RT Article
T1 From Sodomy to Sympathy: LDS Elites' Discursive Construction of Homosexuality Over Time
JF Journal for the scientific study of religion
VO 54
IS 2
SP 291
OP 310
A1 Cragun, Ryan T.
A1 Sumerau, J. E.
A2 Williams, Emily
LA English
PB Wiley-Blackwell
YR 2015
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/157031554X
AB In this article, we examine how leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) discursively constructed homosexuality over the last 50 years. Based on textual analysis of LDS talks, magazines, and other publications, we analyze how LDS elites, responding to shifting historical, cultural, and religious interpretations of sexualities, discursively constructed homosexuality as problematic for (1) society from the 1950s to the 1990s, (2) the family from the 1970s to present, and (3) divinely inspired gender roles from the 1980s to present. Further, we show how LDS elites softened their rhetoric in the 1990s, and in so doing, established a new discursive construction of homosexuality as an ailment requiring sympathetic treatment. Throughout our analysis, we also examine how LDS elites accomplished such discursive work in response to shifting societal and religious attitudes concerning sexual minorities. In conclusion, we draw out implications for understanding how religious elites discursively construct sexual norms, the reciprocal relationship between sexual and religious discourse and advocacy, and the importance of examining how dominant religious discourses change over time.
K1 discursive work
K1 Homosexuality
K1 Mormonism
K1 religion and sexuality
K1 religious elites
K1 social inequalities
DO 10.1111/jssr.12180