This qualitatively oriented Practical Theology research project was based on a narrative inquiry into the spiritualities of six gay women who are related to Northfield Methodist Church, which is situated in Benoni, Gauteng. These conversations occurred within a small group context, and were aimed at co-authoring preferred ways of being both gay and Christian. Toward the end of the research journey, I asked each participant to prepare a written text that would summarise their experience of being simultaneously gay and Christian, so that by hearing their own stories of their journey, they would be able to find a voice. As these women are usually marginalised in the Methodist Church, I invited various groups to audience their stories. This research report records the beginning of my journey into working towards the complete acceptance of gay and lesbian Christians into the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. / Practical Theology / M. Th. (Pastoral Therapy)

This dissertation describes efforts to facilitate participation in deconstructing gay discourse in the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC). Gay discourse is challenged through the sharing of gay Christians' stories. While serving on the task team on homosexuality of the General Synod of the DRC a DVD on which gay people share their stories was produced and employed in order to facilitate participation. In reflecting on my research journey I have learnt that participation, prejudice, dogma and context as dimensions of gay discourse lie on a continuum. These dimensions, and the two extreme positions on the continuum: radical exclusion/antagonist and radical inclusion/protagonist, are represented in my model of deconstructing gay discourse. In the process of discourse change, various positions on the continuum become possible. Shifts happened in the task team and General Synod (DRC), resulting in a more gay inclusive decision on the position of gay people in the DRC. / Practical Theology / M. Th. (Practical Theology)

This dissertation examines selected love lyrics composed during the 1930s by Cole Porter, whose witty and urbane music epitomized the Golden era of American light music. These lyrics present an interesting paradox – a man who longed for his music to be accepted by the American public, yet remained indifferent to the social mores of the time. Porter offered trenchant social commentary aimed at a society restricted by social taboos and cultural conventions. The argument develops systematically through a chronological and contextual study of the influences of people and events on a man and his music. The prosodic intonation and imagistic texture of the lyrics demonstrate an intimate correlation between personality and composition which, in turn, is supported by the biographical content. / English / M.A. (English)

Previous research indicates that gay men‟s relationships with their mothers are generally more warm, supportive, and emotional than their relationships with their fathers, and that fathers are less likely to be told, less likely to be told first, and more likely to react negatively to disclosure than mothers would. Most of these findings are derived from asking sons to report on their parental relationships. As such, very little is known about the nature of the father-son relationship before, during, and after disclosure, from the father‟s perspective. The aim of this thesis, therefore, is to uncover and explore first-hand accounts of the experiences and taken-for-granted meanings that potentially shape heterosexual fathers‟ relationships with their gay sons. A sample comprising six Afrikaans-speaking, white fathers, between the ages of 53 and 61 years, from a middle to upper-middle income bracket, and residing in Gauteng, South Africa, were selected purposively through the use of opportunistic or convenience sampling. Utilising an interpretivist approach located within the qualitative research paradigm, an individual in-depth interview strategy was adopted as a means of gathering data. A brief questionnaire probing demographic characteristics was also utilised to further contextualise the data obtained in the interviews. All the interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed for later coding and analysis. Through the use of thematic network analysis, eight organising themes were uncovered, including (a) subliminal awareness prior to coming out; (b) epistemic rupture of internal system of beliefs; (c) personal paradigmatic shifts; (d) acceptance as a complex and ongoing dialectical and reconciliatory process; (e) ambiguous loss; (f) persistent history of thought; (f) wrestling with the reason why; and (g) coming out as a dual experience. Each organising theme contained several basic themes. On the whole, the themes support the view that most parents are neither totally rejecting nor fully accepting of their gay sons. The fathers are seen to navigate their way through a plethora of experiences and meanings that are not only likely to inform the development of their multidimensional identities as men and fathers, but also shape their unique relationships with their gay sons. While the fathers may have attained a level of “loving denial” in their relationships with their gay sons, most continue to struggle with the meaning and expression of same-sex sexuality, and appear to wrestle with the challenge of integrating their understanding of same-sex sexuality with their constructions of traditional Afrikaner masculinity, as well as their meanings associated with having a gay son. However, unlike prior reports of a poor father-son dyad, the fathers reported a general improvement in their relationship with their gay son after he came out. This discrepancy may be attributed to the possibility that the particular group of fathers who volunteered to discuss their father-son relationships willingly were further along in the acceptance process. Recommendations for future research, includes an exploration of the dynamic interaction between heterosexual and gay constructions of masculinity within the father-son dyad before, during and after disclosure, examining the role that mothers play in influencing the quality of the father-son relationship before, during and after disclosure, uncovering the intra- and inter-personal variables that may facilitate the adaptive adjustment processes among fathers over the longer term, and exploring the contexts and processes associated with transitions within fatherhood across the life course of fathers of gay sons. / Heterosexual fathers' relationships with their gay sons / Psychology / D. Phil.

Previous research indicates that gay men‟s relationships with their mothers are generally more warm, supportive, and emotional than their relationships with their fathers, and that fathers are less likely to be told, less likely to be told first, and more likely to react negatively to disclosure than mothers would. Most of these findings are derived from asking sons to report on their parental relationships. As such, very little is known about the nature of the father-son relationship before, during, and after disclosure, from the father‟s perspective. The aim of this thesis, therefore, is to uncover and explore first-hand accounts of the experiences and taken-for-granted meanings that potentially shape heterosexual fathers‟ relationships with their gay sons. A sample comprising six Afrikaans-speaking, white fathers, between the ages of 53 and 61 years, from a middle to upper-middle income bracket, and residing in Gauteng, South Africa, were selected purposively through the use of opportunistic or convenience sampling. Utilising an interpretivist approach located within the qualitative research paradigm, an individual in-depth interview strategy was adopted as a means of gathering data. A brief questionnaire probing demographic characteristics was also utilised to further contextualise the data obtained in the interviews. All the interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed for later coding and analysis. Through the use of thematic network analysis, eight organising themes were uncovered, including (a) subliminal awareness prior to coming out; (b) epistemic rupture of internal system of beliefs; (c) personal paradigmatic shifts; (d) acceptance as a complex and ongoing dialectical and reconciliatory process; (e) ambiguous loss; (f) persistent history of thought; (f) wrestling with the reason why; and (g) coming out as a dual experience. Each organising theme contained several basic themes. On the whole, the themes support the view that most parents are neither totally rejecting nor fully accepting of their gay sons. The fathers are seen to navigate their way through a plethora of experiences and meanings that are not only likely to inform the development of their multidimensional identities as men and fathers, but also shape their unique relationships with their gay sons. While the fathers may have attained a level of “loving denial” in their relationships with their gay sons, most continue to struggle with the meaning and expression of same-sex sexuality, and appear to wrestle with the challenge of integrating their understanding of same-sex sexuality with their constructions of traditional Afrikaner masculinity, as well as their meanings associated with having a gay son. However, unlike prior reports of a poor father-son dyad, the fathers reported a general improvement in their relationship with their gay son after he came out. This discrepancy may be attributed to the possibility that the particular group of fathers who volunteered to discuss their father-son relationships willingly were further along in the acceptance process. Recommendations for future research, includes an exploration of the dynamic interaction between heterosexual and gay constructions of masculinity within the father-son dyad before, during and after disclosure, examining the role that mothers play in influencing the quality of the father-son relationship before, during and after disclosure, uncovering the intra- and inter-personal variables that may facilitate the adaptive adjustment processes among fathers over the longer term, and exploring the contexts and processes associated with transitions within fatherhood across the life course of fathers of gay sons. / Heterosexual fathers' relationships with their gay sons / Psychology / D. Phil.

This work emerged from the interest in studying the increasing use of information and communication tools available on the Internet for strengthening the political activism online and offline. To verify the characteristics and specificities of this new type of collective action and its relation to the question of mediatic visibility, we have chosen as the empirical object the electronic discussion group LGBT National Alliance, created by the Brazilian Association of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transvestite and Transgender (ABGLT), which has articulated and consolidated the largest LGBT network in Latin America. The comprehension of the functioning mode of this network and its strategic actions required the theoretical and conceptual supply of social networks, collective action, repertories of action and mediatic visibility applied to the practices of interaction and communication of LGBT movements observable both in digital platforms as well as offline activities. Due to the specificities of this object, the empirical study was based on two complementary methodological approaches: content analysis and virtual ethnography. The first one guided the structural analysis and the analysis of the discussion group dynamics, as well as data collection on topics that motivated larger participation, which concentrated on the years 2012 and 2013. The second one based the online participant observation of performances in the network and semistructured interviews carried out with members from all regions of the country. From these procedures, it was selected four representative case studies of the two main paradigmatic axes identified as the guidelines of the activism of the network: the political-institutional antagonism (conflicts with the evangelical countertop); and the mediatic antagonism (conflicts with traditional media). Among the conclusions of the research are: the repertories of action (on network, mediatic, cyberactivists) emerge as strengthening tactics of political activism, aiming at expanding its reverberation in public debate and in the political sphere; the search for mediatic visibility is an imbricated strategy in activist actions which covers the |intermedia| mobilizations on digital platforms and recurrent attempts of guiding journalistic vehicles; online and offline articulations, mobilizations and interventions are correlated and can be started either in spaces of mediated interaction as in the traditional political spaces and vice versa; the mobilization of occasional activists and other informal partners is a strategic practice to visualize and reinforce the mechanisms of pressure; the discussion group is potentially more active in civil conversations for purposes of exchanging information, conjuncture analysis, specialized consulting, planning and evaluation of actions; cyberactivism is notably more successful in situations in which the Internet plays a relevant role in the dissemination of alternative informative channels for the collective awareness and engagement; the association of political activism to a number of mediatic repertories, online and networked has contributed to increasing public visibility, the set of alliances and the support of society around anti-homophobia struggles in the country. / O presente trabalho surgiu do interesse em investigar a crescente utilização das ferramentas de informação e comunicação disponíveis na Internet para o fortalecimento do ativismo político online e off-line. Para verificar as características e as especificidades desse novo tipo de ação coletiva e sua relação com a questão da visibilidade midiática, escolhemos como objeto empírico o grupo de discussão eletrônico Aliança Nacional LGBT, criado pela Associação Brasileira de Lésbicas, Gays, Bissexuais, Travestis e Transexuais (ABGLT), que articulou e consolidou a maior rede LGBT da América Latina. A compreensão do modo de funcionamento dessa rede e de suas ações estratégicas exigiu o aporte teórico-conceitual das redes sociais, da ação coletiva, dos repertórios de ação e da visibilidade midiática, aplicados às práticas de interação e comunicação dos movimentos LGBT observáveis tanto no âmbito das plataformas digitais quanto na atuação off-line. Em razão das especificidades desse objeto, o estudo empírico apoiou-se em duas abordagens metodológicas complementares: a análise de conteúdo e a etnografia virtual. A primeira orientou a análise estrutural e da dinâmica do grupo de discussão, assim como a coleta de dados nos tópicos que motivaram maior participação, os quais se concentraram nos anos de 2012 e 2013. A segunda embasou a observação participante online das atuações na rede e as entrevistas semiestruturadas realizadas com membros de todas as regiões do país. A partir desses procedimentos, foram selecionados quatro estudos de caso representativos dos dois principais eixos paradigmáticos identificados como norteadores do ativismo da rede: o antagonismo político-institucional (embates com a bancada evangélica); e o antagonismo midiático (embates com a mídia tradicional). Entre as conclusões da pesquisa estão: os repertórios de ação (em rede, midiáticos, ciberativistas) surgem como táticas de reforço do ativismo político, visando ampliar a sua reverberação no debate público e na esfera política; a busca pela visibilidade midiática é uma estratégia imbricada nas ações ativistas que abrange as mobilizações intermídia nas plataformas digitais e as tentativas recorrentes de pautar os veículos jornalísticos; as articulações, mobilizações e intervenções online e off-line estão correlacionadas, podendo ser iniciadas tanto nos espaços de interação mediada quanto nos espaços políticos tradicionais e vice-versa; a mobilização de ativistas ocasionais e demais parceiros informais é uma prática estratégica para visibilizar e reforçar os mecanismos de pressão; o grupo de discussão é potencialmente mais ativo nas conversações civis para fins de troca de informações, análise de conjuntura, consulta especializada, planejamento e avaliação de ações; o ciberativismo é notadamente mais bem-sucedido nas situações em que a Internet exerce um papel relevante na disseminação de canais informativos alternativos para a conscientização e o engajamento coletivos; a associação do ativismo político a uma série de repertórios midiáticos, online e em rede tem contribuído para ampliar a visibilidade pública, o conjunto de alianças e o apoio da sociedade em torno das lutas anti-homofobia no país.

In the last forty years, U.S. national and statewide LGBT organizations, in pursuit of "equality" through a limited and focused agenda, have made remarkably swift progress moving that agenda forward. However, their agenda has been frequently criticized as prioritizing the interests of White, middle-class gay men and lesbians and ignoring the needs of other LGBT people. In their shadows have emerged numerous grassroots organizations led by queer people of color, transgender people, and low-income LGBT people. These "queer liberation" groups have often been viewed as the left wing of the GRM, but have not been extensively studied. My research investigated how these grassroots liberation organizations can be understood in relation to the equality movement, and whether they actually comprise a separate movement operating alongside, but in tension with, the mainstream gay rights movement. This research used a qualitative content analysis, grounded in black feminism's framework of intersectionality, queer theory, and social movement theories, to examine eight queer liberation organizations. Data streams included interviews with staff at each organization, organizational videos from each group, and the organizations' mission statements. The study used deductive content analysis, informed by a predetermined categorization matrix drawn from social movement theories, and also featured inductive analysis to expand those categories throughout the analysis. This study's findings indicate that a new social movement - distinct from the mainstream equality organizations - does exist. Using criteria informed by leading social movement theories, findings demonstrate that these organizations cannot be understood as part of the mainstream equality movement but must be considered a separate social movement. This "queer liberation movement" has constituents, goals, strategies, and structures that differ sharply from the mainstream equality organizations. This new movement prioritizes queer people in multiple subordinated identity categories, is concerned with rebuilding institutions and structures, rather than with achieving access to them, and is grounded more in "liberation" or "justice" frameworks than "equality." This new movement does not share the equality organizations' priorities (e.g., marriage) and, instead, pursues a different agenda, include challenging the criminal justice and immigration systems, and strengthening the social safety net. Additionally, the study found that this new movement complicates existing social movement theory. For decades, social movement scholars have documented how the redistributive agenda of the early 20th century class-based social movements has been replaced by the demands for access and recognition put forward by the identity-based movements of the 1960s New Left. While the mainstream equality movement can clearly be characterized as an identity-based social movement, the same is not true of the groups in this study. This queer liberation movement, although centered on identity claims, has goals that are redistributive as well as recognition-based. While the emergence of this distinct social movement is significant on its own, of equal significance is the fact that it represents a new post-structuralist model of social movement. This study presents a "four-domain" framework to explain how this movement exists simultaneously inside and outside of other social movements, as a bridge between them, and as its own movement. Implications for research, practice, and policy in social work and allied fields are presented.

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This dissertation describes efforts to facilitate participation in deconstructing gay discourse in the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC). Gay discourse is challenged through the sharing of gay Christians' stories. While serving on the task team on homosexuality of the General Synod of the DRC a DVD on which gay people share their stories was produced and employed in order to facilitate participation. In reflecting on my research journey I have learnt that participation, prejudice, dogma and context as dimensions of gay discourse lie on a continuum. These dimensions, and the two extreme positions on the continuum: radical exclusion/antagonist and radical inclusion/protagonist, are represented in my model of deconstructing gay discourse. In the process of discourse change, various positions on the continuum become possible. Shifts happened in the task team and General Synod (DRC), resulting in a more gay inclusive decision on the position of gay people in the DRC. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Th. (Practical Theology)

This qualitatively oriented Practical Theology research project was based on a narrative inquiry into the spiritualities of six gay women who are related to Northfield Methodist Church, which is situated in Benoni, Gauteng. These conversations occurred within a small group context, and were aimed at co-authoring preferred ways of being both gay and Christian. Toward the end of the research journey, I asked each participant to prepare a written text that would summarise their experience of being simultaneously gay and Christian, so that by hearing their own stories of their journey, they would be able to find a voice. As these women are usually marginalised in the Methodist Church, I invited various groups to audience their stories. This research report records the beginning of my journey into working towards the complete acceptance of gay and lesbian Christians into the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Th. (Pastoral Therapy)