Back to Top
Top Nav content Site Footer
University Home

University Archives

Poster Presentation

College of Humanities, Arts, & Social Sciences

Davis-Mickles, Natasha. "The Relationship Between the Black Church and LGBTQ+ Identities."

This paper will discuss the relationship between the Black Church, colonialism, and LGBTQ+ identities. My interest in exploring this topic stems from my observation of anti-queer rhetoric in the Black community, from my belief that it is important to acknowledge and understand that the experiences of certain groups (Black Americans, for example) are never monolithic, and that to create social progress it is important to explore how intersectional identities (such as those between race, religion, sexuality, and gender) interact with oppressive systems. According to the Pew Research Center, in 2021, only 62 percent of Black Americans believed that homosexuality should be accepted by society. Furthermore, in 2023, the Pew Research Center reported that Black Americans were extremely split in their viewpoints about transgender issues, with 29 percent of Black Americans believing that society has gone too far in accepting transgender people and 36 percent reporting that society has not gone far enough. Furthermore, 41 percent of Black Americans reported that the views on transgender people are changing at the right speed in the U.S., and 34 percent say they are changing too quickly. This paper contends that, although the ideologies of the Black Church in America uphold anti-queer beliefs, these ideologies were imparted upon the Black community via colonialism. I will support my contention through a historical and sociological lens, I will put Mohamed and Cox’s statistics into context, utilizing Elnaiem’s work to explore pre-colonial “queer” African identities alongside Tobin and Moon’s work, which explores how sacramental shame and respectability politics play into the Black Church’s anti-LGBTQ+ beliefs. 

Back to Top