Independent Study in course Film as Theological Text

FINAL PROJECT! Independent study Film as Theological Text; Race, Class, Gender, Sexualities

I am studying the impact privilege and whiteness has on decisions around "outness" and worship community for African American men who are also queer. I believe it is a foundational aspect of misunderstanding as well as judgment. The problem is the more I dig into this topic I only discover how little I know. The strongest thing I have so far is a working thesis or premise. So I am trying to articulate it here so I can hopefully refine it and come up with a strategy for completing my final project.


I posit that outness in the LGBT community has primarily been created and shaped by white dominant culture, partly due to the fact white queer men (WQM) as a target group retain more social power and privilege. Also, due to the white male hegemony queer white males are/were more likely to have the resources financially, economically, and socially in order to come out in-you-face-style and thereby risking connections to family, friends, and community. This is partly based on the U.S. concept of rugged individualism of white male culture. The subtle but critical aspect for this difference is the concept of self based on "I think, therefore I am" opposed to that statement "I am because We are."