Conditional Hospitality as Lived Religion: LGBTQ Marginalization in a Southern Community

• In Event: 2329 - Section on the Sociology of Religion Referred Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 6. Religion, Gender, and Sexuality

Abstract

In this paper I draw on ethnographic and interview data from a community study in Rockdale County, Georgia to demonstrate how the discourse of Southern hospitality became manifested as lived religion. My findings reveal that black and white Christians, the majority group who occupied countless positions of power and influence, drew on the elective affinity between Christian hospitality and Southern hospitality to include some types of people while excluding others. In particular, LGBTQ individuals and their allies often encountered conditional hospitality, practices through which many Christians communicated their belief that homosexuality is a sin. This work highlights the ongoing role of regional culture and religious practice in determining the social status of LGBTQ individuals and their allies in Southern communities.

Author

• Betsie Garner, Tennessee Technological University