Negotiating faith and queer identities

The practice of studying Jewish texts in pairs is known as havruta, meaning fellowship in Hebrew. Struggling to understand each passage, discussing interpretation and attempting to apply the learnings to larger issues or lived experiences makes havruta study fruitful. The discussion is often lively, and disagreement is almost guaranteed.

For many LGBTQ2S+ folks who are part of faith communities, disagreement with scripture (or others’ interpretation of scripture) is all too common. While some would use sacred texts to justify discrimination, others are using them to claim space for marginalised identities.

Occupying the intersection of queerness and faithfulness

Pam Rocker has worked in the intersections of faith and queer identity for almost a decade. She is an atypical activist, award-winning writer, spoken word poet, musician and speaker. Rocker will be on campus on Tuesday, March 12 for Queering Religion, an exploration of how queer folks’ sense of belonging to faith communities is fractured, and reflection on the intersections of faith and queerness.

Noam Sienna, author of A Rainbow Thread: Queer Jewish Texts from the First Century to 1969, interprets primary historical texts through a queer lens, not to project an identity onto people of the past, but to shed light on the shared practices and experiences that connect us to stories from the past and let them resonate with our lives today. Noam will be at UCalgary, Monday, March 11 for Finding our Queer Jewish Ancestors, a workshop featuring a havruta text study.