Queer Identity Theories

In the 18th chapter of her book, Henderson-Espinoza explains the ways in which queer theories can be applied to Latin@ theologies, and she suggests a queerly normative future horizon that seeks to utilize existing Latin@ theologies in queer ways. The author's objective is to emphasize the reality of in/betweenness, which is characteristic of Latin@ people and that is often used to stabilize Latin@ in a reality of struggle instead of making in/betweenness be the effort of what drives their unstable identity emerging as a queer identity. She also explains that she seeks to use analytic frameworks to help displace the queer omission that has marked Latin@ theologies. She also says that Latin@ theologies have failed to include discourse about …show more content…
I think that some of the main notions explained by Henderson-Espinoza are very good and inspirational; however, I think that some of the concepts are very abstract and they are hard to understand and apply in the real world. I really liked how she emphasizes in/betweenness as what should drive the Latin@ identity to emerge as a queer identity. In fact, I believe that the Latin@ people don’t necessarily associate their identities to Latin American countries nor to the United States, but rather to where these two different cultures meet: the in/betweenness. As we discussed in class, this notion does not only apply to the Latin@ community, but also to others, such as the Asian one. I also think that this idea is also true for most other immigrant communities, even the not oppressed ones. For example, I have noticed how Italian Americans are not Italian at all (even though most of them think so), but they don’t consider themselves as solely American also. Even though I don’t want to exclude them from being Italian by saying they are not Italian anymore, that is actually the truth. I feel that they exemplify this idea of in/betweenness: neither here nor there. I agree with most Henderson-Espinoza regarding queer theories. I find it very interesting how she says says that ‘to queer’ is to challenge heterosexuality as a naturalized social-sexual norm and promote the notion of non-straightness. Non-heterosexuality has always been seen as something ‘wrong’ and as something ‘that needs to be fixed’. I think that promoting ‘non-straightness’ is the right thing to do, and I think that challenging heterosexuality as the norm is the only way to actually fight against discrimination. In fact, people tend to discriminate homosexual behavior as they see it as different from the norm. If they were taught since they were children that being homosexual has nothing wrong and is the same of being heterosexual, then they would not probably