ABSTRACT
Theology in the United States, therefore, has undergone a shift from using a melting pot model, in which theology as officially understood sought a dominant or common human experience, to a model that values the collage of different faces, voices, styles, questions, and con structs. Black theologies, Asian-American theologies, feminist theolo gies, womanist theologies, theologies from gay men and lesbian women, and theologies offered from the perspectives of the disabled are all present on the scene today. Where once such differences were either ignored or belittled as 'special interests/ theology today is increasingly understood as having its vitality only insofar as its traditional sources embrace new voices and their differences.. -1
Heteronormativity is already a given in all mental categories, inclu ding theology. Heteronormative theological thinking subsumed, ren dered invisible gay/lesbian voices, or stigmatized us. Yet heteronor mative theology led to the birth of the Lesbian Feminist Issues and the Gay Men's Issues in Religion Groups in the American Academy of Religion (AAR), a learned society and professional association of some 8000 teachers and research scholars who teach in universities and seminaries in North America and abroad. The AAR holds an annual conference as well as regional meetings, divided according to program units and particular interest groups. For more than a decade the lesbian group within the AAR encouraged theological and reli gious reflections on religious values and practices of women attracted to wom en while the gay men's group has been more than a religious group to liberate eros, exploring alternative definitions of non-hetero sexual maleness. Both the lesbian and gay groups have underscored their struggles against the hetero/hom osexual categories, making sig-
1. Rebecca S. Chopp and Mark Lewis Taylor, R econstructing C hristian Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1994).
