ABSTRACT

Heterosexuals and queer folk, conservatives and liberals alike, are often puzzled or even offended by the idea that religion and queer identities might be combined in some way. For a number of reasons queerness appears (especially to conservative heterosexuals) to be irreligious while religion appears (especially to liberals and queer folk) to be un-queer. This is especially true in the United States, where the term ‘religion’ often carries connotations of dogmatism and hierarchy. Nevertheless, a significant number of queer folk are involved in religion, and even more consider themselves ‘spiritual’, implying a personal connection to the sacred that may or may not be mediated by an official religious organisation. In the 1990s, when the advent of queer theory led scholars and activists to ‘queer’ nearly everything, the simple presence of queer folk in religion was assumed to ‘queer’ religion in some way; for instance, an early anthology on gays and lesbians in religion was cleverly titled Que(e)rying Religion (Comstock and Henking 1997). But what does it mean to queer religion?