QUEERING BUDDHISM OR BUDDHIST DE-QUEERYING?

LGBTQI BUDDHISTS, INTERSECTIONALITY AND THE LIMITS OF LIBERAL CONVERT BUDDHISM

QUEERING BUDDHISM?

• “QUEER CONSCIOUSNESS IS MORE COMPATIBLE WITH THE BUDDHA DHARMA THAN THE TRADITIONAL PATRIARCHAL CONSCIOUSNESS, AND WE CAN EXPECT QUEER THINKING TO REFRESH AND REFORM BUDDHISM IN THE WEST’’
• (2004: 239)

Roger Corless, 1938-2007

OR BUDDHIST DE-QUEERYING?

• “FOUND THAT CONVERT LGBTQI PRACTITIONERS USE BUDDHIST NON-ESSENTIALIST, NON-DUAL PHILOSOPHY TO DEEMPHASIZE THEIR SEXUAL IDENTITY AND THAT THEY TEND TO ASSIMILATE INTO RATHER THAN CHALLENGE BUDDHIST HETERONORMATIVITY.”

• ARE THERE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LGB IDENTIFIED BUDDHISTS & QUEER IDENTIFIED PRACTITIONERS?
• DOES EXPLAIN THE QUEERING/ DE-QUEERING?

FROM LGB TO QUEER

LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL STUDIES

• ACADEMIC DISCIPLINE STARTED IN 1970S TO RECOVER LGB
• ESSENTIALIST UNDERSTANDING OF SEXUALITY “BORN THAT WAY”
• RESTS ON BINARY HETEROSEXUAL/HOMOSEXUALITY
• GOAL IS TO ASSIMILATE
• CELEBRATES LIBERAL VALUES OF PRIVACY AND TOLERANCE

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QUEER THEORY

• 1990S AS A CRITIQUE OF THE ESSENTIALISM OF LGB STUDIES
• CONSTRUCTIVIST UNDERSTANDING OF SEXUALITY
• CHALLENGES ALL FORMS OF BINARY THOUGHT: GENDER & SEXUALITY AS CULTURALLY CONSTITUTED & FLUID
• GOAL IS RADICAL STRUCTURAL CHANGE
• CELEBRATES POST-MODERN VALUE OF DIFFERENCE

http://buddhistpeacefellowship.org/floating-onward-honoring-venerable-bhante-suhita-dharma/

EBMC Teachers Sangha gathering September 2016

QUEERING THE SANGHA: PRAGMATICS

• DIVERSITY WAS ITS FOUNDATIONAL COMMITMENT
• LGBTQI TEACHERS AND LEADERS
• CREATION OF AN INCLUSIVE SAFE SPACE
• TEACHINGS INTENTIONALLY ADDRESS QUEER LIFE EXPERIENCE

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“DOORWAY INTO DHARMA”

• BECAUSE OF DISCRIMINATION AND OPPRESSION, LGBTQI PEOPLE RESONATED WITH TEACHING ON DUKKHA
• QUESTIONING OF IDENTITY AND DECONSTRUCTION OF CONVENTIONAL NOTIONS OF GENDER AND SEXUALITY ACTED AS WAY INTO THE DHARMA
• QUEER IDENTITY AS LIVED EXPERIENCE OF IMPERMANENCE, NO-SELF AND EMPTINESS

SEX: POSITIVE OR POISON?

• “WORTHLESS MAN, IT WOULD BE BETTER THAT YOUR PENIS BE STUCK INTO THE MOUTH OF A POISONOUS SNAKE THAN INTO A WOMAN'S VAGINA. IT WOULD BE BETTER THAT YOUR PENIS BE STUCK INTO THE MOUTH OF A BLACK VIPER THAN INTO A WOMAN'S VAGINA. IT WOULD BE BETTER THAT YOUR PENIS BE STUCK INTO A PIT OF BURNING EMBERS, BLAZING AND GLOWING, THAN INTO A WOMAN'S VAGINA."

https://aeon.co/ideas/the-buddhist-monk-who-became-an-apostle-for-sexual-freedom

BUT WHAT ABOUT DESIRE?

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• BUDDHISM WAS NOT AS “SEXUALLY MORALISTIC” AS CHRISTIANITY
• TEACHING ON CRAVING HELPED THEM GET CLEAR ABOUT THE MOTIVATIONS BEHIND THEIR SEXUAL BEHAVIOR
• INTENTIONALITY RATHER THAN EXTERNAL ACTION IS WHAT MAKES SEXUAL BEHAVIOR “SEXUAL MISCONDUCT”
• MINDFULNESS PRACTICE ALSO HELPED THEM BE MORE PRESENT TO SEXUALITY
• CONFLICT IN SEXUAL MORALITY AS CULTURAL RATHER THAN ESSENTIAL TO BUDDHISM

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CONCLUSION: DIFFERENCE AS KEY

• THERE ARE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN (ASSIMILATIVE AND SUBVERSIVE) WESTERN LGBTQI PARTICIPANTS
• WHITE, MIDDLE-CLASS (MALE) BUDDHISTS TEND TO ASSIMILATE
• QUEER-IDENTIFIED BUDDHISTS MORE SUBVERSIVE: FOCUS ON RACE, CLASS, GENDER, DISABILITIES
• NOT SO MUCH SEXUAL ORIENTATION AS IT IS ABOUT DIFFERENCE THAT IS KEY TO INCLUSIVE SANGHAS & QUEERYING BUDDHISM

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TRANS*BUDDHISM

• HTTP://TRANSBUDDHISTS.ORG
• “WE RECOGNIZE THE INTERCONNECTION OF STRUGGLES EXPERIENCED BY INDIVIDUALS OF ALL SOCIAL IDENTITIES, INCLUDING RACES, CLASSES, SEXUAL ORIENTATIONS, GENDER IDENTITIES, AGES, ABILITIES, CULTURES, AND ETHNICITIES. WE STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH AND SUPPORT OTHER EFFORTS TO MAKE BUDDHISM MORE INCLUSIVE IN THIS COUNTRY.”

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