After studying feminist ethics and liberation theology in seminary in the 1980s, I joined a reading group with like-minded women. We called ourselves “the seminary lesbians under theological stress.” In 1991 we marched in San Francisco Pride behind a big, hand-painted banner. Sporting lacy bras, we handed out hot-pink stickers to a queer public thrilled by our mash-up of naughty sex and illicit religion. The stickers read: “The goddess loves you. xo, The SLUTS.” Campy provocation or queer blessing? We were going for both! Roars of delight and tears of relief flowed from among the onlooking crowd as we passed. At that point, the relationship between LGBT studies and religious studies was limited to mutual exile. Queers are bad for religion; religion is bad for queers. To be sure, some worked toward inclusion. This was almost always a question of producing some form of LGBT respectability—what we today would call...
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