Christian, Philadelphian, and Gay-Affirming Responses to AIDS, 1982-1992

Abstract

Christian, Philadelphian, and Gay-Affirming Responses to AIDS, 1982-1992" is an analysis of primary source material from Christian congregations and extra-denominational religious groups, particularly with regards to the way these groups used scripture and theological language to construct a counter-narrative to the prevailing discourse that painted AIDS as God's punishment on sinners. These materials show the way these groups represented themselves both within their own communities and outward, providing a textual record of the way leaders and laypersons alike discussed AIDS and its meaning. This work begins by considering the complicated factors at play: the particular history of Philadelphia and its relationship to its gay communities, historical and contemporary attitudes of Christianity toward sin and disease, and the particular biomedical and political realities of AIDS. It then follows the epidemic through several Philadelphian Christian communities from 1982 to 1992, demonstrating changing Christian attitudes toward sickness and sexuality as reflected in the rhetoric from these organizations, as understandings of AIDS went from the apocalyptic to the wearily optimistic. This dissertation demonstrates that while AIDS was never the whole of gay life in the United States, not even during the years it was most frightening and least understood, the crisis it introduced necessitated gay-affirming articulations of Christian theology – ones that persisted even as they became less necessary, as infection demographics shifted. This work's examination of these texts shows how marginalized Christian communities and their allies can use liberative Christian rhetoric to push back against language of oppression supported by the dominant Christian paradigm.