Course Description

We often think of gay rights as an issue divided between a “secular” left and a “religious” right.  This course challenges an oppositional view of religion and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights.  It traces a history of overlapping influences from the emergence of the homophile movement of the 1950s through contemporary global LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) rights debates.  Religion has played an influential role on all sides of the controversies over homosexuality and gender variance, providing not only powerful opponents, but also early supporters, visible queer leaders, and public forums for discussion.  This course takes an intimate look at the contested role of religious ideals and practices in the history and politics of LGBT rights in both “secular” political debates and “religious” debates in churches and synagogues.  In addition to course readings and weekly writing assignments, students will also complete a final project as either a written research paper or a shorter paper combined with a public education project.   Cap: 20 students.  Preference given to Religion and/or Gender AOCs