Exploring the Intersectionality of Bisexual, Religious/Spiritual, and Political Identities From a Feminist Perspective

Abstract Although there is a growing body of work that examines the religious/spiritual lives of bisexuals, additional research that further explores the intersectionality of these distinct identities is needed. Motivated by the feminist notions that the personal is political and individuals are experts of their own experiences, the aim of this study is to better understand intersecting identities experienced by bisexuals. Data from the Northern California Health Study was used to examine the intersection of bisexual, religious/spiritual, and political identities. Results suggest that higher lesbian, gay, and bisexual self-esteem scores and openness about sexual orientation correlate with higher levels of spirituality. Further, attraction to same-sex partners was associated with perceiving sexual orientation as a choice, identifying as bisexual at a younger age, an increased likeliness to come out, being less likely to view religion as socially important, and a higher belief statement score. The authors discuss the implications of these results. KEYWORDS: bisexualreligiousspiritualpoliticalidentityfeminismintersectionality Acknowledgments The data analyzed in this article is part of a larger study titled At the Intersection of Church and Gay: Religion, Spirituality, Conflict and Integration in Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual People of Faith, used to complete the first author's dissertation requirement in the Social/Personality Psychology Doctoral Program at the CUNY Graduate Center. The authors wish to thank Greg Herek and Eric Glunt for allowing us access to this incredible data set and David Shmerler and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article.