In Lucia Herndon’s teenage years, confusion and anxiety surrounded her queer identity. She felt torn between her self-discovery and her religious faith, an essential aspect of her life.
“I think of myself in high school,” said Herndon, a junior musical theater major. “The moments when faith and identity weren’t reconciled for me, as a person who’s always had such a strong interest in religion and it’s always been so important to me, it was just this complete loss of myself.”
During this time, Herndon joined a virtual youth group, looking for a way to bridge an internal gap between her faith and identity. She felt reconnected with her religion and became passionate about searching for similar spaces.
When she came to Temple, Herndon found exactly what she was searching for in the IDEAL Lounge at Tuttleman Learning Center, where Temple’s Queer Bible Study meets weekly. For many in the LGBTQ community, the relationship between identity and religion can be difficult to navigate, but through her work as QBS’ president, Herndon hopes to help queer people reconnect with their faith.
Jaden Roberts joined QBS the year it began in 2019 and thinks the relationships that are built with other members is the reason people keep coming back.
“Many of the people I met in the original group that have since graduated are still in contact with us,” said Roberts, a senior health professions major. “They were energetic, not necessarily extroverted I suppose, but they were all very enthusiastic and welcoming.”
Members spend QBS meeting time reading the bible, but their approach is one open to different perspectives and interpretations unlike a typical bible study. Questions are welcome and humor is appreciated.
Aside from the usual bible study, QBS has also put together game nights and discussions with people in the community. Noah Hepler, a pastor at the Church of Atonement in Fishtown, joined the group to discuss his appearance on the Netflix show Queer Eye, a unique example of merging faith and identity.
Members feel QBS is a space centered around inclusion, which is not always the case when it comes to religious spaces. The social stigma around queerness that exists within the larger Christian community can lead people to avoid spaces like church, which Herndon believes is sending LGBTQ people on a search for different ways to express their faith.
“As a queer person in the church, you’re forced to separate from community not only spiritually, but intellectually,” Herndon said. “If you’ve become affirming of your queerness but your church isn’t, you’re going to be filtering your pastor’s words through a certain bubble of how much you can take in.”
Unlike many churches, the lack of hierarchy in QBS makes it easier for students to share questions and feedback. That focus on openness has played a large part in creating this close and connected group of students.
Felicity Davis, a second-year master’s student studying voice performance, joined QBS in August 2023. She never felt fully included anywhere when she first came to Temple; Catholic spaces often derided her queer identity, and LGBTQ spaces similarly cast sideways glances at her faith.
“I’ll go to my queer community, and they’ll be like, ‘You’re Catholic? You can’t be Catholic and queer because Catholicism traditionally keeps out the queer community,’” Davis said. “And then I go to my Catholic community, and they say, ‘Why do you have a pride bumper sticker on your car?’”
Herndon, Roberts and Davis all found a home at QBS with like-minded people searching for an inclusive environment to practice their faith. There was no longer a need to filter and suppress aspects of their identity, allowing them to trust more in their faith and in others.
QBS meets at 4 p.m. on Mondays in the IDEAL Lounge and is always looking to welcome new members interested in exploring the intersection of religion and identity, Herndon said.
“I’ll never forget walking into that first meeting and actually seeing people who are on this path,” Davis said. “It’s a place where we can all feel seen and heard, and that’s really important. It’s a wonderful organization.”
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