Queering Mormon Spaces: Talking with God, Critical Love, and Structural Reorganization

Abstract

The Mormon Church, like other religions, discursively produces hostile, anti-LGBTQIA + spaces. This study uses queer theory to explore how sacred and religious spaces are created and navigated by queer members of the Church. Analyzing data from an online survey and in-depth interviews, the findings reveal patterns of divine communication and organizational perceptions that blend together as a powerful discursive production of thirdspaces deemed religious-sacred spaces. By offering structural and discursive solutions to structural White cisheteronormativity in the Church, the final section introduces some possibilities of reorganization for queering Mormon spaces.

Keywords:

• Critical Love
• Divine Communication
• Mormon
• Queer Theory
• Space

Acknowledgement

I’d like to thank Dr. Shinsuke Eguchi for their guidance and mentorship, as well as the feedback of the anonymous reviewers and Drs. Susana Martínez Guillem, Yangsun Hong, and David Weiss. Most of all, much thanks for the interviewees who contributed their time, queer vulnerability, and wisdom in building this knowledge.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Mormon leaders consistently taught that a policy which precluded children of LGBTQIA + parents from baptism, and labeled married queers as apostates, was “motivated by love” (Stack, 2019, para. 9).

2. “Kin” may be a possible term, but each individual should decide their honorific.

3. Another future possibility is to create a LGBTQIA + affirming sect of Mormonism. This has been done in the past by Antonio Feliz (Restoration Church of Jesus Christ) and David-Edward Desmond (United Order Family of Christ). Both offshoots are now dissolved.

4. Tensions can also arise because of the Church’s allosexism, or the discrimination against asexuality and individuals who feel little to no romantic or sexual attraction.