LGBTQ Religious Archives Network

Reviewed by: Anastasia Hutnick

Review date: March 4, 2025

Site Link: https://lgbtqreligiousarchives.org/

Keywords: Activism and Advocacy; Archiving; Biography and Prosography; Ethnographic Analysis; Gender and Sexuality Studies; Preservation; Public Humanities; Queer Studies; Religious Studies; Transgender and Non-binary Studies

Data Sources:

Oral Histories of LGBTQ+ Religious Movement Leaders (audio and transcript of over 70 interviews)
Biographies of personalities prominent in LGBTQ+ religious movements (Over 650 biographical sketches)
Photographs of personalities prominent in LGBTQ+ religious movements
LGBTQ+ and / or Religious Primary Source Collections
LGBTQ+ Religious Published Books Reviewed
YouTube videos of previous organization hosted events
Syllabi and workshop / activity plans
Guide for LGBTQ+ religious movement to preserve historical records

Processes:

Records and/or preserves oral histories of early LGBTQ+ religious activists
Assembles biographies, oral histories, educational resources, and primary source collections to ensure that they are accessible
Incorporates personal memories of early LGBTQ+ religious activists through publicly submitted remembrances as a part of the Biography pages
Allows users to find activists and collections by certain categories through its comprehensive tagging system
Provides PDF transcripts of each oral history audio recording

Presentation:

The project has five major components, each of which are published clearly on the landing page: Events, (Biographical) Profiles, Oral Histories, Collections Catalog, and Educational Resources. The Events are advertised in an automatic carousel at the top of the page. Image links to Profiles, Oral Histories, and the Collections Catalog are displayed next in their own segment, followed by image links for Educational Resources such as Online Exhibitions, Classroom Resources, and Awards in their own row.

The site hosts over six hundred fifty biographical Profiles on LGBTQ+ religious leaders and activists. The subjects are organized alphabetically in an image gallery, where clicking on the individual’s picture links to their profile. In each profile, the user can find a thorough biography provided by volunteers, the public, and sometimes the subject themself as well as potentially additional external links, a citation for the article, tags, relevant archival collections, and remembrances from the community.

The site also hosts over seventy Oral Histories of LGBTQ+ religious leaders and activists comprising audio recordings and PDF transcripts. The subject’s biography, photo, related resources, and tags are included, as well as a citation for the page. Any relevant profiles are also linked on the oral history page.

The Collections Catalog provides reference pages for over four hundred fifty LGBTQ+ religious primary source collections. Each page includes dates, volume of the collection, a brief description of the collection, a historical / biographical note, finding aid, location, and tags for the collection.

The Educational Resources include online exhibitions, lesson plans and syllabi, classroom projects and activities, book reviews, online resources for LGBTQ+ religious history, and awards for the community to encourage the proliferation of academic papers and educational resources on the subject.

The organization’s Events include ceremonies for the above-mentioned awards (such as the Virginia Ramey Mollenkott Award for LGBTQ+ religious academic papers), the GALA Celebration celebrating LGBTQ+ religious history, as well as podcasts, conversations, exhibits, and lectures. The Events Page is divided into Upcoming Events, each of which include a banner image, date and time, and a link for more information / reserving a place at the event. Below the Upcoming Events are image links to video recordings and summaries of Past Events.

Digital Tools Used:

Microsoft ASP.NET; JQuery

Languages:

English

Review

Note: This review uses the word “queer” in a reclaimed manner.

The LGBTQ Religious Archives Network website was launched in 2001 by the Chicago Theological Seminary, and the organization was housed by the Center for LGBTQ & Gender Studies in Religion in Berkley, California from 2008 to 2020, after which it became an independent charitable organization. The Archives Network only exists digitally. The project aims to aid LGBTQ+ religious leaders and organizations in organizing their archival materials and digitally publishing these archival materials and other historical data to make this information more easily accessible. In so doing, the LGBTQ Religious Archives Network preserves the memory of these individuals and these movements so that they are not erased entirely from collective memory.

Each of the project’s components are intuitive and well thought-out, and the Profiles and Oral Histories are thorough and engaging. I love that educators can find syllabi / lesson plans for their high school, undergraduate, or graduate level students in a time where queer studies are under attack. I hope that at some point in the future the lesson plans can expand to younger audiences as well.

My one criticism of the website is that the project’s quite comprehensive filter system can be somewhat overwhelming since all entries in each category are organized alphabetically. For example, the Geography filter has “Argentina, Arkansas, Asia, and Atlanta” one after the other with one hundred forty-eight locations separated into thirty-seven rows with four columns. While the alphabetical associations are fascinating, it can be somewhat confusing to find the item that you are looking for if you are not sure how the location is classified. Adding some more subcategories such as Continents - Countries - States / Provinces - Cities could help make the tag system easier to parse.

The LGBTQ Religious Archives Network delivers a robust catalogue of biographies, oral histories, primary source collections, and educational resources concerning activists whose work may otherwise have been largely forgotten. The site is intuitive to use and explore. The tagging system allows users to make connections across multiple individuals, movements, and religions while the Additional Resources provided allow users to continue their exploration of these topics. The resource’s intended audience is “historians, researchers and other interested persons.” A Google search of the organization does reveal several libraries, religious organizations, and LGBTQ archives / organizations that do advertise this project, and their events are sponsored by a wide array of educational, LGBTQ+, and/or religious institutions. They are definitely well known among much of their intended audience.

However, I do wonder how successfully the project reaches individuals who do not know about its existence and are not part of educational, recreational, or religious institutions that may introduce them to it. Their social media accounts listed on the website each have a small following with their Facebook page at 2.7K followers, their Instagram 930, and their YouTube 220. Several of their Facebook posts have reactions in the single digits. Googling “LGBTQ religion”, you can find the project on the third page of results. Googling “LGBTQ religious movement”, they’re on the second page. Googling “LGBTQ religious leaders” does result in them appearing on the first page. Anecdotally, I had mentioned the archive at an academic social event to hear “Oh, I didn’t know such a resource existed,” and to be fair, until I took on this project, I hadn’t either.

As someone who grew up religious and then had to contend with her upbringing and her sexual orientation, I found this site comforting and affirming. In a world in which religion is often used as an excuse to mistreat LGBTQ+ people as well as pardon ignorance and cruelty, this website preserves the memory of individuals who disprove that religion and queerness are natural enemies. I want to see the archive’s audience expand. I want these histories to become public knowledge. I want queer people who feel isolated due to people rejecting them in the name of religion to see that they have a bright, loving community that actively rebuffs this attitude. (And yes, selfishly, I want to see someone who is / was Eastern Orthodox present themselves for publication so I can feel seen.) And yet, I also don’t want to increase the traffic of bigoted people who would seek to target the creators of this wonderful project.

I don’t know how the organization can achieve both a heightened social media presence and keep out bad faith visitors (pun intended). At this point, it’s on those of us who are in the know to increase our numbers with people who will benefit from this project. So go on. Click the link above. Find someone who speaks to you, and tell someone about them. Collective memory can start with us.

How are the collaborative aspects reflected in the project and are there elements that work particularly well?

As previously mentioned, the project was born out of a collaboration between the Chicago Theological Seminary and the Center for LGBTQ & Gender Studies in Religion in Berkley, California. The profiles and oral histories are created in part based on suggestions from the public, with some being provided by members of the public. The Remembrances section of the Profiles is also crowdsourced, democratizing the memories of the leaders described The board, team, and advisors involved with the project represent diverse gender identities, religions, sexualities, racial identities, and ethnicities from all over the United States with some international participants. The project provides the community with awards to encourage academic papers and educational resources for LGBTQ+ religious studies. They also accept three interns each summer to contribute to the project.

Do you see an opportunity for collaboration that would be helpful to the project?

An outreach collaboration with LGBTQ+ organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign or the Trevor Project could help increase awareness of the project with people who could benefit greatly from the project and would likely engage with the project in good faith.

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