LGBTQ Religious Activism: Rethinking Identity, Faith, and Social Change

Despite the LGBTQ movement’s rapid growth and significant policy successes over the past few decades, many mainstream religions continue to discriminate against queer people. In response, LGBTQ communities have mobilized across a wide range of religious traditions to advocate for church leaders to ordain LGBTQ clergy, accept LGBTQ people as members, officiate same-sex weddings, and affirm the dignity and worth of transgender and nonbinary people. Bringing together leading scholars of social movements, religion, and gender and sexuality in one volume, Jonathan S. Coley and Golshan Golriz have curated a comprehensive look at religiously affiliated social movements within many faiths, charting why and how LGBTQ people engage in activism and the outcomes of their efforts.

Contributors include Joseph Anthony, Orit Avishai, James Cavendish, Stephen Ellingson, Leya Essex, Melinda D. Kane, Nancy L. Malcom, Dawne Moon, A. J. Ramirez, Shanon Shah, Theresa W. Tobin, and Michelle Voyles.

Jonathan S. Coley is associate professor of sociology at Oklahoma State University

Golshan Golriz is assistant professor of sociology at Queen’s University in Canada.