Christianity and the Limits of Minority Acceptance in America

J. E. Sumerau is assistant professor and director of applied sociology at the University of Tampa.Ryan T. Cragun is associate professor of sociology at the University of Tampa.

• Introduction: What God has joined together: Gender, Sexual, and Religious Intersections in America1. It Is God Who Works In You: Religious, Gendered, and Sexual Attitudes2. Male and Female He Created Them: Christianity as Cisnormativity3. And They Become One Flesh: Christianity as Mononormativity4. The Fool Says In His Heart: Christianity as Religio-NormativityConclusion: So Are My Ways Higher Than Your Ways: Normativity and Emerging Movements in America

Sumerau and Cragun’s study of how religious people make sense of the increasing visibility of transgender, intersex, bi+, poly, and unchurched individuals in their midst fills a gaping void in our understanding of how traditional, established gender and religious norms continue to shape civic life in the United States. While a dominant narrative in the sociology of religion extols the limited acceptance of gay and lesbian people within Christendom, the authors show that beneath this veneer of progress there is unabated disdain for those outside mono-, hetero- and cisnormativities. The authors use ethnographic interviews to uncover the contours of this intolerance and describe how it is constructed and maintained. This is a timely, sophisticated, and essential contribution to the sociologies of religion and sexuality.