Whosoever Will May Come

Intersectional queer activists and scholars have critiqued mainstream gay and lesbian social movements for losing their radical edge and promoting homonormative political agendas. Homonormativity concentrates power in the hands of LGBTIQ2S+ activists with race, gender, and class privilege. The Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) of Toronto is Canada’s largest LGBTIQ2S+ religious community and a significant player in global LGBTIQ2S+ human rights movements. This paper explored the perceptions of inclusion and representation of members of MCC across embodied social identities including sexual identity, gender identity, race, age, socioeconomic status, and ability. Three dimensions of inclusion were examined: personal feelings and experiences, alignment of personal social justice priorities with those of the church, and representation in church leadership. In the fall of 2015, BSW student researchers collected survey data from 146 respondents attending MCC Sunday services. The study found that most respondents, across identity categories, felt personally included most of the time and nearly all felt that their social justice priorities were aligned with the priorities of the church. Respondents who reported exclusion across all three dimensions identified as pansexual, trans male, gender non-binary, intersex, and Asian. Others who generally felt included but not represented in leadership identified as Indigenous, Black, heterosexual, bisexual, gay, and cisgender. Findings suggest that this activist spiritual community has resisted homonormatization to create a space of radical inclusivity but must continue to work hard to extend this space and to prevent the reinscription of social hierarchies.