Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / There is a psychosexual health crisis in the African American community, with disproportionate rates of HIV/AIDS infections and poorer medical treatment outcomes for Black men and women (Fullilove, 2006; CDC, 201 0). In contrast to the homophobic responses of most Black Churches, some Black Churches are offering an affirmative ministry for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) individuals. This dissertation examines how these ministries developed and what strategies they employ in response to the HIV/AIDS health crisis. Building on Stigmatization theory, Queer theory, and previous research on Black Churches, I construct a conceptual framework for interpreting this phenomenon. Using the Heuristic methodology, I explore the historical, theological, and practical dimensions of four LGBT -affirming African American ministries. During a period of four to six weeks with each church, I conducted two narrative mterviews with the pastors, 15 to 20 hours of observation of ministry activities, and a review of church documents regarding relationships with the LGBT community. Using narrative analysis and grounded theory, I analyzed the interviews, documents and observational field notes for evidence of the LGBT affirmative ministry. I constructed holistic profiles of each church and a composite profile of the four. All four pastors credited formal theological education and personal experiences with the LGBT community as sources of their theologies. Two of the pastors self-identified as members of the LGBT community; LGBT inclusion was the central focus of their ministries. The other two pastors integrated LGBT inclusion into a broad based social justice ministry that focused on multiple oppressions, including racism and sexism. All four pastors seek to avoid the psychological, spiritual, and physical harm that homophobic Black churches inflict on LGBT Black folk, and seek thereby to discourage behaviors that contribute to the proliferation of HIV/AIDS. Each pastor offered LGBT affirmative strategies for decreasing LGBT stigmatization and HIV infections in the Black community. / 2031-01-01

With the aim of increasing practitioner competence, this dissertation provides marriage and family therapists and mental health service providers with insight into the experiences of legally married same-sex couples. Specifically, the inquiry's objective was to elicit narratives of strength and agency from these couples who navigated the oppressive circumstances of an anti-gay amendment campaign situated within the debate over the extension of marriage rights to same-sex couples. Fourteen couples were interviewed in order to respond to the dissertation's overriding question: How do the lesbian and gay couples and families who are among those who were legally married in California before the passage of Proposition 8 narrate their experiences of their marriages? Through portraiture (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997), a method of inquiry situated within a postmodern, social constructionist framework, a narrative was produced which evolved through five emergent themes: 1) Our Commitments Have Rich Histories -- the symbolic and legal ways in which these couples commemorated and brought definition to their commitments, in the absence of a nationally-sanctioned and collectively-recognized state of legal marriage; 2) Not a Simple Matter: The Complexities of Language Choice -- their contextual language choices, which reflected the absence of representative and collectively-recognized language options for their relationships after their legal marriages; 3) The Battle Metaphor -- the couples' experiences of California's political debate over the extension of marriage rights to same-sex couples; 4) Support Shaped Lived Experiences -- the impact of support from friends, family, and community; and lastly, 5) Legal Marriage Shaped Individual, Relational, and Social Identities -- individual, relational and social shifts that occurred for the couples through the experience of being legally married. A follow-up focus group further validated the theme Support Shaped Lived Experiences, and examined more deeply the tensions that occurred when important persons were silent about and/or did not recognize the legitimacy of the couples' legal marriages, and/or the discriminatory context in which their legal marriages were situated. In addition to its contribution of the experiences of legally married same-sex couples to the family therapy literature, the dissertation concludes with important implications for affirmative therapeutic practice, research, education, training, advocacy, and social policy.