Queer as Kagyu: negotiating dissident identities

This chapter looks at the intersection between queer emancipation and Social Media within a Tibetan Buddhist Convert movement, the neo-orthodox Diamond Way of the Danish Karma Kagyu (bKa’ brgyud) lay teacher Ole Nydahl, using a range of unpublished archive material, ethnographic observation-participation, qualitative research and discourse
analysis.

After briefly introducing the background and dharma (i.e., Buddhist teachings and practices) of the movement, the Diamond Way’s usage and policies around internet and Social Media are discussed. A case study on queer voices in Diamond Way cyberspace elucidates the difficulties of negotiating queer spaces and dharma spaces, queer visibility and queer emancipation in the hetero-normative and heterosexist religious context of a global Buddhist lay convert community.