Religious Disaffiliation and Family Relationships: A Grounded Theory Study of LGBTQ+ Women's Experiences

For those who were raised in a religious household, leaving one's religion of origin (religious disaffiliation) can be a significant life event that impacts a person for years to come. Similarly, coming out and living authentically as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or another sexual or gender minority (LGBTQ+) is another event that, although ongoing, shapes the course of one's life significantly. In this grounded theory study, the researcher examines LGBTQ+ women's experiences of religious disaffiliation to create an understanding of what the disaffiliation process is like for LGBTQ+ women, and what happens to family relationships during and after disaffiliation. Several themes emerged, including similarities in why they disaffiliated, how they disaffiliated, and what happened to significant relationships during and after disaffiliation.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Human Development

Department dc:contributor.department

Adult Learning and Human Resource Development

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2020

Author dc:creator

• Gary, Emily Ann

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Grafsky, Erika L.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Shivers, Carolyn
• Allen, Katherine R.
• Russon, Jody M.

• Disaffiliation
• religion
• LGBTQ+
• Women
• grounded theory
• qualitative research

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:25673

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/106914