Beyond Affirmation: Resisting a Culture of Death
By Chloe Guillot
Nex Benedict and Systemic Cracks
In May 2022, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed a bill requiring students at public schools in Oklahoma to use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond with the sex listed on their birth certificate.
In January of this year, Oklahoma’s superintendent of public schools appointed a controversial right-wing social media influencer, who once posted a video stoking outrage towards a public school librarian in Tulsa which led to several bomb threats to schools in the district, to a state library advisory committee.
And on February 7, two queer students were beaten in the girl’s bathroom of a high school in Oklahoma following weeks of bullying. One of the teens, Nex Benedict, would collapse the next day, passing away at the hospital.
Let’s Be Clear about Affirming & Queer Theology
The fight for queer rights has never been just about acceptance. It has been a matter of life and death. Every anti-trans bill that is passed, every TikTok that is posted vilifying LGBTQIA+ people, and every sermon that is preached about the sinfulness of queerness is contributing to a culture of death for LGBTQIA+ people.
That is why when the Reformation Project, an LGBTQIA+ organization that was once a leader for LGBTQIA+ affirmation in Christianity, sent out an email to their followers in February boldly claiming that “queer theology and affirming theology are not the same,” the backlash was felt immediately.
On their website, the Reformation Project writes, “‘Queering’ theology, then, is not about being inclusive or affirming of gay, bisexual, and transgender people. As in queer theory, ‘queering’ in queer theology is about resisting norms categorically.” Continue Reading in the App
Chloe Guillot (she/they)