Petitioning for Social Change: Letters to Religious Leaders From Gay Men and Their Family Allies

Abstract

Coming out is often described as challenging, especially for individuals from conservative religious communities (Etengoff, 2013). In an effort to explore how these sociocultural conflicts are mediated, gay men (n = 16) and their family allies (n = 9) from Christian and Jewish communities wrote letters to religious leaders regarding current sexual minority policies and whether they should change or remain the same. Petitioning tasks were selected as letters can shift author-audience relations to allow for non-normative and unscripted expressions (Daiute & Lightfoot, 2004). Sixteen of the 25 participants addressed their letters to a specific religious figure, illustrating the sociorelational applicability of the task. Ninety-three problems and 75 solutions were discussed, supporting prior discussions of petitioning tasks as a form of living history and conflict mediation (Daiute, 2010). Moreover, 20 of the 25 participants wrote about humanization needs (e.g., "We are not freaks at a freak show"), providing new conceptual structures for participatory research efforts, policy initiatives, and clinical applications.

“At its core, Islam is about standing with the oppressed”: Exploring transgender Muslims’ religious resilience.

“…In addition, many of the religious resilience pathways reported in the present study echo prior research findings with sexual minority people of faith. For example, extant research notes that gay, lesbian, and bisexual religious populations have mediated the tensions between religion and sexuality by distinguishing between religiosity and spirituality, redefining spirituality, differentiating between current community policies and larger religious values and reinterpreting scripture (e.g., Etengoff, 2017; Etengoff & Rodriguez, 2017; Rodriguez, 2010; Shallenberger, 1998). Moreover, similar to Rodriguez et al’s (2019) quantitative examination of well-being and identity integration among gay, lesbian, and bisexual people of faith, the present study suggests that transgender individuals that draw on Islam as source of resilience are perhaps less vulnerable to the negative mental health outcomes associated with multiple minority stress.…”

“…Sociocultural scholars assert that individuals mediate religious practices in relation to their shifting environments, social interactions, and sociopolitical contexts (Belzen, 1999). Individuals often use religious practices, rituals, texts, and constructs as cultural tools, adapting them to accomplish sociorelational goals, overcome obstacles, and to create meaning (Etengoff, 2017; Etengoff & Daiute, 2013, 2014). For example, Etengoff and Rodriguez (2017) found that 23 gay men and 15 of their religiously conservative family allies (Jewish and Christian) mediated the tensions around their religious and sexual identities by engaging in scriptural interpretation.…”

The impact of digital government on citizen well-being

“…The debate about the legitimacy of that form continues but in Nigeria in 2014, an existing culture of 'hashtag activism' turned a domestic campaign using the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls to express concern about the abduction of schoolgirls by Boko Haram into one which spread to 69 countries and came to the attention of an international audience of millions. Although the vast majority of tweets were from people doing nothing more than showing solidarity in a digital way during a time-limited period of interest, Endong (2018 [41]) argues that this activity gave #BringBackOurGirls a higher profile moving those with influence to act. Nevertheless, with over 100 of the girls still missing in 2019 and Boko Haram abducting others, the success of the campaign is clearly questionable.…”

Doing Excellent Social Research with Documents

“…The use of letters as a way of expressing feelings on topics can also be used as a researcher-elicited method, and elicitation interviews will be covered in more detail in Chapter 8. One example, which provided a rich understanding of the interaction between private family life and organised religion, was where researchers asked religious gay men and their religious families and friends to write letters to religious leaders as part of an action research study (Etengoff 2017). In doing so, Etengoff notes that they were able to understand activities and interactions between the families in the study and religious practices.…”