Rhetorics of incommensurability: Disarticulating queer Christianity in mainstream news coverage of the Soulforce Equality Ride

In this article, we present a critical rhetorical analysis of mainstream news coverage of the Soulforce Equality Ride, an annual bus tour composed of mostly queer and trans Christian students who protest Christian colleges and universities with anti-queer or anti-trans policies. We argue that much mainstream news coverage of the Equality Ride rhetorically functions to disarticulate queer and Christian identities by: marginalizing the activists, overemphasizing the activists’ arrests, and framing Christian colleges and universities as hospitable and welcoming environments for the activists. By disarticulating queer and Christian identities, the news stories discussed in this article undermine without overcoming the discursive labour of Soulforce activists who both embody and perform queer Christianity. Thus, although mainstream news coverage does not undo the articulatory work of the Soulforce activists, it does demonstrate that queer Christianity is a rhetorical achievement that can only be maintained through continuous discursive struggle.