Living Out Sexuality and Faith ─ Body Admissions of Malaysian Gay and Bisexual Men

Sexuality, religion and faith often have complex and conflicting interactions, on both personal and societal levels. Numerous studies have been conducted on queer subjects, but they have predominantly focused on ‘Western’ expressions of faith and queer identities. This book contributes to the wider scholarship on queer subjects by drawing on actual lived experiences of self-identifying gay and bisexual men in Malaysia. It discusses what we can learn from the realities of their lives that intersect with their religious, spiritual, theological or humanistic values in an Asian context.

Analysed within the critical frameworks of queer theory and queer sexual theology, this study divulges the meanings ascribed to sexual identities and practices, as well as conceptualisations of masculinity, sexual desire, love and intimate physical connections. It also lays bare the complex negotiations between gender, desire and spirit, and how they can affect one another.

Tying fascinating case studies and underexplored Asian theologies with wider conversations around sexuality and faith, this book will be of significant interest to scholars working in religious studies, theology, queer studies, sexuality studies and Asian studies.

Joseph N. Goh is a Lecturer in Gender Studies at the School of Arts and Social Sciences, Monash University Malaysia. His research interests include queer and LGBTI studies, human rights and sexual health issues, diverse theological and religious studies, and qualitative research. Goh co-edited Queering Migrations Towards, From, and Beyond Asia (2014) with Hugo Cordova Quero and Michael Sepidoza Campos, and his works have appeared in journals such as Sexualities, Critical Research on Religion and Theology & Sexuality, and are used in the curricula of Starr King School for the Ministry, Berkeley, California, USA.