(New York: Jeremy T Tarcher/Putnam, 1999), 170–208; Jeffrey S , Siker, ed „ Homosexuality and Religion: An Encyclopedia (Westport, CT Greenwood Press, 2007); Arlene Swidler, ed,, Homosexuality and World Religions (Valley Forge, PA: Trinity Press nternational, 1993); Melissa M , Wilcox, “Innovation in Exile: Religion and Spirituality in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Communities,” in Sexuality and the World’s Religions, ed , David W, Machacek and Melissa M , Wilcox (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2003), 323–57,
9 Rom. 8:38–39
Chapter One
What is queer theology? For many people, “queer theology” is a troubling term. They may ask: What does theology have to do with “queerness”? Isn’t “queer theology” an oxymoron or an inherent contradiction in terms? Isn’t “queer” a derogatory word? For some, the word “queer” has painful connotations, especially if they were subjected to it as an epithet as a result of perceived or actual differences in sexuality or gender identity.
In recent years, however, the term “queer” has been used increasingly by scholars in a variety of theological and biblical contexts. One such example is the anthology Queer Theology: Rethinking the Western Body, which is a collection of provocative essays by theologians on the intersection between theology, sexuality, and gender identity.1 Another is the groundbreaking The Queer Bible Commentary, a commentary on each of the books of the Christian Bible—from Genesis to Revelation—written from the perspective of those with marginalized sexualities and gender identities.2
So what exactly is queer theology? Simply put, if theology is defined as “talk about God” (that is, theos [God] + logos [word]), then queer theology can be understood as queer talk about God. This, of course, leads to the question of what exactly is meant by the term “queer,” which is a more complicated issue. As such, we turn to a discussion of queer terminology.
This section will discuss at least three meanings of the word “queer”: first, as an umbrella term; second, as transgressive action; and third, as erasing boundaries. Since the early 1990s, LGBT scholars (that is, scholars who have self-identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, questioning, or allies) have reclaimed the word “queer” from its previously negative connotations.3
Historically, the term “queer” has been used in a negative way. For example, the Oxford English Dictionary Online defines “queer” as “[s]trange, odd, peculiar, eccentric” as well as “relating to homosexuals or homosexuality.” The OED Online traces the word back as far as a 1513 translation of Virgil’s Aeneid, and it speculates that the word is derived from the German word “quer,” which means “transverse, oblique, crosswise, at right angles, obstructive.”
The OED Online notes, however, that although “queer” was originally used in a derogatory sense, since the late 1980s it has been used as a “neutral or positive term,” citing a 1987 newspaper article that reported on a humorous sign at a march that said “We’re here because we’re queer.”4 As such, we now turn to a discussion of three “neutral or positive” meanings of the word “queer.”
“Queer” as Umbrella Term
One common use of the word “queer” is as an umbrella term that refers collectively to lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-gender, intersex, questioning, and other individuals who identify with non-normative sexualities and/or gender identities. The term “queer” also can include “allies” who may not themselves identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, or questioning, but stand in solidarity with their queer sisters and brothers in terms of seeking a more just world with respect to sexuality and gender identity. In other words, “queer” is a synonym for acronyms such as LGBTIQA.
It may be helpful here to review the difference between the concepts of sexuality and gender identity. Sexuality refers to the ways in which people are attracted emotionally and physically to the opposite sex, to the same sex, or to both sexes. Women who are primarily sexually attracted to other women are “lesbians,” whereas men who are primarily sexually attracted to other men are “gay.” People who are sexually attracted to both women and men are “bisexual.” People who are sexually attracted to people of the opposite sex are “straight” or “heterosexual.” In general, people within the LGBT community prefer the terms “lesbian,” “gay,” and “bisexual” to the more clinical term “homosexual.”
By contrast, gender identity refers to the ways in which people self-identify with respect to their genders (“female” or “male”), regardless of the sex that they were assigned at birth. People who identify with a gender that is different from their assigned sex at birth are “transgender.” Such people may or may not have had medical treatment (for example, hormones or surgery) to align their physical bodies with their gender identities. By contrast, people who identify with a gender that is aligned with their birth sex are “cisgender.” People who decline to identify with one gender or the other are “gender queer.” Finally, people who are born with ambiguous genitalia or geni-talia of both sexes are “intersex.”5
It is important to note that gender identity is a concept that is distinct from sexuality. In other words, the fact that a person is transgender is separate from that person’s sexuality. Thus, a trans woman (that is, a person who was assigned the male sex at birth but who is self-identified as female) may be a lesbian (that is, sexually attracted to other female-identified people), heterosexual (that is, sexually attracted to male-identified people), or bisexual (that is, sexually attracted to both female-identified and male-identified people).
To summarize, the term “queer” is often used as an umbrella or collective term to describe people with marginalized sexualities (lesbian, gay, or bisexual) as well as with marginalized gender identities (transgender) or genitalia (intersex). We see this use of the word “queer” as an umbrella or collective term in the works of LGBT theologians such as Nancy Wilson, the current moderator of the Metropolitan Community Churches,6 and the late Robert Williams, one of the first openly gay priests in the Episcopal Church.7
“Queer” as Transgressive Action
In addition to the umbrella sense of the word “queer,” there is a second meaning of “queer” that is an intentional reclaiming of a word that previously had only negative connotations. In recent years, the word “queer” has been used by many LGBT people as positive label that proudly embraces all that is transgressive or opposed to societal norms, particularly with respect to sexuality and gender identity. This use parallels the reclaiming of the word “black” by African Americans during the 1960s as a positive term of pride. Prior to that time, the preferred term was “colored” or “negro,” since “black” had a negative connotation in a racial context.
The use of the word “queer” as a positive term of pride for LGBT people can be traced as far back as the late 1980s. The Oxford English Dictionary Online cites a 1989 article that describes the LGBT community as a “queer nation” that is “assertively coed, multi-racial and anti-consumerist.”8 In 1990, the radical organization Queer Nation was founded with the goal of fighting anti-LGBT violence and prejudice through activism and confrontational tactics such as outing closeted politicians and celebrities. Queer Nation has used a
