An Opening in the Congregational Closet? Boundary-Bridging Culture and Membership Privileges for Gays and Lesbians in Christian Religious Congregations

Openness to homosexuality at the congregational level of American religious life has only recently received schol-arly attention. This research reports patterns of membership openness to gays and lesbians among American Christian congregations and synthesizes emerging hypotheses to explain such openness. Using data from the second wave of the National Congregations Study (Chaves 2007), multinomial logistic regression models demonstrate evidence for the im-portance of clergy characteristics, membership demographics, local context, local theological culture, and religious tra-dition. A boundary-bridging cultural model also conceptualizes how the bridging practices of congregations influence membership openness. Interfaith volunteering and interracial worship express an organizational approach to social boundaries that prioritizes diversity and openness. With a controversial social issue (homosexuality), and a relative lack of local organizational processes to deal with such an issue, boundary-bridging customs may shape the sexuality boundaries of congregations. This research develops knowledge of cultural processes and homosexuality within Amer-ican religious congregations. Keywords: congregation; homosexuality; boundary; cultural model; bridging. The relationship between religion and homosexuality in its most oft-articulated form is one of intolerance and exclusion. Personal religiosity can undergird intolerance of homosexuality, as shown by numerous studies regarding the influence of religious affiliation, beliefs about the Bible