Creating an embodied queer Judaism: liturgy,ritual and sexuality at San Francisco’s Congregation Sha’ar Zahav, 1977–1987

ABSTRACT

Gay and lesbian synagogues, unique to the American religious landscape, first appeared in the early 1970s. At the height of the gay synagogue movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s, over two dozen such congregations met the spiritual needs of gay and lesbian Jews across the United States. As they grew and expanded, these synagogues incubated a new “queer Judaism” centred on innovative rituals, liturgy, and embodied practices grounded in gay and lesbian (and later, also bisexual and transgender) experiences. In this essay, I offer a 10-year case study of the development of queer Judaism at Congregation Sha’ar Zahav (CSZ), San Francisco’s gay and lesbian synagogue, founded in 1977. Within the landscape of gay and lesbian synagogues, CSZ stands out for being founded in San Francisco when that city was the capital of American gay culture. Inspired by the Gay Liberation Movement and the flowering of grassroots Jewish community organizing in the late 1960s and 1970s, the founders of CSZ asserted a right to difference, building and promoting links between Judaism, sexuality, gender, and identity. In this context, CSZ helped build a queer, sex-positive Judaism that celebrated and politicized sexual minorities, created new forms of chosen family, and fostered an ethic of egalitarian and lay-led inclusiveness.     

Is it Really Just About Being More Like a Fag? Confronting the Gay Male Model Mantra

Although the debate between feminism and queer is by now a fairly old and some might argue, trite and overwrought one, in this paper I direct my attention to a specific feminist assessment of queer that I find to be especially unhelpful and pernicious: the automatic linkage of queer with the exaltation of a gay male subjectivity. This article is informed by my own ethnographic research on lesbian/queer public sexual cultures; specifically, two Canadian lesbian/queer bathhouses, where public sex and sexual exploration are encouraged. I argue that this contention, that lesbians who espouse queer are aping (gay) male sexuality and subjectivity—due to the privileging of non-normative sexual practices found within the gay male community—does two things: (re)essentializes genders and sexualities, and, more importantly, robs non-gay male subjects (e.g., women, lesbians, butches, trans identified individuals) of their own agency. In sum, I believe that this linkage to a supposed gay male imitation, and concomitantly, viewing lesbian/queer sexual cultures, behaviors, configurations, and signifying sexual economies as mere derivatives of gay male culture, reinforces lesbian/queer invisibility and (re)centers the heterosexual matrix. For the sake of lesbian/queer subjects’ own viability, lesbian/queer sexualities must thus be pulled out of this discursive trap.     

A Queer Supplement: Reading Spinoza after Grosz

This article critiques Elizabeth Grosz's understanding that queer theory is unproductive insofar as it disrupts the specific identities of gay and lesbian. Reconsidering ideas about desire, the body, and identity that Grosz takes from Gilles Deleuze's work on Friedrich Nietzsche and Baruch Spinoza, this essay argues that, despite her productive reworking of homophobia in terms of “active” and “reactive” forces, Grosz's application of Spinoza is only partial. Focusing on Spinoza's evaluation of bodies, the essay both critiques Grosz's approach to experimental desire and observes Spinozist preoccupations in order to talk about the experimental body. It concludes that if Grosz were to attend more seriously to the Spinozist imperative to analyze a body in terms of its capabilities—that is, its power to be affected—the epistemological basis of her argument would change. It would be difficult to dismiss the plurality and sensibility of a queer body or its challenge to lesbian and gay as the source of a primary identity.     

Negotiated selves: trans,agender, and genderqueer youth

This photo essay was developed from images and narratives shared by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth who participated in a Photovoice project (Smith et al. 2016). The photographs used here were taken by six trans, genderqueer, and agender youth who gave their permission for the images to be used for scholarly purposes.     

Home and hiddenness: queer theology,domestication and institutions

ABSTRACT

This essay examines tropes of hiddenness and domestication in queer theology, particularly in light of the increasing mainstreaming of queer theologies in institutional (e.g. university, seminary, church) settings, and the inclusion of queer theologies by straight academics and teachers on their syllabi. Drawing on James C. Scott’s work on revolution as a luxury of the elite (by way of the Arab Spring, the UK riots of 2011, and the US demonstrations in 2014), and Judith Halberstam’s construction of “failure” as a strategy of queer resistance, I ask whether there will continue to be a role for “shadow queernesses” which reject institutional acceptability. However, I also suggest that the increased visibility of queer theology within mainstream institutions does not inevitably imply compromise or “toothlessness,” but may in fact testify to the pre-existing presence of queer diversity in multiple contexts and the inhabitation by queer scholars of various “homes.”     

A Paradoxical Theology of Biology

Abstract

This article examines a sermon in which Desmond Tutu advocates for gay rights in light of his activism against apartheid in South Africa. In doing so it uncovers a paradoxical theology of biology that enables him to advocate universal notions of justice simultaneously with love for particular persons and bodies. This advocacy, however, is susceptible to the critiques of queer theorists and theologians who worry that liberationist frameworks unwittingly reinscribe injustices against a variety of queer persons. The article concludes by raising new questions to be asked about Desmond Tutu’s theology, and liberation theologies in general, about the potential of liberationist and prophetic frameworks for achieving social justice. It also raises questions for queer theology about the possibility and political efficacy of queering the act of preaching.     

“In the Image of God”: Reconstructing and Developing a Grassroots African Queer Theology from Urban Zambia

This article is a contribution towards the development of queer theologies in contemporary African contexts. Based on fieldwork in the gay community in Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia, the article explores the significance of the theological notion of the Imago Dei, the image of God, in the self-understanding of Zambian gay men as being gay and Christian. Bringing this incipient grassroots theology into conversation with broader theological discourses, in particular African theology (including African women's theology) and queer theology, we interrogate current understandings of the Imago Dei that either ignore sexuality or exclude same-sex loving people (in African theology) or that conceptualize queerness from white Western privileged perspectives (in queer theology). Hence we develop the notion of the Imago Dei as a stepping stone towards an African queer theology.     

NEW VOICES, NEW VISIONS

This article proposes an alternative model for psychological inquiry based in the experiences of lesbians and gay men. I propose that there are three elements that cross-situationally define a lesbian and gay reality: biculturalism, marginality, and normative creativity. Each of these elements is explored with examples of how these perspectives might alter the way that certain dominant notions about human relationships are understood. The article closes with questions regarding the application of this lesbian and gay paradigm to methodologies for inquiry. The relationship between a lesbian/gay paradigm for psychology and feminist questions regarding epistemology is also explored.     

Exploring Normative Creativity: Testing the Relationship Between Cognitive Flexibility and Sexual Identity

Brown (1989) proposed that lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals possess greater “normative creativity” and flexibility than heterosexuals because they have fewer norms for living in heterosexually dominated society. In this article we explore one possible individual difference between heterosexuals and nonheterosexuals in the domain of normative creativity by examining the relationship between cognitive flexibility and sexual identity among 358 university students. Participants with sexual identities not directed toward one gender exclusively (e.g., bisexual, biaffectionate, or queer) scored significantly higher on a measure of cognitive flexibility than did heterosexual and gay/lesbian participants; the latter two groups did not differ from each other. These results suggest that it is having a nonexclusive sexual identity, rather than a lesbian or gay identity, that is related to greater cognitive flexibility.     

Holy Ferment: Queer Philosophical Destabilizations and the Discourse on Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Lives in Christian Institutions

Abstract

Employing insights from queer theorists this article explores what might be at stake philosophically in the contemporary ferment around homosexuality in the Western churches. Hutchins argues that the ferment is an effect of the destabilization of the metaphysics of substance by queer discourse and practice causes. In other words what gay Christians threaten is the notion that categories of identity are fixed and capable of categorization. This notion is built into the very grammar of our lives making it hard to think, act, write or speak outside of it, and much liberation, feminist and gay and lesbian theology has not attempted to do so. But as the hegemonic illusion is ruptured, Hutchins suggests that it is imperative for all those involved in the debate to come to terms with the violence and insufficiency of the metaphysics of substance.     

Narrative Therapy Pathways for Re-authoring with Parents of Adolescents Coming-out as Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual

Narrative therapy with parents as they are coming to terms with their adolescent sons’ and daughters’ coming-out as lesbian or gay provides a framework for reauthoring stories and revisioning identities as they negotiate the challenge of becoming lesbian/gay-membered families. Recognized for complementing the elements of multicultural practice, narrative therapy offers therapeutic interventions that are culturally sensitive and acknowledge the role of power and privilege in socially imaging what it means to be lesbian or gay. In this article the familiar storylines that these families bring into therapy are illustrated, and family work with parents of lesbian, gay, and bisexual adolescents is conceptualized using a narrative therapy lens.     

Gay Identity Issues Among Black Americans: Racism,Homophobia, and the Need for Validation

There is little available literature on gay and lesbian identity among Black Americans. This exploratory study involved interviewing a total of six Black-American gay men and lesbian women regarding gay identity development issues. Data pertaining to the interviewees' experiences of gay identity development were obtained through a questionnaire of six open-ended questions and an interview with each participant lasting 1 to 2 hours. This article presents some of the significant challenges faced by those who were interviewed regarding their sense of self-acceptance, both as Blacks in the predominantly White gay and lesbian community and as gay men and lesbian women in the predominantly heterosexual Black community. The implications of these issues for future research and counseling intervention are discussed. In this article the term gay identity is generally used in reference to both men and women. When women are being discussed exclusively, however, the term lesbian identity is used.     

Imagined contact with famous gay men and lesbians reduces heterosexuals’ misidentification concerns and sexual prejudice

Gay men and lesbians experience bigotry at alarmingly high rates. Traditionally, researchers have focused on reducing sexual prejudice; however, research indicates that heterosexuals’ concerns about being misidentified as gay/lesbian also contribute to the derogation of gay/lesbian individuals. Thus, reducing misidentification concerns is a critical part of decreasing negativity toward gay/lesbian individuals. In the current work, we explored a novel addition to the imagined contact paradigm—imagined contact with famous outgroup members—for reducing misidentification concerns. We found that imagined contact with famous gay men/lesbians reduced misidentification concerns within the imagined interaction and engendered an eagerness to befriend the famous gay/lesbian interaction partner. Moreover, we found that the reduction of these misidentification concerns led to fewer general contagion concerns, and increased eagerness to befriend led to decreased sexual prejudice. The current work develops a useful intervention for improving multiple responses toward gay men and lesbians.     

The Limits of Inclusion: Queer Theology and its Others

In this article, I describe three problems found in some inclusive queer Christian theologies: a strong contrast between Christian queer inclusiveness and the exclusive other — a contrast that sometimes takes anti-Semitic form; ignoring what I term the affective life of binaries — the way symbol systems depend on associative relationships between multiple binaries, so that rendering one binary relationship fluid fails to destabilize the symbol system itself; and a presentist approach to origins that seeks legitimation for contemporary queer assumptions or for queer theology as such. I argue that the presence of any of these elements renders queer theology un-queer. By connecting inclusive queer theologies to debates over inclusion, livability and humanity in queer theory (particularly between Judith Butler and Lee Edelman), I conclude that the rhetorical posture of radical inclusion may have limited value for queer theology and suggest an alternative starting point grounded in a dictum from Marcella Althaus-Reid.     

Counseling in Iran: History,Current Status,and Future Trends

As a growing profession, counseling in Iran was first established within the Iranian educational system. Counselors in Iran have provided mental health services during natural disasters and war. The counseling profession in Iran currently faces challenges in addressing the needs of women; ethnic minorities; and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals. In this article, the authors focus on the historical background, current trends, and future challenges of the counseling profession in Iran.     

Towards a queer dharmology of sex

Lay practitioners of Buddhism, especially lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender/queer persons, are given little guidance by the traditional Dharmology (Buddhist theology) of sex. The most extensive discussions are the detailed prohibitions in the monastic rule, which focus on the mechanics of sex rather than on love and relationships. What advice there is on sex for lay persons is either vague or over‐determined by its cultural context. Christianity, despite being homophobic and mistrustful of sex, has developed a positive attitude towards sex within heterosexual marriage. An investigation of this suggests a Dharmology of sex as relationship, based on central Buddhist doctrines such as interdependent arising. This Dharmology can be strengthened by queering it with reference to Harry Hay's notion that gay subject–subject consciousness is more compatible with Buddhist non‐duality than the hetero subject–object consciousness. It can be claimed, therefore, that Buddha Nature, and Buddhism itself, is queer.     

Countertransference issues in psychotherapy with lesbian and gay clients

This article briefly reviews literature on responses towards same-sex (lesbian and gay) sexualities from psychoanalytic and ‘lesbian and gay affirmative’ psychotherapeutic perspectives. An analysis is presented of reports of countertransferential reactions to lesbian and gay clients, obtained from interviews with fourteen psychotherapists who work in a lesbian and gay affirmative manner and eighteen clients who had received affirmative psychotherapy. Data were subjected to grounded analysis. Participants consistently attended to the thoughts, feelings and values that therapists held in relation to lesbian and gay clients and how these affected the meanings and practices available to them. These were linked with the therapist's sexual identity among other factors. Negative countertransferential reactions were regarded as potentially occurring among heterosexual and lesbian and gay therapists and were seen as arising from therapists’ conscious and unconscious fears about same-sex sexualities. These findings indicate a need to continue debating these issues more widely in the professional arena.     

Psychodynamics of Suicide in Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual,or Transgender Youth

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth are a vulnerable population at high risk of suicide and, as such, benefit from an informed psychotherapeutic approach to treatment. While it is clear that sexual orientation and gender identity are independent dimensions from psychopathology, LGBT youth are frequently marginalized and may face unique challenges with self-acceptance and identification with peers, family, and society, increasing risk of social isolation, which in turn increases vulnerability to anxiety, mood disorders, substance use, and suicide. We elaborate on the common phenomenon of ambivalent repression of the sexual self in adolescents associated with intertwined themes frequently expressed in suicidal lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual, and queer patients on the inpatient adolescent unit: anger directed toward internal and external objects; desire for self-punishment, atonement, and possibly rebirth; and desperation and desire to escape psychic pain. We enhance our discussion with case examples and practical therapeutic considerations that emerge from these themes that can be harnessed across treatment settings.     

Lesbian,gay and bisexual development: theory,research and social issues

Over the last 20 years there has been a marked increase in the number of published journal articles and books in the field of lesbian and gay psychology and psychotherapy. Much of this work has focused upon the negative effect of living as a lesbian, gay or bisexual adult in a heterosexual world. Despite our increased awareness concerning the problems lesbians, gay men and bisexuals face in society, little is understood about the process of development from the realization of sexual orientation through to identity formation and self-actualization. This article draws together various strands of research on lesbian, gay and bisexual development and addresses some of the theoretical and conceptual issues which surround this area of psychology. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Homosexuality and the Practices of Marriage

The essay considers gay and lesbian relationships in terms of Christian practices of marriage. It treats marriage on three levels as it is understood within the Christian tradition: marriage as a set of practices which contribute to the common good, the morality of the sexual act, and Scripture. The essay concludes that sexual orientation is not a sufficient category for judgments about homosexual relationships, and that the practices of marriage provide clearer moral determinations of particular cases.