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The present study focuses on the identity constructions of a group of young Tunisian homosexuals. Led by a survey based on semi-structured interviews with nine Muslim gays and six Muslim Lesbians, the study attempts to report on the negotiations between a Muslim identity and a homosexual identity. The qualitative analysis of the data reveals the attachment of gays and lesbians to their sexual identity. Nevertheless, the relationship with Islam takes many forms. Some opt for the separation between the practice of the precepts of Islam and the homosexual practice in order to diminish the dissonance between faith and homosexuality. Others choose to move towards a form of spirituality by creating an individual and singular relationship with God. Finally, one of the questioned gay men opts for detaching himself from Islam for a better preservation of his sexual identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores secularisation in a traditionally Catholic community through the analysis of intimate relationships which fall outside Catholic morality. It gives an indication of how individuals in contemporary society perceive Church teachings on sexuality in terms of the relationship choices they make. The research draws upon 2 years of fieldwork carried out with Drachma LGBTI, a space where lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and intersex (LGBTI) people of faith may explore and deepen their spirituality. I also conducted 35 in-depth interviews with LGBT and non-LGBT individuals whose lifestyle runs counter to official Church teachings on sexuality, despite their Catholic faith that is, who are in a same-sex relationship or else divorced, cohabiting or in a civil marriage. The study revealed that while informants may disregard Church teachings on matters of sexuality, their reconstructed sexual morality is still embedded within a Catholic framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on qualitative research among highly educated Polish lesbian, gay and bisexual Christians who do not wish to deny their sexual inclinations, seeking instead to integrate their sexuality and religiosity, the author addresses (1) their decision whether to continue to follow Roman Catholicism or seek religious traditions that support such integration, and (2) the choices related to participation in Penance and Eucharist sacraments by those who continue to follow Roman Catholicism. These decisions and choices are structurally conditioned: Christian seekers raised in multidenominational settings and people who are geographically and socially mobile are most ready to challenge the dominant Catholic views on homosexuality and its proscription of the participation of those who are homosexually active in certain aspects of religious practice. The author calls for recognition that, following Bourdieu, the religious field should be interconnected with other social fields, specifically with regard to the analysis of the relationship between religiosity and homosexuality. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Drawing upon two conceptually and methodologically related projects in France and Britain, the authors illuminate lesbian, gay and bisexual Christians' religious orientations, beliefs and practices. The samples demonstrated striking similarities and differences. Participants generally strongly disagreed with the Church's censorious teachings on non-heterosexuality, but the British sample appeared more critical. The French sample also experienced a greater degree of psychological and social dissociation. Nevertheless, some participants across samples stayed within homophobic religious structures because of their commitment to integrating their sexuality and spirituality, and to making religious communities more inclusive. This commitment was buttressed by: (1) their conceptualization of the all-loving God and of Jesus Christ as a transgressive champion of social justice; (2) positive personal experiences; (3) the marginalization of church authority in their moral universe; and (4) increasing theological, social and political capital. Theoretically, the authors contribute to debates on contemporary religious and spiritual landscape and identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does one live a plural Jewish and homosexual identity, whose elements are in conflict? By means of a quantitative and qualitative survey--consisting of, on the one hand, an investigation by questionnaire distributed to the members and sympathizers of Beit Haverim, a gay and lesbian French Jewish group, and, on the other hand, interviews with religious homosexual Jews and testimonies collected through public discussion forums--it was possible to describe the variations of this dual identity of belonging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vermont, one of the smallest US states, implemented in 2000 a new form of recognized partnership for same-sex couples. A "civil union" gives the couple that contracts it the same benefits a marriage gives to a heterosexual couple. As with a marriage, ministers (pastors, priests, rabbis) are agents of the state when performing a civil union. Following an intense cultural conflict, the implementation of civil unions was simultaneous with a speedy accommodation on the part of the churches. The author provides two explanations for this phenomenon. First, civil unions of the religious type, understood as a religious consumption, provide incentives for an economic routinization. Second, the author focuses on the work of the ministers: through various appeals to the legal order, they try to find ways to perform same-sex wedding ceremonies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]