friend wrote about the shift, they have seen “the language shifting from very loud pandering to a much quieter (and maybe more impactful) work to dismantle oppressive systems.”
I saw a rainbow hijab at Niagara Falls. This is a reminder that one point of progress we should not overlook is that the movement for inclusion is not limited to secularity or Christianity, but also implicit and widespread in other religious traditions as well, and it’s wise for us not to mix things like Islamaphobia with the fight for inclusion. The Human Rights Commission Reports that a majority of American Muslims (52%) now support LGBTQIA people.
New frontiers: Poly. Increasingly we are seeing friends and neighbors open up about their relationships that do not conform to heterosexual, monogamous unions. Poly is a color on the progress flag, as are other sexual orientations and gender identities not easily divided into the traditional binaries. This has helped facilitate many different kinds of conversations that have influenced Christian thinking, from emerging and better understandings of human sexuality, consent, and love, and has also continued to challenge all of us not to reify the situation, as if once same-gender marriages were legalized in the United States, everything necessary had been accomplished. See as a recent emergence the conversation the UCC is hosting in their denomination.
Trans is still a thing. Which is to say, one of the most continuingly oppressed groups of people in our culture are trans people. Even though many more voices have stood up for trans youth and adults, nevertheless there is so much more to be done to support the trans community. And many politicians have targeted trans people in particular because they know it is an effective method for getting their wider agenda accomplished while focusing their supporters on hate. No wonder in many places trans organizing adds an entire extra layer to LGBTQIA+. There’s a need. And in many instances, faith leaders are at the forefront of offering safe space and solidarity.
As a great starting point I recommend Raising Kids Beyond the Binary. The author will be with us in Fayetteville in September!
Clint, you have opened the lens wide for discussion on many topics. That openness of vision goes with queer theology, which shares an anchor in the historical witness of Christ and a stake in queer experience as complementary streams of authority. I have lived, at times of my adult life, in ethical polyamorous relationships. These were male-to-male love and bonding encounters; one involved raising a child and another triadic experience was framed by a common goal of service to others. I have read deeply in topics I have touched upon but can honestly tell you that I don't know much about how to generalize from what I know and have experienced. So, I feel like I have little aid to give others who follow this courageous path to building peace and justice in Christian witness and joyful hope. But I know how to listen deeply to what others want to say.