Lesson Plan: Sacred Sexualities
This lesson plan was created by Jamie Myre during her 2023 summer internship with LGBTQ-RAN.
Sacred Sexualities: Religion in LGBTQ+ Activism & Justice Movements
Essential Question
How has religion played a role in various LGBTQ+ human rights struggles?
Lesson Overview
In a world that often poses religious and LGBTQ+ identities as irreconcilable opposites, this lesson explores the complex and multiple roles that religion has played in different LGBTQ+ human rights struggles across North America. This primary source-based lesson plan presents a total of six individual “case studies” that each highlight different LGBTQ+ religious leaders. By the conclusion of this lesson, students should be able to communicate an understanding of how queer religious leaders pioneered efforts to increase social acceptance and political rights for LGBTQ+ people, both within their communities and in society at large.
Students engage one case study as a pre-class reading, which becomes the launching point for warm-up discussions on the many ways religion informs LGBTQ+ activism. Then, in small groups, students are assigned one of the remaining case studies to read and discuss together. Finally, each group reports their findings to their peers ahead of a class discussion around the Essential Question. There is a suggested reflective homework assignment.
Learning Objectives
Students will…
- Examine how religious identity intersects with racial, sexual, and gender identities.
- Communicate an understanding of how queer religious leaders pioneered efforts to increase social acceptance and political rights for LGBTQ+ people, both within their communities and in society at large.
- Synthesize diverse perspectives and beliefs as they analyze and discuss first-hand source materials.
- Practice empathy and non-judgment as they confront diverse ideas.
Contents
Lesson Plan
Resources: