Abstract Three students enrolled at the Todd Seminary for Boys in the early 1920s married each other in a private, self-designed ceremony. One of the participants, pseudonymously identified as Henry, later wrote extensively about this relationship for a psychological researcher. His lengthy autobiographical account detailed his early childhood, family life, and sexual experiences with other boys. Henry emphasized particular features of the marriage: the language of the vows, the ritual objects involved, and the other participants. Their triadic union was intensely meaningful for Henry. “Will” was Henry’s sexual partner, but a third boy, “Junior,” behaved as an asexual “little.” Queer theory and religious studies offer tools for interpreting this narrative. Henry and Will both experienced significant traumas, but Henry’s was especially tied to gender performance and sexuality. His experience of Christianity was one of moralistic, disciplinary punishment, often accompanied by humiliation and shame. Before entering Todd, his sexual behavior generated tension with his Congregationalist parents, who responded by sabotaging his other relationships. Although Todd marketed itself as a pure moral environment that trained boys in manly Christian citizenship, Henry rejected that in favor of queer relational creativity.
Andrew Monteith (Fri,) studied this question.