African American Studies Commons^™

Transphobia In Black Churches, Blake A. Garland-Tirado

Theses - ALL

This thesis looks at how black church communities address ongoing violence against transgender and queer people in the United States. It posits criticism of religious intolerance from transgender and queer perspectives do not always mean skepticism of Christianity itself. Criticism can, however, mean skepticism of the institutions that police gender and sexual normativity. The premise of this thesis rests on the idea that there is an inherent conflict between gender-queer identities and Christian ideologies that produce violence against queer people. My aim is to deconstruct this notion by analyzing differing stories, perspectives, and power-relations. I accomplish this first by looking …