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Escaping to a Digital Congregation: LGBTQIA Mormon Youth on Tumblr and the Rise and Decline of Queerstake

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Queer Youth Histories

Part of the book series: Genders and Sexualities in History ((GSX))

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Abstract

Eichert’s chapter describes the emergence of an online community of LGBTQIA Mormon youth on the microblogging site Tumblr. Originating in 2013 and truly taking form in 2016, Queerstake offered these youth a way to express their sexuality and/or gender identity in a uniquely Mormon context. The chapter details how LGBTQIA Mormon youth queered historical Mormon religious practices in a transnational online forum, helping each other in their self-identification processes and collectively coping with anti-LGBTQIA church statements. Eichert also discusses how Internet technology has the potential to facilitate on- and offline community creation for queer youth who would normally lack access to those resources, drawing attention to implications for how we think about queer youth history.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Law, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    David Eichert

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  1. David Eichert
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Daniel Marshall

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© 2021 The Author(s)

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Cite this chapter

Eichert, D. (2021). Escaping to a Digital Congregation: LGBTQIA Mormon Youth on Tumblr and the Rise and Decline of Queerstake. In: Marshall, D. (eds) Queer Youth Histories. Genders and Sexualities in History. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56550-1_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56550-1_11

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-56549-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-56550-1

  • eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

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