Profiles of Roothbert: Dr. Monique Moultrie

“Part of my frustration has been and continues to be the gatekeeping of ‘spaces where we can do this’ and ‘spaces where we can do that’”, shared Dr. Monique Moultrie. “This bifurcates us in ways that just aren't useful.” 

An Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Georgia State University, Dr. Monique Moultrie’s work challenges socio-political norms within religious spaces. “We can be thinking believers with the expectation that the God we serve is big enough to ask questions of and have inquiries about”, states Moultrie. Moultrie’s scholarship advocates for an “uprooting of patriarchal, sexist, and heterosexist” structures, but stresses the need to envision and rebuild something better. 

Moultrie’s upbringing in a conservative, Baptist church in rural Virginia inspired questions about the reconcilability between faith and sexuality. In a teleconference with the Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual (WATER), Moultrie articulates these questions in further detail.

I had come to college with questions about my faith and sexuality like why women were discouraged from preaching, why young girls had to seek forgiveness from the church for getting pregnant, when the deacon’s son didn’t, why anyone cared how long my skirt was but no one cared where the trustees’ hands were*.

“The God I believed in was loving, and I didn’t see the disconnect between spirituality and sexuality that many people around me saw”, expressed Moultrie. “They’re not two different worlds.” 

Moultrie’s academic pursuits in sexual ethics, interfaith analyses of gender and sexuality, as well as African-American studies have resulted in degrees from Duke University, Harvard Divinity School, and Vanderbilt University. Furthermore, in 2017, Moultrie published “Passionate and Pious: Religious Media and Black Women’s Sexuality”, a book examining faith-based sexuality ministries, black women’s sexual agency, and questions of sexual identity among churchwomen**.

Moultrie’s current project, Hidden Histories: Faith and Black Lesbian Leadership (Duke University Press), delves into discussion of spirituality and sexuality, but informed by oral history interviews from black lesbian religious leaders. This manuscript illuminates the role of identity and self-location in reconciling faith, leadership, and sexuality. 

A common thread throughout Moultrie’s scholarship is a determination to challenge and deconstruct, but with the necessary nuance and precision to rebuild and strengthen. “I know it takes sustained attacking of the issue to make change happen”, shares Moultrie, “but I am also aware that I can’t choose what stage of courage people can have. Do your part to change the world, but also have a place to live. I want people to uproot and challenge, but I also want them to have something left.” 

From Moultrie’s commentary on post-election leadership to her work with the National Institute of Health as an LGBT consultant, a theme of pursuing purposeful, sustainable change proves the most salient. “I want my work, my voice, to be used in a way that will help the next generation and make conversations regarding their sexuality and their spirituality possible,” reflects Moultrie. 

“I don’t want the next generation to have questions about whether same-sex desire breaks their connection to God or whether or not consensual, sexual encounters shake their faith.” Across the spectrum of race, sexuality, gender, and faith, Dr. Monique Moultrie advocates for “lessons that let us be as free as we were intended to be”, in a world more inclusive, open, and available than ever before. 

*Read the transcript of Dr. Monique Moultrie’s teleconference with WATER here

**Check out Dr. Monique Moultrie’s publication here.