ABSTRACT

These are troubled times for relations between American queers and American religions. After many years of relatively successful efforts at prodding American religions into a less phobic stance on human sexuality, further progress seems to have hit a roadblock with the passage of Proposition 8 in California in 2008.1 In reaction to this California ballot initiative, the streets of American cities have witnessed loud scenes of anger and protest, often directed at Mormons2 and their temples.3 More quietly, gays, lesbians, and also queers have renewed their fire on a traditional nemesis, the Catholic Church, and also newly discovered ones as well, namely African-American churches.4