Sexuality, Activism, and Witness in the Anglican Communion: The 2008 Lambeth Conference of Anglican Bishops

Abstract

The international Anglican Communion is a key site for struggles over the status of gays and lesbians within Christian churches. This article examines the forms that movements for gay and lesbian inclusion have taken in the Communion through an analysis of collective action at the 2008 Lambeth Conference, a central event in Anglicanism's institutional structure. The analysis builds on recent critiques of the state-centric orientation of much social movement research, arguing that intrareligious movements provide important sites for understanding contemporary processes of social change. Although prior accounts of the sexuality debates within Anglicanism have tended to provide relatively monolithic portrayals of a “gay rights lobby,” activists at Lambeth employed diverse and contested repertoires of action. Although some use was made of conspicuously oppositional protest, many campaigners framed their activities as forms of Christian witness emanating from within the boundary of Anglicanism (rather than the field of secular politics). Gay and lesbian groups sought to complicate overly binaristic notions of conservative (or traditional) versus liberal Christians, stressing aspects of their Christian orthodoxy and their commitment to patterns of lifelong partnership and monogamy. At a moment when many secular gay and lesbian organizations are taking more notice of religion, there is a need for future research to consider how gay and lesbian Christian movements will engage with and influence wider equality struggles.