Navigating Potentially Traumatic Conservative Religious Environments as a Sexual/Gender Minority

A measure of hypervigilance in LGBTQ-identified individuals.

“…Although there are accepting and welcoming religious people and institutions, and a majority of LGBTQ-identified individuals report identifying as spiritual, past experiences of religious-based stigmatization and prejudice may lead many LGBTQ-identified individuals to assume that religious people and institutions will reject them (see Barringer, 2020). This may cause them to be extra watchful when they encounter people perceived to be religious or when in a religious setting (such as a church or mosque; Lefevor et al, 2020).…”

The relationship between religiousness and health among sexual minorities: A meta-analysis.

“…Indeed, many sexual minorities report psychologically, spiritually, or sexually abusive experiences, either in religious spaces or by religious individuals (Hall, 2018; Jacobsen & Wright, 2014). Whereas religious service attendance may be uncomplicatedly positive for most heterosexual individuals, sexual minorities often report experiencing feelings of hypervigilance, concealment, and fear when navigating religious spaces (Lefevor, Huffman, et al, 2020).…”

“…For example, whenever they encounter religious spaces or people, sexual minorities might often experience felt stigma (that is, “knowledge of the existence of stigma and the conditions under which it is likely to be enacted, accompanied by the motivation to avoid being the target of stigma enactments [which is] often manifested in purposeful modification of behavior”; Herek & McLemore, 2013, p. 313). In fact, many sexual minorities may even experience symptoms of posttraumatic stress when navigating religious spaces or interacting with highly religious individuals, based on recurrent negative (perhaps traumatic) experiences they have had (Lefevor, Huffman, et al, 2020). It therefore might be extremely difficult for such sexual minorities to feel psychologically and physiologically safe in religious spaces and with religious people.…”

“…It may be that social and behavioral R/S are often more complicated for sexual minorities. Because religious sexual minorities may experience stigma and rejection from both religious and sexual minority individuals (Lefevor, Huffman, et al, 2020), there may be a cancelling effect by which their R/S affects their health via social and behavioral pathways. For instance, sexual minorities may experience some degree of social support if they are involved in a religious community (which would promote their health), but they may also experience some degree of negative social interactions (which would undermine their health).…”

“…Many religious texts and traditions condemn same-sex sexual behavior—engendering sexual stigma and prejudice, even if texts are not literally interpreted or policies are not rigidly enforced (Lefevor, Sorrell, et al, 2019). Moreover, across history and cultures, sexual minorities have frequently encountered enacted stigma (i.e., “behavioral expressions of sexual stigma, including antigay statements, ostracism, discrimination, and violence”; Herek & McLemore, 2013, p. 312), either in the context of religious institutions or at the hand of religious individuals (Ciocca et al, 2017; Lefevor, Huffman, et al, 2020; Worthen et al, 2017). Furthermore, across time and cultures, religion has often been used to justify negative attitudes and laws related to same-sex sexual behavior (Hoffarth et al, 2018).…”