“The Tables Are Turning”: The Evangelical Defense of Anti-LGBTQ+ Religious Liberty

Abstract

This article extends research on how dominant groups use the rhetoric of marginality to defend and reinforce their control of the public sphere. We conducted interviews with evangelical churchgoers in Mississippi to understand the evangelical support for religious accommodations that privilege conservative Christian beliefs about sex, gender, and marriage. We found that rather than cite scripture about homosexuality or Godly marriage, churchgoers instead told stories about Christian maltreatment and censorship to defend the idea that LGBTQ+ individuals should stay in the closet or find alternatives to the people and places that will refuse service to them. Our findings shed critical light on how evangelical churchgoers accommodate Christian nationalism—or the ideological movement to put Christians back in charge of America—in a context where conservative Christians already enjoy unmatched social and political advantages.