Paper short abstract:

This paper explores how religion and desire are co-constituted by members of an ecumenical LGBTQIA+ church in the Philippines, 'queering' mainstream conservative understandings and embodiments of traditional theology and scriptures by imagining Jesus Christ as a queer icon and subject of desire.

Paper long abstract:

There is arguably no form of sexuality considered more antithetical to religiosity than that which falls under the ‘queer’ umbrella, i.e. expressions and identities beyond cisgender and/or heterosexual norms. Yet, LGBTQIA+ people co-constituting these spheres undoubtedly exist and thrive across various social and cultural contexts. This paper follows members of an LGBTQIA+ affirming ecumenical Christian church based in Metro Manila, Philippines and offers an ethnographic exploration of how interlocutors actively ‘queer’ their understandings and embodiments of Christian theology, embellishing religious canon while maintaining a core that is unmistakeably Christian. In particular, this paper analyses the congregation’s imagining of Jesus Christ as a queer icon and subject of desire; thus, the spiritual missions and practices of Hearth’s congregants not only acknowledge but playfully celebrate queer desire and sexuality as mutually inclusive to religiosity, foregrounding the tenet that God loves them because of their LGBT+ identities, not in spite of them. Furthermore, these logics disrupt popular understandings of the Church as elevated above and separate from the messy physicality of being human, resolving the slippages between spiritual and physical, sacred and profane. The Philippines itself presents a particularly rich context to examine these negotiations within, as LGBTQIA+ Filipinos occupy a precarious space where their sexualities are branded deviant – even un-Filipino – by governing bodies and the public at large due to the colonially instituted roots of conservative Catholicism while queer identity simultaneously holds historical and contemporary significance plainly evident in popular and indigenous culture.

Paper short abstract:

How abstract notions of ‘coming out’ for Muslim Syrian gays in Berlin are articulated in day-to-day activities; what does it mean to “be Muslim Syrian” and “be gay”’? How does the relocation to Berlin enable Syrian gays to develop queer Muslim homonormative moralities and masculinities?

Paper long abstract:

"Yes, I still consider myself Muslim, but I feel - as gay - I have my own form of religion." As an interview quote echoing gay Muslim sentiments, it radiates the complex journey of Muslim Syrian gays, who found themselves in Berlin, a city embracing intersectional identities. While Syrian war refugees faced challenges building a new life in a culturally, politically, religiously, and socially different environment in Berlin, Muslim gays – most of whom were ‘in the closet’ back in Syria – face even more challenges, but also opportunities. For them, like for me, arriving in Berlin meant entering a society where gay identities and lifestyles have an established public presence and are increasingly accepted. The research is centered around the experiences of Muslim Syrian gays to elicit their maneuvers for survival, the challenges they encounter, their visibility in society, and between desires and faith, the consequential changes in their moral perspectives. Mobility allowed the flourishing of Muslim Syrian lives; the personal journeys of Muslim Syrian gays who have relocated to more affordable gay-friendly spaces encapsulate a moral transformation. Within this journey, the concept of "Islam" assumes an integral role in fostering intersectional identities that incorporate both their Muslim and gay aspects. In this undiluted exploration, gay Muslim Syrians carve a space for themselves to pursue desired gender identities, breaking away from the chains of heteronormativity. However, they grapple with the weight of entrenched norms, recurring a cycle of ‘reproduced masculinity’ to reconcile personal desires with societal expectations.

Paper short abstract:

This paper will highlight the centrality of the appropriation of popular culture and religiosity in Garraf by the local LGTBQI+ community, and how, ultimately, they become central elements of identity and resistance in their personal sexo-generic processes.

Paper long abstract:

This paper presents the partial results of an ongoing research project on the appropriation and participation of popular rituals and mysticism of Catholic denomination by segments of the LGTBQI+ collective.

Far from the clichés, misunderstandings and prejudices that derive from them, this paper aims to highlight a perspective whereby certain expressions of popular religiosity can serve as an instrument for the generation and subsequent habitation of their own symbolic universes by social segments that are mistreated by institutions and by the social majorities. Underlining that these same spaces and practices of popular Catholic religiosity - parish associations, popular dances - are spaces and spheres of identity and sexo-generic resistance for the LGTBQI+ community.

The ethnography was carried out in the Garraf region, in the province of Barcelona. It is well known that one of its most important towns, Sitges, has become a meeting and reference point for the LGTBQI+ community, where, as in the neighbouring towns of Vilanova i la Geltrú and Sant Pere de Ribes, important religious events with a high participation of people belonging to the LGTBQI+ community take place.