"It was Nothing That was Super Subversive": Resistance as a Narrative Process in Dialectical Identity Spaces Among Mothers of LGBTQ+ Children in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

This study examines resistance and identity dialectics among mothers of LGBTQ+ children in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Narrative theme analysis of in-depth interviews with 22 members of Mama Dragons, a nonprofit advocacy organization, revealed voiced identities (Mother, Latter-day Saint, LGBTQ+ Mother, and Dragon/Advocate) conceptualized as existing on a coordinate plane that measures voice (individual or organizational), and ways of knowing (ontological or experiential). Findings advance a view of dialectical resistance that moves beyond current understandings of an alternating control-resistance dialectic, suggesting that the process of resisting happens between storied identities. This study extends the exploration of resistance beyond organizational boundaries, suggesting that where totalistic organizational values bleed into the core identity (e.g. faith values), resistance is undertaken against not only the organization but often formerly held antenarrative versions of the self.