TY - JOUR
T1 - Touring Homophobia
T2 - Understanding the Soulforce Equality Ride as a Toxic Tour
AU - Spencer, Leland G.
AU - Barnett, Joshua Trey
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2013 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2013/1
Y1 - 2013/1
N2 - This article considers the 2010 Soulforce Equality Ride, a movement of queer Christian students who traveled around the country protesting conservative Christian colleges and universities with anti-lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) policies. We argue that the movement is comparable to a toxic tour, as described by Pezzullo (2007), because of the harmfulness of the campuses' policies, the difficult rhetorical challenge the movement faces, and the importance of presence for the Equality Ride activists and the students they met along the way. We understand the conservative Christian college campuses as environments and the anti-LGB rhetoric and policies as toxins. We argue that the movement offers hope by undermining the notion that LGB sexualities and Christian spirituality are mutually exclusive categories of binary opposition.
AB - This article considers the 2010 Soulforce Equality Ride, a movement of queer Christian students who traveled around the country protesting conservative Christian colleges and universities with anti-lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) policies. We argue that the movement is comparable to a toxic tour, as described by Pezzullo (2007), because of the harmfulness of the campuses' policies, the difficult rhetorical challenge the movement faces, and the importance of presence for the Equality Ride activists and the students they met along the way. We understand the conservative Christian college campuses as environments and the anti-LGB rhetoric and policies as toxins. We argue that the movement offers hope by undermining the notion that LGB sexualities and Christian spirituality are mutually exclusive categories of binary opposition.
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U2 - 10.1080/1041794X.2012.717683
DO - 10.1080/1041794X.2012.717683
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84874551455
SN - 1041-794X
VL - 78
SP - 25
EP - 41
JO - Southern Communication Journal
JF - Southern Communication Journal
IS - 1
ER -