"It's the Word of God": Students' Resistance to Questioning and Overcoming Heterosexism

by Natalia Deeb-Sossa and Heather Kane


"God hates faggots! REPENT!" a sign in bold, black letters read as we passed a small band of protesters on our way to class several years ago. Our stomachs lurched. We felt afraid the group of men and women might accost us and shout at us; we tried not to look at them and rushed by. We probably were not the only ones who felt that way after passing that foreboding assembly, and the experience lingers. Unfortunately, this incident is not an unusual, isolated case. Lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgendered and queer-identified (LGBTQ) people face anger, threats, and hostility each day, and some religious people invoke God to justify their anti-LGBTQ actions. When we discuss heterosexual privilege, homophobia, and heterosexism in our classes, our students frequently argue that God condemns homosexuality. Some students have learned that "God hates faggots" from their church, their family, friends, or television. Justifying homophobia "because of religion" seems to be the norm, not the exception.