CLGS

"Fellow Travelers: Liberation Portraits" is, in Thompson's words, "an artistic statement," documenting his own path and journey into the unique character of a gay spirituality, and especially the guides who pioneered that journey for him and with him.

The marking of World AIDS Day continues with this special lavender lunch on the role religion plays in both HIV prevention and AIDS treatment. A panel of PSR students engaged in conversation around the religious, theological, and spiritual issues the HIV/AIDS pandemic raises.

In various ways the narrator in the Book of Samuel withholds data from the reader until late in the narrative process. Upon receiving these data readers and other interpreters usually continue on into the next plot direction without retracing steps to see what the implications of this "withheld data" do to reshaping the previous plots and characterizations. In particular there are homoerotic implications of the narrative in 1 Samuel 19 which, when "taken backwards" reshapes readings of the text.

During this Lavender Lunch on the "sexual orientation previously known as bisexuality," members of the PSR community will share their observations and insights in conversation with each other about the complexities of “gender” and “sexual orientation.” Do people really fall in love with a gender or with people? Are sexual “orientations” strictly defined boundaries of desire? In a world where “homosexuality” hardly captures the complexity of human intimacy, how do we navigate this mostly uncharted territory of diverse sexualities and genders?

What does the past have to do with the present or the future? For social-justice activists, very much indeed. Mark Thompson and the Rev. Malcolm Boyd will illustrate the importance of remembering the past in our work of constructing a world we wish to inhabit. Both the CLGS Archives Project and the LGBT Religious Archives Network are devoted to that important work. Hear from these two living legends in LGBT spirituality and justice-making about why preserving our collective memory matters so much.

Dr. Virginia Burrus, professor of early Christianity at Drew University Theological School, delivered the second annual John E. Boswell Lecture, entitled "What's Queer about Christian Couples? Engaging Augustine's Theology of Marriage" in the Badè museum on April 29. The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry co-sponsored the event with the GTU Women and Religion program.