UCLA

This dissertation explores the rich terrain of queer and trans divine connection, all the myriad ways individuals seek out, relate to, visualize, and understand God. Through the eyes of second-generation queer and trans Iranian Americans of the Los Angeles diaspora, this dissertation entertains the complex relationships between queerness/transness and Islamic identity. Attentive to the migratory traumas of the parent generation (The Revolution and Hostage Crisis), the racial posturing they constructed (White, Aryan Race, non-Muslim), and modern American racial discourses (post-9/11, Muslims as terrorists), For the Love of God asks how queer/trans members of the Iranian diaspora are articulating and experiencing their religious and/or spiritual beliefs. This dissertation honors their multivalent identities, their fears, their hopes, and their dreams, as instructive sites of queer/trans imaginaries and futures.