ABSTRACT

This article examines the unlikely ways that media celebrity enabled priests and nuns in Ireland to make gay and lesbian identities visible. Despite the fact that sex among men was criminalised in Ireland until 1993, Catholic priests and nuns during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s used their mass media celebrity to make same-sex desire and LGBTQIA+ identities visible in popular media, especially through the public service broadcaster RTÉ. The article examines three case studies in which priests and nuns ‘queered the pulpit,’ harnessing their public personas to affirm LGBTQIA+ identities across various Irish media platforms in ways that were surprisingly tolerant, given Catholic orthodoxy. The article speaks to the paucity of research regarding religious personalities as celebrities. The omission of religious figures from the celebrity studies literature is noteworthy, particularly in the Irish context, where broadcast media has been a potent site for cultivating clergy celebrity. The article’s focus on religious celebrities who gave voice to LGBTQIA+ lives and concerns in the Irish context also reframes the traditional narrative of the relationship between media and Catholic clergy, which has often been characterised solely in terms of scandal.

摘要

本文探讨了媒体名人使爱尔兰的神父和修女能够让同性恋身份变得可见的不太可能的方式。尽管在 1993 年之前，男性之间的性行为在爱尔兰被定为犯罪，但 1970 年代、1980 年代和 1990 年代的天主教神父和修女利用他们的大众媒体名人在大众媒体上展示同性欲望和 LGBTQIA+ 身份，尤其是通过公共服务广播公司 RTÉ。这篇文章研究了三个案例研究，其中牧师和修女“在讲坛上做酷儿”，利用他们的公众形象在各种爱尔兰媒体平台上以令人惊讶的宽容方式确认 LGBTQIA+ 身份，考虑到天主教的正统观念。这篇文章谈到了关于宗教人物作为名人的研究很少。名人研究文献中对宗教人物的遗漏值得注意，尤其是在爱尔兰，广播媒体一直是培养神职人员名人的有力场所。这篇文章关注在爱尔兰背景下为 LGBTQIA+ 生活和关注点发声的宗教名人，也重新构建了媒体与天主教神职人员之间关系的传统叙述，这种关系通常仅以丑闻为特征。