Notes on Terminology

On “Queer”

For reasons of conciseness, we have used “queer” in the title of this project, but we intend this term to encompass the whole range of LGBTQ+ identities. We also recognize that for many groups, like North American indigenous communities, the often modern, Western notion of “LGBTQ,” and indeed “sex” and “gender” too, does not accurately describe—and often does disservice to—their lived embodiments. Also, while the organizations chronicled in this project may not have explicitly used such language, right now and for brevity’s sake, we use the term “LGBTQ+” unless there is further specification. 

For more information on this, please consult the following resources:

• María Lugones, “The Coloniality of Gender” [Article]
• David Valentine, Imagining Transgender: An Ethnography of a Category (Durham: Duke University Press, 2007) [Book]

On “Religion”

We recognize that, similarly—but not equivalently—to “LGBTQ+,” “religion” does not track the same way across all communities, particularly in North America. Given the term “religion”’s specifically Protestant, Christian history, it is crucial to keep in mind that the concept does not have universal applicability and may not accurately describe some of the items included on our map.

In the near future, we aim to add a larger, more representative range of (read: non-Christian, non-Jewish) traditions and centers in order to better highlight the vibrant queer religious tapestry of the greater Boston area. So far in the course of this project, we have added a good number of Christian and Jewish queer-friendly organizations and individuals—likely due to their, in particular the former’s, strong representation in the archives—but we hope to expand on this soon.

For more resources on this, as above, please consult this non-exhaustive list: 

• Talal Asad, Genealogies of Religion:  Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993) [Book]
• Keeping It 101: “Who gets left out of ‘religion’?” [Podcast Episode]
• Tomoko Masuzawa, The Invention of World Religions: Or, How European Universalism Was Preserved in the Language of Pluralism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005) [Book]
• Robert A. Orsi, Between Heaven and Earth: The Religious Worlds People Make and the Scholars Who Study Them (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006) [Book]
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “The Concept of Religion” [Article]

On “Boston”

The title of this project references the city of Boston, yet its contents go far beyond the metropolitan area—and often beyond Massachusetts, too. It is our hope, however, that as this project grows, so too will its geographic reach. We already have entries beyond the Boston–Brookline–Cambridge general area (one in Lynn, a farther-out suburb), but we will continue to add more as time goes on.

We try our best to pinpoint congregations, organizations, and people geographically, but if that doesn’t work, we place things on the map in what feels to be the most relevant “next best” location. (E.g., if we know somebody is from Cambridge but don’t know where exactly, we’ll enter their location as the Cambridge City Hall.)

We also realize that the place-based nature of this project via a map might be misrepresentative of traditions that do not have one place to which they tether their worship, however for the vast majority of the data we have there are such consistent places and we also figured the map would tie the various narratives together in a way that a linear history or written page might not. This is why we’ve also supplemented “organizations” with individuals or event artifacts that are, indeed, traceable to a location (or multiple).

On Safety

Regarding address information, we only gather that information from what is openly available online and what individuals or organizations willingly share with us. If you’d like to have the address affiliated with your page or congregation removed, please email us and we’ll be happy to do so.

Also, regarding “years,” if one’s years alive aren’t available we usually have as their “start date” when they began being active in Boston to the best of our records.

On the Future

As we’ve hinted toward above, this project documenting Boston’s queer religious history is necessarily incomplete; to declare it done would be a disservice to the communities whose stories and practices have yet to be heard. As such, we will continue adding to this website over time and as we continue to get more funding and grow our team. We welcome suggestions, contributions, and general pointers from anybody who has something constructive to share. 

A project like this is nothing if not collaborative, and we would like to learn and grow from the wisdom others bring to discussions of the rich queer religious history of Boston. Additionally, the descriptions of each individual or group, even if they are profiles on the RAN site, are also not set in stone and we anticipate editing them over time if changes are needed. This site, we hope, will be a living, growing, and evolving thing. (We also hope at some point to add further filters to the map to, for example, allow users to view historically Black churches—for example, Union Combined Parish.)

For now, Nicole is the one at the helm of the project, but if more people become interested, hopefully it can become more of a collaborative (and streamlined) effort.

If you’d like to get involved, or if you have any questions or comments regarding this site, please email nicole [at] lgbtqreligiousarchives [dot] org.