"I Found God in The Glory Hole": The Moral Career of a Gay Christian

This article examines processes wherein Gay Christian men transition from closeted religious people to openly Gay Christians. Based on 36 months of fieldwork in a southeastern lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Christian church and a synthesis of research into LGBT Christian experience o...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sociological inquiry 2016-11, Vol.86 (4), p.618-640
Main Authors: Sumerau, J. E., Cragun, Ryan T., Mathers, Lain A. B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bisexuality
Christianity
Christians
Ethics
Gays & lesbians
God (Judeo-Christian)
Homosexuality
Lesbianism
Life stage transitions
Males
Participation
Privilege
Religion
Religions
Sex role identity
Transsexuality
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This article examines processes wherein Gay Christian men transition from closeted religious people to openly Gay Christians. Based on 36 months of fieldwork in a southeastern lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Christian church and a synthesis of research into LGBT Christian experience over the past 25 years, we conceptualize these transformations as a moral career consisting of (1) essentializing religious belief and practice (2) emotionalizing early religious experience, (3) spiritualizing coming out of the closet and religion, and (4) sexualizing coming back to religious participation. In so doing, Gay Christian men interpreted the stages of their lives as an ongoing sexual–religious process wherein they became the spiritual and sexual beings they believed God always wanted them to be. In conclusion, we draw out implications for understanding (1) the moral career of a Gay Christian, (2) the usefulness of conceptualizing religious and sexual transitions as elements of a moral career, and (3) the reproduction of religious privilege.
ISSN:0038-0245
1475-682X
DOI:10.1111/soin.12134