Baby, You Are My Religion

This book argues that American butch-femme bar culture of the mid-20th century should be interpreted as a sacred space for its community. Before Stonewall when homosexuals were still deemed mentally ill, these bars were the only place where many could have any community at all. This book explores this community as a site of a lived corporeal theology and political space. It reveals that religious institutions such as the Metropolitan Community Church were founded in such bars, that traditional and non-traditional religious activities took place there, and that religious ceremonies such as marriage were often conducted within the bars by staff. It examines how these bars became not only ecclesiastical sites but also provided the fertile ground for the birth of the struggle for gay and lesbian civil rights before Stonewall.

Year

2013

Language

English

Series

Gender, theology, and spirituality

Publisher

Acumen

Editions

10

Pages

256

ISBN

9781844656493

Data source: Wikidata