THE UNIVERSITY OF WINCHESTER Faculty of Business, Law and Sport Bisexual Christians & Mental Health: Why the Church needs to be more welcoming Carol Anne Shepherd Doctor of Philosophy May 2017 This thesis has been completed as a requirement for a postgraduate research degree of the University of Winchester. Please select ONE of the following six statements: (by placing an X in the box) 1. The thesis is to be made available from the moment the deposit has been approved by the University of Winchester. 2. In order to facilitate commercial publication I request an embargo period of 1 year* 3. In order to facilitate commercial publication I request an embargo period of 2 years* X 4. In order to facilitate commercial publication I request an exceptional embargo period of 3 years* Approval from the Director of Research and Knowledge Exchange (DRKE) is required for a 3 year embargo. 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X Author’s Name: Carol A Shepherd Author’s Signature: Date: 27 August 2017 Metadata: Title: Bisexual Christians and Mental Health: Why the Church needs to be more welcoming Author: Carol A Shepherd Supervisors: Professor Eric Anderson & Dr Hazel Brown Key words: Bisexuality; Christianity; mental health; church; depression; suicide; intersectionality; sexuality; identity erasure; biphobia Declaration, Copyright Statement and Intellectual Property Rights No portion of the work referred to in the Thesis has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning. I confirm that this Thesis is entirely my own work. Copyright © Carol A Shepherd 2017. Bisexual Christians and Mental Health: Why the Church needs to be more welcoming, University of Winchester PhD Thesis. 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Abstract In 1978, Fritz Klein, author of The Bisexual Option, noted: ‘Bisexuals are sociologically non- existent, invisible in church, society and science (F Klein, 1978).’ My aim in this research project was to examine whether bisexual people were still invisible within church communities, specifically within the Christian church in the UK and USA, and how this impacted on their wellbeing. This was with a view to addressing my central research question: is it possible to be bisexual and Christian and live holistically? I was keen to see whether bisexuality was invisible in real terms in the period 2014-2017, the time-frame for this research. To this end, I interviewed a total of 83 participants, divided up into four research cells: Bisexual Christians in the UK, Bisexual Christians in the USA, Pastors and Supporters of Bisexual Christians in the UK and Pastors and Supporters of Bisexual Christians in the USA. Interviews with pastors and leaders of LGBT faith organisations revealed a distinct lack of bisexual awareness, expressed through a dearth of bisexual pastoral resources and an almost total silence on bisexual issues in the public sphere. This was the case in both the UK and USA. Bisexual Christians themselves, meanwhile, reported an almost blanket silence on bisexuality within church environments and the Christian conference circuit, including, significantly, at LGBT-affirming services and events. These interviews confirmed the existence of bisexual erasure as a sociological phenomenon, flagged by academics and demonstrated by theologians at literature review stage. Yet, whilst erasure and stigmatisation were unambiguously reflected by bisexual Christians within this study, it was not possible to say with any degree of certainty that these stressors were solely behind the huge rates of depression and suicide ideation expressed by bisexual participants (89% UK and 100% US). Other factors, such as family break- up, childhood bullying, Seasonal Affective Disorder and autistic spectrum disorders were all reported as causational factors in poor mental health. Interviews with both pastors and congregants alike revealed that bisexual Christians thrived best within fully inclusive faith communities, where middle sexualities and non-monogamy were accepted without prejudice and certain ethical boundaries surrounding honesty and mutuality observed. Such congregations appeared to be far more prevalent in the USA than in the UK, though intolerance of LGBT Christians was significantly higher, too, than in the UK. Whilst the US church culture was far more polarised than that of the UK, both countries revealed a disparate bisexual community, suggesting that bisexual Christians perhaps needed to network and mobilise themselves at national level and beyond, in the same way that trans Christians have done in reaction to the recent spate of bathroom bills. To summarise, this research confirmed that bisexual Christians still appeared to be ‘sociologically non-existent’ (Klein, 1978) within church environments and church resources in the UK and USA, despite progress in acceptance of lesbian and gay Christians (and to a lesser extent, transgender Christians) within these same communities. 5 6 Acknowledgements This PhD was completed during a tumultuous year in my personal life. There are therefore many friends and supporters to which I owe an enormous debt of gratitude. To John Shepherd, for being the most amazing friend, partner and supporter of all that I do for the last twenty seven years, and to our gorgeous children, Jaden, Alex and Matt, for being so accepting. To Eric Anderson, for being the most supportive DOS any ‘grad stoodent’ could hope to have. Our eyes met across a crowded Postgrad Symposium room and you hollered loudly that you had to work with me. I made your dream come true, Eric. You owe me bigtime. To Hazel Brown, my second supervisor, for helping me hold it together all those times I threatened to unravel. It could have been way messier without you. To the American Institute of Bisexuality, who generously funded the US leg of my qualitative interviews. To all my amazing participants, both sides of the pond. I have made some wonderful friends from this research project. We have laughed together, cried together, shared together. Particular thanks go to the naked room-mate who flitted across my Skype call to Liz in Tennessee! Best quote award goes to Jain in the US (see p.283) and Leonora in the UK (p.139). Special thanks are extended to the Bisexual Resource Center (Boston), the Cathedral of Hope (Dallas) and the Religious Institute (Westport), who were particularly welcoming and supportive of my research. To Chris Day, for all the prayers and hugs and wise words and encouragement and for being totally and utterly human. I wish all priests were like you, so we didn’t need to write theses about sexuality, faith and mental health. To Prof. Lisa Isherwood and Prof.