Gay Men and Religion Unit
The Gay Men and Religion Program Unit invites papers and panels exploring the following subjects/themes for November 2025:
- The religious experiences of gay men and men who have sex with men from a variety of global and indigenous contexts, including sexual experiences, the formation of identities, as well as social and religious systems/structures; LGBTQ rights in relation to colonialism and de-colonialist responses. We highly encourage papers from a variety of religious identities and belongings. We also invite reflection on whether concepts and categories of “gay” and “queer” are expressions of western colonialism; and/or the extent to which anti-gay/queer ideology is an imposition of western religious/political colonialism.
- We invite proposals that explore the rhetoric of the “good/normal gays,” as that appeared in the 2024 U.S. presidential race. Is there a “good/normal gay” identity that social and political conservatives now accept, or tolerate? To what extent, or to what end? Conversely, what resistance arose to the 2024 rhetoric of the “good/normal gays”: religiously, politically, socially, and/or morally?
- We invite proposals that explore the work of gay activism for equal rights under the law, at the intersection of religion and politics. Perspectives may include (but are not limited to): gay activists whose life work is perceived to be threatened by new conservative political leadership and policies; gay activists who have (or who have not) included transgender rights in their advocacy (and why); the way in which gay activists navigate the separation of religion and state while articulating equal rights for LGBTQIA+ people from religious perspectives.
- We invite proposals that explore the role of the 'gay elder' in religious and social communities, including different kinds of gay elders and their relationships with other generations.
The Gay Men and Religion Unit: Provides scholarly reflection and writing on the intersections of gay male experience, including sexual experiences, with religious traditions and spiritual practices. Fosters ongoing contributions by (or about) gay men—or men who have sex with men—to religious scholarship in all its forms; we are especially interested in gay men’s experiences across a range of religious traditions and in a wide variety of geographical contexts. Critically challenges homophobic scholarship and religious teaching, on the one hand, and aspects of the LGBTQI equality movement that promote assimilation and normalization of hegemonic patriarchy and heterosexism, on the other. Engages a variety of theoretical and political discourses, which fosters vigorous dialogue between essentialist and constructionist notions of gay male identity; this includes recognizing the insights and limitations of any theoretical and methodological approach to the study of religion and sexuality.