Taking Up the Cudgels Against Gay Rights? Trends and Trajectories in African Christian Theologies on Homosexuality

Klinken, Adriaan van; Gunda, Masiiwa Ragies

doi:10.1080/00918369.2012.638549

Cited by 24 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…In African theology to date there has been little engagement with issues of homosexuality and LGBT human rights, although a few theologians, in particular African women/feminist theologians, have recently begun to address these issues in progressive ways building on traditions of liberation theology and its commitment to social justice. 65 In African…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Culture Wars, Race, and Sexuality: A Nascent Pan-African LGBT-Affirming Christian Movement and the Future of Christianity

Klinken

2017

Journal of Africana Religions

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In order to challenge and decenter monolithic narratives about Christian-inspired homophobia in Africa, this article draws attention to Christian counter-mobilizations that seek to affirm the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Africa. It focuses on the work of an African American organization, The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries (TFAM), to build a pan-AfricanLGBT-affirming Christian movement. TFAM presents its work as a response to the involvement of American white conservative evangelicals in the spread of homophobia in Africa. Where the latter has been framed as the export of American culture wars, this article discusses TFAM's work as an attempt to counter-balance the culture wars and to define the future of African Christianity in progressive ways.The article proceeds by discussing one of the fruits of TFAM's activities, an LGBT church in Nairobi, Kenya.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Culture Wars, Race, and Sexuality: A Nascent Pan-African LGBT-Affirming Christian Movement and the Future of Christianity

Klinken

2017

Journal of Africana Religions

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“…While gay-friendly theology has to a large extent arisen from Western contexts, there are important exceptions, also in Uganda, where a Catholic priest, father Musaala and a now ex-communicated Anglican bishop, Christopher Senyonjo, have taken vocal positions in defence of LGBT minorities (Kaoma 2012;Musaala 2014;Senyonjo 2007). Their voices are exceptions in the broader picture, since as van Klinken and Gunda (2012) have shown, the majority of African theologians have either explicitly condemned homosexuality, or stayed silent and hence affirmed heteronormativity.…”

Section: Politics Religion and Homosexuality In Uganda And Beyondmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…I will suggest that these implicit and often unverbalized norms exclude all those who do not fit the norm, but they do so in a manner strikingly different to the graphic and violently hateful speech of those religious leaders and politicians depicted in, for instance, the film 'God loves Uganda' (Williams 2013) and many other recent accounts of Ugandan homophobia. Furthermore, while the churches' teaching contains notable elements that could be employed to promote tolerance, its fostering of a static concept of culture (van Klinken and Gunda 2012) has created an environment in which implicit exclusionary violence easily turns explicit, as appears to be occurring in contemporary Northern Uganda.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Homosexuality, the holy family and a failed mass wedding in Catholic Northern Uganda

Alava

2016

Critical African Studies

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Christian churches have played crucial but diverse roles in public debates over homosexuality in Africa. In contrast to the vocal and explicit homophobia witnessed in many Pentecostal-Charismatic Churches (PCCs), homosexuality has until recently been an overwhelmingly silenced issue in the Acholi region of Northern Uganda, and an almost complete non-issue in the local Catholic Church. This article suggests that while this silence in part relates to the temporal proximity of the Northern Ugandan war, the absence of LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) activism in the region, and the hesitance of mainline churches to talk about sex, it is also embedded in what are considered to be customary Acholi understandings of sexuality. Offering an analysis of Acholi Catholic teaching on peace and the family, the article suggests that Catholicism has entrenched heteronormative patriarchy in Acholi society. However, as illustrated by the unpopularity of church weddings, the norms that govern sexuality are negotiated in the dynamic space between religion and what are contemporarily understood as 'modern' and 'customary' Acholi moral sensibilities. The article emphasizes the need for scholarship on religion and homosexuality to extend beyond PCCs and capital cities, and beyond the most explicit forms of public homophobia in Africa.Les églises chrétiennes ont joué des rôles cruciaux mais variés dans les débats publics sur l'homosexualité en Afrique. Contrairement à l'homophobie virulente et explicite constatée dans plusieurs Églises Pentecôtistes-Charismatiques (EPC), l'homosexualité a été jusqu'à récemment un problème tout à fait étouffé dans la région d'Acholi du nord de l'Ouganda, et un quasi non-problème au sein de l'Eglise catholique locale. Bien que ce silence se rapporte en partie à la proximité temporelle de la guerre en Ouganda du Nord, l'absence de militantisme LGBTI (lesbiennes, gays, bisexuels, transgenres et intersexués) dans la région, ainsi qu'à l'hésitation des principales églises à parler de sexe, cet article suggère que ce silence est également incorporé au sein de ce qui est considéré comme des conceptions Acholi coutumières de la sexualité. Doté d'une analyse des enseignements Acholi catholiques sur la paix et la famille, l'article suggère que le catholicisme a ancré le patriarcat hétéronormatif dans la société Acholi. Cependant, comme l'illustre l'impopularité des mariages religieux, les normes qui régissent la sexualité sont négociées dans l'espace dynamique entre la religion et ce qui est contemporairement compris comme des valeurs morales Acholi « modernes » et « coutumières ». L'article met l'accent sur la nécessité pour les travaux académiques sur la religion et l'homosexualité d'aller au-delà des EPCs et des capitales, et au-delà des formes les plus explicites de l'homophobie publique en Afrique.

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“…The racial, cultural, and nationalist politics of the ex-gay movement deserves greater attention in scholarly research. Although the movement is predominantly white, Christian, and Western, both white and non-white movement figures use racial (and nationalist) politics explicitly to undermine civil rights for LGBT people in the U.S. Further, this study suggests that, to the extent that homosexuality is perceived as imported or a "white disease" [158] and human rights for LGBT people as a "Western" agenda, contrary to "Asian values" [162,163], "African values" [164], or any other "values", the transnational ex-gay movement may be able to exploit this sentiment to further its agenda around the world.…”

Section: Conclusion: Place Mattersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Putting Lesbians in Their Place: Deconstructing Ex-Gay Discourses of Female Homosexuality in a Global Context

Robinson

Spivey

2015

Social Sciences

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Abstract:The transnational ex-gay movement is an important context affecting lesbians and sexual minority women around the world. In 2015, the UN Human Rights Commissioner called for all nations to ban conversion therapies. This research investigates a neglected area of scholarship on the ex-gay movement by deconstructing and analyzing the implications of ex-gay discourses of female homosexuality in a global context. The ex-gay movement originated in the United States and has proliferated to nearly every continent. We argue that it is the main purveyor of public, anti-lesbian rhetoric today, constructing lesbianism as sinful and sick to control women's sexuality, enforce rigid gender roles and inequality, and oppress sexual minority women. Guided by Adrienne Rich's theory of compulsory heterosexuality and Barbara Risman's gender structure theory, we analyze how, in ex-gay discourse, lesbianism is demeaned and demonized in the individual, interactional, and institutional dimensions of the gender structure. Finally, we examine the impact of ex-gay discourse on sexual minority women in global context.

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Taking Up the Cudgels Against Gay Rights? Trends and Trajectories in African Christian Theologies on Homosexuality

Abstract: Against the background of the HIV epidemic and the intense public controversy on homosexuality in African societies

Cited by 24 publications

References 11 publications

Culture Wars, Race, and Sexuality: A Nascent Pan-African LGBT-Affirming Christian Movement and the Future of Christianity

Culture Wars, Race, and Sexuality: A Nascent Pan-African LGBT-Affirming Christian Movement and the Future of Christianity

Homosexuality, the holy family and a failed mass wedding in Catholic Northern Uganda

Putting Lesbians in Their Place: Deconstructing Ex-Gay Discourses of Female Homosexuality in a Global Context

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