Caleb Martin

Major Assignment 3: Annotated Bibliography

My research question is, What effects have mainstream religious institutions had on the
LGBT communitys religious and spiritual identity in America?. This topic should matter to
everyone and especially other members of the LGBT community. Religion is a major part in
many Americans lives so naturally if religion is important and the mainstream religious
institutions (a.k.a Churches) are alienating the LGBT population, there is a question as to how
the alienation or general effects change the religious identity of these populations. I personally
care because I am gay and the church has not only alienated me but made me feel unsafe and
unsure of my own identity. The reader should care because LGBT Americans matter.
My prior knowledge of this is my own personal journey of reading articles on being a
gay Christian and seeing if I could be both a Christian and Gay. I am still unsure of what I
truly believe. I have taken sociology courses that discussed the church and the LGBT community
relationship. I am just assuming other LGBT people are in my position.
My research goals are to learn more about the relations between churches and LGBT
people but also the overall effects on the identities of these communities being affected by these
relations. My hypothesis is that LGBT communities are being alienated by the mainstream
religious institutions and are left in the cold, trying to find welcoming religious communities and
are developing their own spiritualties to compensate for the lack of community.

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Wood, Andrew W, and Abigail H. Conley. "Loss of Religious or Spiritual Identities Among the
Lgbt Population." Counseling and Values. 59.1 (2014): 95-111. Print.
The author of this article talks about the loss of spiritual identity among members of the
LGBT community due to the struggles brought forth by the church. The article talks about the
connection between religion and spirituality, and the different forms of religious abuse and
neglect. It covers topics like sexual microaggressions and different types of struggles
encountered. This article really has a psychological analysis of what I am discussing in my
research question.
The author is in the Department of Child, Family, and Community Sciences at UCF. This article
is peer-reviewed so the source is credible. There is no reason for me to question the source. I
agree with the claims of the source as I can relate to it from a personal standpoint. The article
contrasts spirituality and religion which were blurry to me before. The term spiritual bullying
was something I never heard. This source will be very useful for my topic. The connections
made to other sources are religion and homosexuality and other articles on spiritual identity.
Reed, Randall. "A Book for None? Teaching Biblical Studies to Millennial Nones." Teaching
Theology & Religion. 19.2 (2016): 154-174. Print.

This particular article is specifically discussing millennials and their disassociation with religion
and more specifically the Bible. The article refers to the millennials as the nones. None as in
no religion or affiliation. The article talks about why this is occurring and talks about the
problems with the Biblical teachings. It is said in the article that the millennials are not
considering the Bible a guide for morality in their lives.
The author Randall Reed is a professor and affiliate of Appalachian State University and is the
author of the book, A Clash of Ideologies: Marxism, Liberation Theology and Apocalypticism,
Princeton Theological Monograph Series, Pickwick Press (2009). He has also written over eight
other chapters and articles that relate to the article I am using. He could have a bias against
Christianity but I dont see a reason to question his credibility.
I agree with what the article is saying because I am a millennial and I see many of my peers are
disregarding religion as a whole. This is useful for my paper because this article talks about gay
marriage and LGBT identity and how they correlate with the disassociation of religion among
these communities.

McAuliffe, Christopher M. "The Future of Homosexuality in Christian Denominations." Journal

of Psychological Issues in Organizational Culture. 6.3 (2015): 70-76. Print.

This article questions the credibility of the mentioning of homosexuality in the new testament
and gives an analysis of the argument people are using against LGBT equality. The author
mentions how the U.S is supposedly free and for equality when in reality it is full of hateful
people seeking to take away freedoms. He talks about the sanctity of marriage argument and
how its flawed. He also talks about the specific denominations and which ones are more
accepting.
This author is credible as he is the author of over 10 other credible books and articles. He may
have a bias against the church but it doesnt seem to be true based on what Ive read. I
definability learned a lot in this article and it actually made me feel more confident in my
argument for gay marriage. He brought up some great points that I want to utilize in my paper.
This article relates to others Im using because it analyses the argument that Christians use to
alienate my fellow LGBT Americans. These hateful arguments have also had an effect on many
peoples religious and spiritual identities as they were raised to believe something was wrong
with them by the mainstream religious institutions.
Ginicola, Misty M, and Cheri Smith. "The Church, the Closet, and the Couch: the Counselor's
Role in Assisting Clients to Integrate Their Sexual Orientation and Religious Identity."
Journal of Lgbt Issues in Counseling. 5 (2011): 304-326. Print.
This article talks about therapists who are not telling their clients how to be straight but assisting
them with staying in the closet to their family and church. It is said that their religious and
sexual orientation identity conflict with one another and they seek assistance with that. This
article (like a similar one I am reviewing) talks about the difference between religion and
spirituality and the struggles LGBT people have with their R/S identity. The article also says
religious doctrine plays a large role in their understanding of their identity.
The authors are in the Dept. of Counseling and School Psychology at SCSU. I consider them
credible for this reason. I would say their background gives them good reason to write this article
with a psychological basis. I dont see any visible biases. I chose this article because I want to
talk about how some LGBT people are approaching their indoctrination and their identity crisis. I
never knew this kind of therapy existed before. I agree with the claims this article makes and I
see this being connected to my other articles.

Gattis, Maurice N, Michael R. Woodford, and Yoonsun Han. "Discrimination and Depressive
Symptoms Among Sexual Minority Youth: Is Gay-Affirming Religious Affiliation a
Protective Factor?" Archives of Sexual Behavior: the Official Publication of the
International Academy of Sex Research. 43.8 (2014): 1589-1599. Print.

This article talks about significantly higher rates of depression among sexual minorities
compared with heterosexuals. It talks about mental health problem brought on by stigma and
a hostile social environment. It talks about reasons why so many LGBT people are dealing
with abuse and depression and it mentions anti-gay religious messages are being promoted.
The article talks about the intersecting of psychological distress and religion with sexual
minority adults and the different stages of their religious identity. This article is an actual study
that has been done with LGBT people. The article contains their methods, procedures, and
results which are helpful for my paper.
Overall, I see no reason to question the credibility of the three authors. They all three work in
related departments in universities. As people who study social work and psychology, they
probably have no biases against the church specifically, but more so against hate. I agree with
what claims were being made and I see this article as an asset to my paper.
Wilcox, Melissa. "Outlaws or In-Laws? Queer Theory, Lgbt Studies, and Religious Studies."
Journal of Homosexuality. 52 (2006): 73-100. Print.

This article talks about the lack of or derogatory references to religion in queer theory, queer
studies, and even LGBT studies. The author of this article is seeking to assess the current state of
of LGBT studies and queer studies in religion, and seeks to offers suggestions for new
directions in the future, and considers the potential benefits of the interaction of these fields.
The author talks about the disconnection between queer identities and religious identities and the
history of queer theory and religion in depth. The article seeks to educate the reader on queer
theory itself and the need for a better conversation.
Overall, I dont see a lack of credibility for this author. She has a PhD and is affiliated with
Whitman College. I agree with the claims made and think this article has a lot of in depth
discussion to offer for my research. I never really thought about queer theory before reading this
but I already assumed religion would be lacking.

Rockenbach, AN, MA Lo, and MJ Mayhew. "How Lgbt College Students Perceive and Engage
the Campus Religious and Spiritual Climate." Journal of Homosexuality. 64.4 (2017):
488-508. Print.

This article sets to compare how students of the LGBT population on campus perceive the
religious and spiritual climate on campuses. It used data from over 13,000 students and 52
institutions to find its results. It has found LGBT individuals face significantly higher levels of
harassment and discrimination than heterosexuals. This is largely due to the religious climate on
campuses. The article reviews literature and theory, LGBT identity development,
Intersectionality, Spiritual development, and much more worth mentioning.
This author part of the Department of Educational Leadership at NC State and doesnt seem to
have any biases against the religious institutions. She has a PhD and I definitely agree with her
claims in this article. This article connects to the other articles that cover college aged people. I
didnt know that people of non-binary genders revive more harassment than gay people before
reading this article.
Brownson, J. Bible, gender, sexuality: reframing the church's debate on same-sex relationships.
Grand Rapids, MI,: Eerdmans, 2013. Print.

I will only be using the Introduction and Overview of this book for my research. The summary of
this section is as follow. The author talks about the polarizing of the issue Im researching and
the need for the church to fix what they broke essentially. He mentions divisions within the
church as well. The author is addressing Christians and challenging them to reevaluate their
beliefs and rethink the issue of homosexuality.
The author James V. Brownson is a Professor of New Testament at Western Theological
Seminary, in Holland, Michigan. He is the author of several other interesting books. He could
possibly have a bias for the church as he is a man of faith. He however has challenged the
traditional way of thinking so I cant say he is a traditionalist.
While I dont hold the same beliefs as Brownson, I do agree that the church is broken and needs
to reassess its position and approach to same-sex relationships. He doesnt really fully support
any argument. He instead adds to the debate and gears his writing for Christians who are needing
to define their position. I decided to use this when I talk about the church and their internal
debate and problems with their debates.

Smalls, F. R. "Greenleaf Portrayal of Black Church Sexuality All Too Familiar." The Gazette.
Colorado Springs Gazette, 29 Mar. 2017. Web. 03 Apr. 2017.
<http://gazette.com/greenleaf-portrayal-of-black-church-sexuality-all-too-
familiar/article/1599968>.
This news article discusses the African-America church specifically but I decided to use it
because I personally think it says what every type of church needs to hear. The article centers
around the TV show Greenleaf which is produced by Oprah and shown on her network
OWN. The article addresses the church directly and calls them out of how they are ignoring
sexual diversity and how the show is correlating with real life situations today.
This author is credible in my opinion. Smalls is an associate minister for social justice at Grace
Baptist Church in Mount Vernon, N.Y. This makes his credible because is a minister so he sees
whats happening on the inside. I will be using this article when I talk about how the gay
community and the Christian community can get along and use this minister as an example of
how its possible to have both religion and be gay.

Zyglis, Adam. Hope and Change, Vatican Style. Digital image. ComicStripoftheDay.com. N.p.,
19 Oct. 2014. Web. 3 Apr. 2017.
 <http://www.weeklystorybook.com/comic_strip_of_the_daycom/2014/10/hope-and-
change-vatican-style.html>.

The author of this illustration is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American editorial cartoonist, which
makes him a credible source. This illustration is what ties my research together, which is how the
church alienates LGBT people. This illustration also speaks for people who feel their religious or
spiritual identity isnt strong or valid.