Sex, Love, and an Old Brick Building: A United Church of Canada Congregation Transitions to LGBTQ Inclusion

Abstract

Whereas much literature focuses on ways that Christian discourses can perpetuate homophobia and transmisogyny, there is less scholarly attention focused on Christian groups that embrace people with diverse gender and sexual identities. As this article demonstrates, it is precisely because of their traditional marginalization that active inclusion of LGBTQ people may come to serve as a signifier of less institutionally oriented and more socially progressive forms of religiosity, especially for communities actively negotiating intersecting neoliberal oppressions. Drawing on sustained fieldwork with a progressive Protestant congregation, this project analyzes two of the community’s foundational narratives: one of a minister coming out as lesbian; and one of giving up their church building. As members connect these stories to their more recent embrace of the first known transwoman to be ordained in the denomination, they reveal tensions surrounding power, embodiment, and sexuality at the core of contemporary conversations about North American religion.

The Why and How of Congregational Discernment in LGBTQ+ Inclusion: Models in the Literature

“…This conceptual article connects the history of the early Christian church in controversial social issues to current church issues around inclusion in Christian congregations and denominations in the USA. Other countries have addressed the issues of LGBTQ+ leadership in congregations to various degrees from inclusion to complete rejection (Bird 2018;Dreier et al 2019;Rise 2019;Dickey Young 2010;Zwissler 2019). In this article, the authors limit their discussion to congregations and denominations in the USA; they include a variety of approaches used by individuals, congregations, and other organizations to engage in deliberate discernment conversations around challenging and often divisive topics.…”

“…This is true in the USA and in some international faith traditions including for example Catholicism across countries and including the United Methodist Church in the USA and across the African continent. In Canada, several European countries, New Zealand, and Austria, LGBTQ+ persons have experienced change (Bird 2018;Rise 2019;Dickey Young 2010;Zwissler 2019) while LGBTQ+ persons in many countries in Africa continue to experience significant marginalization and exclusion, including in congregations (Dreier et al 2019). As more LGBTQ+ Christians are open about their sexual orientation and/or sexual identity, the questions of church membership and leadership as well as of marriage for same-sex couples, adoption, missionary service, etc., are increasingly the focus of policy and practice discussions and decisions in congregations and denominations (Collins 2018;Gaede 1998;McConkey 2018;Polaski et al 2013).…”

An overview of coming out research: Introducing a three‐lens typology

“…Lastly, within religion, academic publications (e.g., Brennan, 2004; Klein, 2011; White & White, 2004; Wilcox, 2002, 2003; Zwissler, 2019) addressed the coming out of LGBTQ+ identifying religious leaders such as ministers, pastors, priests, clergymen, bishops, and rabbis to God , their family, religious community , and wider community (e.g., students, elders they care for). Research (e.g., Lalich & Mclaren, 2010; Lassiter et al., 2018; Wilcox, 2003) also addressed the coming out as LGBTQ+ to individuals' religious community, including fellow church members and the clergy or elders .…”