Rhetoric Race and Religion
When thinking about an appropriate beginning for my blog, which exists as a space to explore the broad intersections of LGBTQI life and religiosity within a global context, it seems critical to acknowledge that various conversations centered on queer sexualities and religion have been circulating already on RD and within traditional and new media outlets.
Ideas have been theorized and captured on the pages of print publications over time, and myriad forms of religious and spiritual expression—both foreign and indigenous to communities—continue to daily shape the lives of queer and trans people throughout the world. So, what more can be said about the positive and negative effects of religion on LGBTQI people globally? Why the need to analyze current religion news as it relates to LGBTQI people? Why is it necessary to create a platform that focuses solely on religion and LGBTQI life?
There is undoubtedly a need for continued dialogue that pushes us beyond the sometimes true, and often imagined, antagonisms and bad energy that surface when “queer” or “trans” are situated in close proximity to “God” or “faith” or “spirituality” or “religion” in a sentence or title. Religion has been wielded as a weapon in the lives of many queer and trans people throughout the world. To be sure, some of us are atheists and agnostic. Some of us are devoutly religious. Some of us practice indigenous spiritual expressions. Some of us care deeply about the shapings of queer and trans lives, subjectivities, experiences, and communities as a result of the direct or indirect force of religious discourse. And all of us, in some way, are impacted, whether we adhere to religious systems or not, by religiosity’s power in the global sphere.
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