(LIE)ALECTICS AND THE DISCURSIVE DEQUEERIFICATION OF POLITICAL SPACES BASED ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS: A CRITICAL RHETORICAL ANALYSIS OF THE MORMON AND GAY WEBSITE

Over the past decade, sexual orientation and identity has increasingly been added to state and federal anti-discrimination laws, prompting a rhetorical situation by the Christian Right in attempts to exempt themselves from upholding anti-discrimination laws pertaining to sexual identity and orientation. This study analyzes the Mormon and Gay website—a website dedicated to advancing the position of the Mormon Church on issues of non-heterosexuality. Utilizing rhetorical textual analysis, I develop two theoretical frameworks: (lie)alectics and dequeerification to demonstrate how the discourse under examination attempts to appear non-homophobic while maintaining homophobic church doctrine. I argue that this model stands to influence the First Amendment in extending the Free Exercise clause to allow religiously-identified individuals to police and punish non-heterosexual behaviors. Additionally, this research calls for the reinforcement of the Establishment clause of the First Amendment, which restricts the federal government from establishing a national religion or to privilege one religion over another. Ultimately, this research functions as a form of activism, which highlights the discourse published on the Mormon and Gay website as discriminatory and not a step towards acceptance as it represents itself