%0 Journal Article
%T Alpha, Omega, and the Letters in Between: LGBTQI Conservative Christians Undoing Gender
%A Dawne Moon
%A J. E. Sumerau
%A Theresa W. Tobin
%J Gender & Society
%@ 1552-3977
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/0891243219846592
%X Sociologists studying gender have debated West and Zimmerman¡¯s premise that ¡°doing gender is unavoidable,¡± seeking to ascertain whether people can ¡°undo¡± or only ¡°redo¡± gender. While sociologists have been correct to focus on the interactional accomplishment of gender, they have neglected one of Garfinkel¡¯s key insights about interaction: that people hold each other accountable to particular narratives. Neglecting the narrative aspect of doing¡ªand undoing¡ªgender impedes our ability to recognize processes of social change. Based on a qualitative study, we show how the movement for LGBTQI acceptance within U.S. conservative Protestant churches works to make gender not ¡°omnirelevant¡± by challenging conservative ¡°complementarity¡± narratives that posit two complementary, opposite sexes as a commandment preceding the Ten Commandments in time and importance. We explore this movement¡¯s ambivalent relationship with homonormativity, highlight three ways this movement resists projecting binary gender narratives into scripture, and examine how some in this movement see the pursuit of social justice as a Christian mandate. The efforts of LGBTQI conservative Christians exemplify how reshaping sex/gender/sexual narratives can create possibilities for undoing gender
%K gender
%K Evangelical
%K ethnomethodology
%K LGBTQ
%K narrative
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0891243219846592