ABSTRACT
This chapter builds on a larger ethnographic research project investigating the lived experiences of gays and lesbians in Zimbabwe. It focuses on the interface between religion and homosexuality from the perspective of individuals identifying as gay or lesbian. Significantly, gay and lesbian Christians are not just passive recipients of homophobic utterances in Christian circles. This observation challenges the misconceptions of a straightforward link between religion and homophobia. Christianity has been used to authenticate political claims on contested issues, thus homosexuality is no exception. The chapter draws on the experiences of thirteen respondents that were selected to include a wide and diverse range of experiences, including both persons who are still actively involved in church and persons who have opted out of organised religion. It explains the term queer is used to refer to individuals not conforming to heteronormative views of gender and sexuality. Much literature focuses on church as a hostile environment for homosexuals.
