"A Question Everybody Danced Around": Self-Identified Gay Men Negotiating Identity in Christian Colleges

• In Event: Roundtable Session 22
  In Roundtable Session: Queer on Campus: Identity and Advocacy in Higher Education

Abstract

Despite broader social changes in attitudes and policies regarding LGBTQ people, the space available for gay students to develop and express their identities in Christian Colleges is limited and provides only individual fleeting relief because of the culture of heteronormativity central to their history and identity. This paper draws from interviews with self-identified gay men who attended Christian Colleges to consider what their narratives reveal about negotiating identity and the culture of ambivalence and silence.

Authors

• Kamden Strunk, Auburn University

• Lucy E. Bailey, Oklahoma State University