This session explores the violence done upon gay men by Christian norms and related ecclesiological structures and the correlating effects they have on the internalized homophobia that challenges both the individual as well as the communal experiences of gay and queer men. This conversation draws on systematic review of anti-gay moral norms perpetuated by Christian churches and other major community influencers, along with case studies of gay theologians impacted by the AIDS crisis in the United States and the life and work of Bayard Rustin within and without the Black Church in healing the wounds of racism and homophobia. Collectively, the discussion aims to unravel the violence ecclesiological and civil structures perpetuate upon and within the gay community while positing the notion of fraternity as a source of countering such violence and presenting a new norm of queer-male inclusivity and relationality. The presentations and discussion will be followed by the business meeting of the GMaR.
The intersection of faith, public policy, and LGBTQIA+ advocacy within the context of the Black Church is a dynamic and multifaceted area of study. This paper proposal aims to explore the challenges faced by the Black Church in advocating for the rights and well-being of the Black LGBTQIA+ community. From the perspective of a Black cisgender gay theologian, we will critically analyze public policies, evaluate advocacy strategies, and delve into the profound influence of Bayard Rustin’s Quaker faith on his work. Additionally, we will imagine how Rustin’s approach to community organizing and LGBTQIA+ rights might have evolved in the late 20th century and beyond.
In response to AIDS, gay theologians reconsidered sex and its relationship to gayness. In the context of AIDS, they asked, is risky sex a self-hating and selfish, homicidal pursuit or an insistence on pleasure and relationship in the midst of death? This paper will approach this discussion obliquely by drawing on fraternity, or brotherhood, as a form of gay relationality open to sexual pleasure. It will consider fraternity as a theological category in the work of Kevin Gordon, a Christian Brother theologian and ethicist who died of AIDS while he was working through his own doctrine of fraternity. Gordon’s work will be explicated in relation to other uses of brotherhood in projects interrupted by death, like Brother to Brother: New Writing by Black Gay Men, started by Joseph Beam and finished by Essex Hemphill, and The Crisis of Desire: AIDS and the Fate of Gay Brotherhood by Robin Hardy, finished by David Groff.
Looking to the various sources of anti-gay and anti-MLM/MSM rhetoric, this paper explores the violence, both physical and non-physical, done on gay and queer men’s bodies and how that violence can lead to internal violence, external violence, and counterviolence. Utilizing M. Shawn Copeland’s notion of embodiment to ground the lived experience of gay and queer men with their own physicality and the physicality of those they come in contact with, a framework can be developed for reconciling violence, whether intentional or unintentional, while restoring healthier relationships with the self, others, and community.