Explore affirmation and coping rituals for lesbian singles, couples, and communities! This pioneering book is a multidisciplinary compilation of scholarship addressing lesbians, the rituals in their lives, and the meaning and impact of those rituals for the women involved and the people and communities around them. It offers a diverse range of perspectives on what it means to be a lesbian, what ritual is, what it means to enact a ritual, and how we can understand lesbian ritual experiences. Lesbian Rites: Symbolic Acts and the Power of Community presents five explorations of ritual that bring forth themes of lesbian-centered social change. In Death's Midwife, Sharon Jaffe creates a narrative that illustrates the power of ritual to reconcile straight and gay, Christian and Pagan, in end-of-life situations. Next, Ruth Barrett's exploration of Dianic traditions provides a brief history of the importance of Goddess-worship to radical lesbian feminists, and uses those traditions to create life-course rituals. Marla Brettschneider's Ritual Encounters of the Queer Kind challenges notions of a static lesbian self and instead reworks Judaism and anarchist politics to propose rituals of continuous becoming. Krista McQueeney then analyzes the paradoxes of a lesbian commitment ceremony held within a gay-affirmative African-American congregation in the southern United States. Elizabeth Suter and editor Ramona Faith Oswald use exploratory survey data to examine how lesbian couples may use name changing as a strategy to claim family status. In addition, Lesbian Rites also includes two chapters that examine how lesbians have been compromised, if not harmed, by the ritualization of heterosexism and homophobia. The first is an insightful analysis of the community response to the feminist retreat known as Camp Sister Spirit. In this chapter, Kate Greene uses Mary Daly's seven patterns of sado-ritual syndrome to show how the people opposed to the camp were organized to uphold heterosexual patriarchy through an obsession with purity that defined the camp as a refuge for immorality. The second chapter on this subject reviews the editor's own experiences of being hidden and devalued at heterosexual family weddings.

“I had just witnessed women who shingled their own roofs, drove eighteen-wheeler trucks, and built their own houses—as well as kept them clean and cooked a damn good meal. On women’s land I am a first-class citizen, I’m treated as an equal. I now see the world with righteous anger and hope. Living in womyn’s community has provided that lens for me.” —Elizabeth Sturrus, third wave feminist One of the driving forces in the lives of many lesbians is the search for community in a society that favors heterosexuality and often turns a cold shoulder toward women who love women. Lesbian Communities: Festivals, RVs, and the Internet takes you inside flourishing lesbian communities—physical, spiritual, and virtual (online)—that provide practical help, emotional support, and much-needed outlets for creative expression. Exploring communities functioning in harmony with general American society as well as separatist groups, “festival communities” which form for short times annually, and informal online groups offering meaningful communication to physically isolated lesbians, this book offers a ray of light to those whose search is still ongoing. It also provides much-needed analysis of the current state of lesbian communities—some decades old now—for educators, researchers, and social scientists. In Lesbian Communities: Festivals, RVs, and the Internet, Susan Krieger revisits the vibrant community she first explored in The Mirror Dance. An African American member of Old Lesbians Organizing for Change shares the details of her search for a cooperative, caring space for aging lesbians—and what led to her eventual decision to create this space herself. And one of the founders of Hallomas, a back-to-the-land community that has survived in northern California since the late 1970s, reflects on that unique community’s birth and life—with 13 photographs and illustrations. The book also bears witness to a life-changing encounter and dialogue between second-wave feminists from the woman's land collective of Arcadia and third wave feminists. You’ll also learn about: the birth, joys, and tribulations of an online community that becomes physical each year at the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival the accidental birth of a lesbian community in isolated and fundamentalist-dominated West Texas the international online lesbian parenting community called MOMS (affectionately known as Dykes and Tykes)—how it began, what belonging to this community provides for its members, and a look toward the future the debate on inclusiveness versus exclusiveness (of bisexual women, transgender people, and the male children of lesbians) in lesbian communities the current decline of availability and dilution of the purity of lesbian-only space—and the rise of segregation (by social class and financial status) and oppression within the lesbian community the current plight of lesbian bookstores, which since the 1970s have served not only as gateways to a multitude of lesbian communities, but as the centers of lesbian communities themselves the online experience of lesbians searching for community in Japan the issues facing Jewish lesbians and the formation of Nice Jewish Girls, a Montreal group for anyone who identifies as a lesbian, bisexual, or queer woman and their non-Jewish partners and friends the power of myth and mythmaking to help women regain lost strength and reclaim lost history From the efforts of back-to-the-land groups creating “wimmin’s space” to life in modern residential/retirement settings, this book explores the places created by and for lesbians. Photos and illustrations bring these women and their communities to life. Lesbian Communities: Festivals, RVs, and the Internet w

At most church weddings, the person presiding over the ritual is not a priest or a pastor, but the wedding planner, followed by the photographer, the florist, and the caterer. And in this day and age, more wedding theology is supplied by Modern Bride magazine or reality television than by any of the Christian treatises on holy matrimony. Indeed, church weddings have strayed long and far from distinctly Christian aspirations. The costumes and gestures might still be right, but the intentions are hardly religious. Why then, asks noted gay commentator Mark D. Jordan, are so many churches vehemently opposed to blessing same-sex unions? In this incisive work, Jordan shows how carefully selected ideals of Christian marriage have come to dominate recent debates over same-sex unions. Opponents of gay marriage, he reveals, too often confuse simplified ideals of matrimony with historical facts. They suppose, for instance, that there has been a stable Christian tradition of marriage across millennia, when in reality Christians have quarreled among themselves for centuries about even the most basic elements of marital theology, authorizing experiments like polygamy and divorce. Jordan also argues that no matter what the courts do, Christian churches will have to decide for themselves whether to bless same-sex unions. No civil compromise can settle the religious questions surrounding gay marriage. And queer Christians, he contends, will have to discover for themselves what they really want out of marriage. If they are not just after legal recognition as a couple or a place at the social table, do they really seek the blessing of God? Or just the garish melodrama of a white wedding? Posing trenchant questions such as these, Blessing Same-Sex Unions will be a must-read for both sides of the debate over gay marriage in America today.

This book could be aptly entitled After Marriage What Is Next for the LGBT Community? Now that marriage is increasingly being institutionalized in many states within the United States it is quite likely that marriage will be acceptable in all 50 states (dependent upon action of the U.S. Supreme Court). What lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender p

While the formal definition of divorce may be concise and straightforward (legal termination of a marital union, dissolving bonds of matrimony between parties), the effects are anything but, particularly when children are involved. The Americans for Divorce Reform estimates that "40 or possibly even 50 percent of marriages will end in divorce if current trends continue." Outside the U.S., divorce rates have markedly increased across developed countries. Divorce and its effects are a significant social factor in our culture and others. It might be said that a whole "divorce industry" has been constructed, with divorce lawyers and mediators, family counselors, support groups, etc. As King Henry VIII′s divorces showed, divorce has not always been easy or accepted. In some countries, divorce is not permitted and even in Europe, countries such as Spain, Italy, Portugal, and the Republic of Ireland legalized divorce only in the latter quarter of the 20th century. This multi-disciplinary encyclopedia covers curricular subjects related to divorce as examined by disciplines ranging from marriage and the family to anthropology, social and legal history, developmental and clinical psychology, and religion, all through a lens of cultural sociology. Features: 550 signed entries, A-to-Z, fill 3 volumes (1,500 pages) in print and electronic formats, offering the most detailed reference work available on issues related to divorce, both in the U.S. and globally. Cross-References and Further Readings guide readers to additional resources. A Chronology provides students with context via a historical perspective of divorce. In the electronic version, the comprehensive Index combines with Cross-References and thematic Reader′s Guide themes to provide convenient search-and-browse capabilities. For state and nation entries, uniform entry structure combined with an abundance of statistics facilitates comparison between and across states and nations. Appendices provide further annotated sources of data and statistics.

Homosexual Rites of Passage: A Road to Visibility and Validation will help you, as a gay or lesbian individual, work through identity issues, come out, and become visible in a healthy and safe manner. You will find this unique book to be an excellent resource for validation and support during your courageous acts of personal growth. Furthermore, you will discover a positive affirmation of homosexual identities as well as issues that impede or prevent your positive homosexual identity formation. Homosexual Rites of Passage facilitates your journey toward visibility and personal validation by naming fear and shame as obstacles of your growth and describing affirming homosexual rites of passage so that you will not feel alone in your journey through life. Throughout Homosexual Rites of Passage, you will explore the essential relationship between homosexual identity development and rites of passage, or life experiences or events that mark emotional, familial, and growth transitions in your life and that they are different for homosexuals than for heterosexuals. Compelling and informative, this important book discusses how homophobia and homosexuals’internalized shame often cause these rites of passage to be ignored or not considered valid rituals for gay men and lesbians. You will find helpful and insightful ideas in this informative book to help you affirm your homosexual identity, such as: discovering the definitions of the stages of homosexual identity formation and their significance in defining your view of self and others examining outlines and descriptions of obstacles that prevent positive homosexual identity development, such as fear, shame, and guilt learning to address the role and significance of rites of passage in creating personal identity and space analyzing the description of rites of passage that is specific to the homosexual community and that covers developmental milestones from birth to death, such as coming out or choosing a life partner Homosexual Rites of Passage will assist your homosexual identity development through the celebration of homosexual rituals and rites of passage in a positive effective way. This valuable book addresses the issues that may impede your positive homosexual identity development and provides you with strategies to heal wounded and shamed identities, as well as providing you with a thorough description of homosexual rites of passage to help you understand and validate your homosexual identity.

The unseen issues of grief and discrimination—lesbians becoming widows The death of a life partner poses unique challenges for lesbians. Lesbian Widows: Invisible Grief reveals the touching and very personal stories of twenty-five women, including the author, who were widowed at a young age and forced to create a new life without their life partners. The book follows the widows from the time the couple met, to the time when one of the partners died, and beyond, to show how the surviving partner coped with her loss. Many lesbians feel that the intimacy felt between two women in love goes deeper than what can be experienced by heterosexual partners. Lesbian Widows: Invisible Grief reveals themes common to all these women’s experiences while offering practical advice about coping techniques and resources for support. The widows discuss their efforts to create funerals and memorial services, give their accounts of the overwhelming grief throughout the first two years, and explain the legal and financial discrimination they encountered. The author provides a chapter specifically for caring family and friends, another chapter for professionals working with this sensitive population, and a bibliography of helpful coping resources. Lesbian Widows: Invisible Grief explores the topics of: caregivers/caretaking death and dying grief journeys the similarities and differences between lesbian and married widows the lack of support services for lesbian widows the legal and financial discrimination against lesbian widows the effect of being “in” or “out” on grief recovery the issues faced by widows in starting new relationships spirituality gay marriage Lesbian Widows: Invisible Grief provides an insightful look into the grieving and recovery process, inspiring hope with the knowledge that others have survived this tragedy. This moving book is an essential resource for lesbians, friends and family of lesbians, mental health professionals, medical professionals, psychiatrists, LGBT health providers, feminist and lesbian organizations, and anyone involved with grief training programs such as hospice.

How are same-sex relationships similar or different in the cultures of East Asia? This title examines research and vital issues involving lesbians and lesbianism in East Asia, using perspectives by academics and activists who typically are rarely published in English

Drawing on interviews with leading gay and lesbian activists across Canada, Warner chronicles and analyzes a tumultuous grassroots struggle for sexual liberation, legislated equality, and fundamental social change.

As the field of sexuality studies has become a growth area in academia and classes on sexuality studies are incorporated into various disciplines, the expanding book market has been filled with specialist oriented texts which are often theoretically focused and contain too many summaries for an undergraduate audience. Addressing this imbalance, this key new volume presents the field of sexuality in an accessible and engaging way for undergraduates. Breaking new ground, both substantively and stylistically, this book offers students, academics and researchers an accessible, engaging introduction and overview of this emerging field. Its central premise is to explore the social character of sexuality, the role of social differences such as race or nationality in creating sexual variation, and the ways sex is entangled in relations of power and inequality. Through this novel approach, the field of sexuality is considered, for the first time, in multicultural, global, and comparative terms and from a truly social perspective. This important volume consists of over fifty short and original essays on the key topics and themes in sexuality studies, and interviews with twelve leading scholars in the field which convey some of the most innovative work being done. Each contribution clearly conveys the latest research with examples. Ideal for students of gender and sexuality studies, this topical and timely volume will be an invaluable resource to all those with an interest in sexuality studies.