Contemporary Pagan and Witchcraft communities, like queer communities with which they often overlap, take their names from reclaimed slurs. These identifications reflect a shared opposition to hegemonic, Christian-influenced discourse. While Paganism is a diverse religious category that can include openly politically conservative and nativist traditions, in the Anglophone west there are important convergences between Pagan alternative religious movements and LGBTQ+ activism, both in their developmental histories and in their current manifestations.
From the beginning, contemporary Paganism has connected sexuality to sacred joy, a sexual theology which makes possible, though does not guarantee, LGBTQ+ inclusion. Pagan communities reflect a variety of ideologies around sex and gender, from traditional gender complementarities, through feminist essentialism and same-sex ritual symbolism, to theories of gender construction and sexual fluidity. Generational models, following progressive politics, have evolved from heterosexist gender complementarity, through separatism, to radical queerness.