It seems that the religious community has something new to look forward to. Melissa M. Wilcox is a religious studies professor that the University of California at Riverside. She is launching a new academic journal exploring the connections between religion, gender, and sexuality. QTR: A Journal of Queer and Transgender Studies in Religion is slated to begin publication in 2023. Its focus will be to explore Christianity, Buddhism, Jewish communities and other faith groups through a queer and trans studies lens.
Wilcox explains that the journal will feature queer and trans approaches to sacred texts, as well as ways trans and queer people have created their own religious spaces. The idea is to promote research done by liberal academics that demonstrates how a lot of queer and trans individuals are actually involved in religion, and that it is only certain groups of intolerant religious individuals who are working against the inclusion of homosexuals in religious life.
In addition to the journal, they also plan to develop a website that will include audio interviews, podcasts, poetry, and fiction. Needless to say, religious studies professors at other schools are also excited about the prospect of this new resource, and believe that the advent of this journal will help the world to be better informed about what is going on in the homosexual religious community. Their hope is change hearts and minds.
One of the prominent themes of the article announcing this new venture is the belief that certain religious “elites” have created a hostile religious environment for queer and trans people – particularly “white evangelical Protestants.” The journal supporters claim is that white evangelical Protestants, in particular, have marginalized queer and trans individuals by not accepting them into their churches.
At this point it seems necessary to straighten out some serious misconceptions. (Continue reading here.)