π θ Marco Derks in Contemporary Public Discourse in the Netherlands Constructions of Homosexuality and Christian Religion CONSTRUCTIONS OF HOMOSEXUALITY AND CHRISTIAN RELIGION VOLUME 123 2019 IN CONTEMPORARY PUBLIC DISCOURSE IN THE NETHERLANDS Marco Derks Constructions of Homosexuality and Christian Religion in Contemporary Public Discourse in the Netherlands 531702-L-bw-Derks Processed on: 5-6-2019 PDF page: 1 Doctoral dissertation Utrecht University © Marco Derks, 2019 Cover image: Interior Club ChUrch, Amsterdam (Ad Bogerman, 2015) ISBN: 978-94-6103-075-7 Printed by Ipskamp Printing 531702-L-bw-Derks Processed on: 5-6-2019 PDF page: 2 Constructions of Homosexuality and Christian Religion in Contemporary Public Discourse in the Netherlands Constructies van homoseksualiteit en christelijke religie in hedendaags publiek discours in Nederland (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht op gezag van de rector magnificus, prof. dr. H.R.B.M. Kummeling, ingevolge het besluit van het college voor promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op maandag 8 juli 2019 des middags te 4.15 uur door Marco Derks geboren op 24 september 1980 te Delft 531702-L-bw-Derks Processed on: 5-6-2019 PDF page: 3 Promotoren: Prof. dr. A.J.A.C.M. Korte Prof. dr. R.R. Ganzevoort The research of which this doctoral dissertation is a result, was part of “Contested Privates: The Oppositional Pairing of Religion and Homosexuality in Contemporary Public Discourse in the Netherlands”, a joint research project of the Amsterdam Center for the Study of Lived Religion (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) and the Chair of Religion and Gender (Utrecht University), funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) under grant number 327-25-004. 531702-L-bw-Derks Processed on: 5-6-2019 PDF page: 4 Voor de Oneindige. Zonder woorden. To the Infinite. Without words. 531702-L-bw-Derks Processed on: 5-6-2019 PDF page: 5 531702-L-bw-Derks Processed on: 5-6-2019 PDF page: 6 Table of Contents Table of Contents vii Acknowledgements ix Introduction 1 ARTICLE 1 The Pope, the Gays and the Dutch: Dutch Secular Responses to Pope Benedict XVI when Homosexuality Seems at Stake 19 ARTICLE 2 Conscientious Objectors and the Marrying Kind: Rights and Rites in Dutch Public Discourse on Marriage Registrars with Conscientious Objections against Conducting Same-Sex Weddings 37 ARTICLE 3 Reparative Therapy and Christian Identity Politics in the Netherlands: A Critical Analysis of a Controversial Organisation 57 ARTICLE 4 Sexual and Religious Regimes of the Self in Dutch Discourses about Homosexuality: A Queer Theological Analysis and Alternative 75 Conclusion 95 Bibliography 117 Summary 149 Samenvatting 149 Biography 157 531702-L-bw-Derks Processed on: 5-6-2019 PDF page: 7 531702-L-bw-Derks Processed on: 5-6-2019 PDF page: 8 Acknowledgements I have been blessed with the opportunity to do my doctoral research in a team of scholars who have become friends or whose friendship has been intensified over the last seven years. Sometime after I had completed my MPhil at the University of Manchester in early 2009, I contacted Anne-Marie Korte to ask her for guidance in exploring the possibilities for an individual PhD project. As I did not succeed in securing funding, in late 2011 she approached me with an idea for a broader research project. We then created a team and for almost a year, the five of us worked on a funding proposal for a research project about the oppositional pairing of religion and homosexuality in contemporary public discourse in the Netherlands. In the summer of 2013, funding was awarded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and in September that same year, I started working as a promovendus (PhD candidate) at Utrecht University. I am grateful for Anne-Marie’s confidence in my capacities and for her efforts to make this finally happen. As my first supervisor and promotor or Doktormutter at Utrecht University, she has guided me through the whole process, in particular by providing conceptual comments, introducing me to new bodies of academic literature and encouraging me to show what I have got. She has also enriched and empowered me with her wisdom and expertise when I was dealing with professional or more personal challenges – and I have valued her trust in allowing me to turn the favour on several occasions. Ruard Ganzevoort (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) has been a friend for almost fifteen years. After I had graduated in Kampen, he was one of the first scholars to encourage me to proceed in academia. As my second supervisor and promotor or Doktorvater, he has helped me in particular in identifying central issues and questions, situating my research findings in a bigger picture and challenging me to think through the practical implications of my analyses. As Anne-Marie and Ruard have, to a certain extent, different disciplinary expertise and interests, academic styles and political and organisational approaches, I have learned a great deal from both of them in terms of my academic, professional and personal development. I also want to thank the other members of our team, who participated in our project as postdoctoral research fellows. With his encyclopaedic knowledge and his historical and sociological expertise, David Bos (then Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, currently University of Amsterdam) has been one of my most feared yet valued critics. I want to thank him for his numerous suggestions, for his optimistic and hands-on mentality, and for being a great 531702-L-bw-Derks Processed on: 5-6-2019 PDF page: 9 Acknowledgements conference buddy. Mariecke van den Berg (then Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, currently Utrecht University) has been helpful with her conceptual skills and creativity, and her cheerful and friendly attitude. As we have swapped positions several times over the last seven years – in 2012, she succeeded me as project manager in Christian LGBT emancipation; in 2015, I left and she joined the board of the Dutch Society of Queer Theologians; and in 2017, I succeeded her as Executive Secretary of the Netherlands School for Advanced Studies in Theology and Religion (NOSTER) – I am curious where we will bring one another in the future. Soon after we had started, Srđjan Sremac (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) joined our project team and brought in new disciplinary perspectives and geographical foci. Thinking of us as a team, I especially recall great memories of the two research retreats – or, as Mariecke famously called them, ‘nerd camps’ – we had in Hirschberg, Germany. Working at the Utrecht University Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies has been a pleasure and a privilege in several respects. Especially during the last two years of my contract, I had very productive and pleasant research discussions with a number of recently started PhD candidates and postdoctoral research fellows working on similar projects and in the same attic room: Daan Beekers, Mariecke van den Berg, Nella van den Brandt, Margreet van Es, Nina ter Laan and Lieke Schrijvers. I am also grateful to Ernst van den Hemel for the genuine interest shown and constructive feedback given on several occasions, and for his invitation to participate in the “Postsecular Nationalism” project he lead with Eva Midden at the Utrecht University Centre for the Humanities in 2015-2016. I have enjoyed numerous conversations with Peter-Ben Smit – be it about my research or about other shared interests, such as Old Catholic theology, queer biblical scholarship or church politics. Working together with Markus Balkenhol in teaching the advanced Bachelor course “Religion: Bodies, Senses, Emotions” in 2016 has been one of the highlights of my work at the Department. I also want to thank Christoph Baumgartner, Christian Lange and Biene Meijerman – resp. the two former directors and the coordinator of the Research Institute of Philosophy and Religious Studies – as well as the Department chair, Martha Frederiks, for genuinely caring for my work and well-being as a researcher; Jeroen Goudsmit, for arousing my interest in the work of the University Council and the PhD Network Utrecht; and former Department secretary – and fabulous fashionista – Suzanne van Vliet, for making me feel at home. This work as well as my thinking more broadly has also been shaped in other academic groups and networks. On that note, I would like to thank the teachers of and fellow participants in NOSTER’s Intensive Text Reading Seminar “The Challenge of Difference” (2013-2016), NOSTER’s Seminar on Religion, Theology and Gender (2013-2014), and the Summer Seminar on Debates about Religion and Sexuality at Harvard Divinity School (10-19 June 2014). One of the teachers of that Harvard seminar, Mark Jordan, has shown continuous interest in my research and I have greatly valued his ideas and remarks, be it through e-mail, during my short research stay at Harvard in x 531702-L-bw-Derks Processed on: 5-6-2019 PDF page: 10 Acknowledgments November 2016 or at the Annual Meetings of the American Academy of Religion. These Annual Meetings, which I have attended since 2013, have provided wonderful opportunities to get inspiration for my research, to offer and improve some of my academic skills (e.g. presenting, responding, chairing, committee work), to build up a network, to broaden my scholarly horizon and to have some memorable erotic encounters. Several analyses and ideas that I have developed in this thesis are partly the result of the many conversations I have had over the years with three of my closest friends: Wielie Elhorst, Marinus Schouten and Anton Untiedt. All four of us have been trained in theology and, despite some differences in style, perspective or professional positions, we have been – and remain – active in the work of (Christian) LGBTIQ emancipation.