‘The Ecclesiastical Wing of the Lavender Revolution’: Religion and Sexual Identity Organising in the USA, 1946–1976

Abstract

The process by which ‘lesbian and gay positive’ religious groups emerged during the post-war decades in the United States is the subject of Heather Rachelle White’s chapter (‘The Ecclesial Wing of the Lavender Revolution: Religion and Sexual Identity Organising in the USA, 1946–1976’). She finds that in America, religion, and particularly Christianity, was a visible and important part of the lesbian and gay liberation movement that emerged in the wake of the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City. She argues that focusing on Christianity in relation to this history counters the implicit and explicit ways that queer histories are often told without attention to religion.

An earlier version of this essay was published as Heather White, ‘Proclaiming liberation: the historical roots of LGBT religious organizing’, Nova Religio 11:4 (2008), pp. 102–119, republication permission obtained.