Ten years ago, my article “Toward a Post-Heterosexual Mormon Theology” was published in Dialogue. The so-called New Mormon History flourished around the same time, opening the field to new approachesĪfter a Post-Heterosexual Mormon Theology: A Ten-Year Retrospective Women’s and gender studies emerged out of the women’s and sexual liberation movements of the 1960s and 1970s, movements the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints vigorously opposed. Petrey, eds., The Routledge Handbook of Mormonism and Gender Gendering Mormon Studies-At Last! Amy Hoyt and Taylor G. This excludes many women, including women struggling with infertility, women who do not wish to become mothers, and transgender women who experience motherhood differently than fertile, cisgender women. First, with Heavenly Mother as the only female divinity, divine expression of womanhood is restricted to motherhood. Queerness is more than homosexuality.Ī Queer Heavenly Family: Expanding Godhood Beyond a Heterosexual, Cisgender CoupleĪlthough the concept of Heavenly Mother is empowering for many women, the focus on God as a cisgender, heterosexual couple also limits who can see their own divinity reflected in the stories told about God. Mormon feminists should consider how to better include intersex, nonbinary, and trans women in their ambitions. My eyelashes were subtly coated in matte black mascara, on my cheeks a light dusting of dusty rose-colored blush powder, just enough that I could feel comfortable and almost myself. Trans in the Chapel: Attending Church as a Newly Out Transgender WomanĮnjoy the following piece in audio form here. Blaire Ostler’s Queer Mormon Theology: An… Queerness-the lived identity of LGBTQ+ and non-normative people-and Mormonism-the theological and social structures adhered to by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints-always seem to be at odds.

Queerness Is Mormonism Is Queerness Blaire Ostler, Queer Mormon Theology Transcending Mormonism: Transgender Experiences in the LDS ChurchĮnjoy an interview about this piece here.ĭesiring to better understand how people are navigating these complex identity negotiations, I interviewed seven trans and/or gender nonconforming Mormons between eighteen and forty-four years old living in various regions of the United States as part of my graduate studies at Sarah Lawrence College in New York She mentioned pronoun pins, and in a moment of rash decision I asked for “they/them” as well as “she/her.” Why not? I guess I thought, what harm could it do? I’d been feeling terribly lonely in the missionary culture and wanted a physical reminder that there were others like me out in the world. It was June and she was celebrating Pride. I don’t deserve to be alive.” His despair was overwhelming.Ī couple months earlier, I had written to a friend back in Utah. God has abandoned me for going against the teachings of the Bible. I can’t live with myself for hurting her. “My wife has left me because I’m attracted to men. Healing Together: The Lonely Intersection of Faith and Sexuality

Pronoun pins in bulk