Synopses & Reviews
In the Bible Belt, its common to see bumper stickers that claim One Man + One Woman = Marriage, church billboards that command one to “Get right with Jesus,” letters to the editor comparing gay marriage to marrying ones dog, and nightly news about homophobic attacks from the Family Foundation. While some areas of the Unites States have made tremendous progress in securing rights for gay people, Bible Belt states lag behind. Not only do most Bible Belt gays lack domestic partner benefits, lesbians and gay men can still be fired from some places of employment in many regions of the Bible Belt for being a homosexual. In Pray the Gay Away, Bernadette Barton argues that conventions of small town life, rules which govern Southern manners, and the power wielded by Christian institutions serve as a foundation for both passive and active homophobia in the Bible Belt. She explores how conservative Christian ideology reproduces homophobic attitudes and shares how Bible Belt gays negotiate these attitudes in their daily lives. Drawing on the remarkable stories of Bible Belt gays, Barton brings to the fore their thoughts, experiences and hard-won insights to explore the front lines of our national culture war over marriage, family, hate crimes, and equal rights. Pray the Gay Away illuminates their lives as both foot soldiers and casualties in the battle for gay rights.
Review
“Bernadette Barton takes us on a vivid inside tour of Bible Belt America that us privileged gay folks from more liberal parts of the U.S. have a hard time imagining or even knew existed. The stories she tells are riveting, heartbreaking, infuriating, yet ultimately uplifting.”-Eric Marcus,author of Making Gay History
Review
"Barton's (sociology & women's studies, Morehead State Univ.) title refers to the fact that many Southern Christians believe that gayness will go away if one prays for that to happen. She explains that social and religious conservatism holds sway in much of the American South. Christian churches there are often bible-literalist and fundamentalist, and preachers routinely excoriate gays as the "spawn of Satan." Gays frequently are disowned by their parents, spurned by siblings, and shunned or "disfellowshipped" by other church members. The widespread belief in the South is that the "gay lifestyle" is a free choice, and not genetically determined, and that people who "choose" to be gay are the most abominable of sinners. Barton herself is gay and lives in civil union (approved in Vermont) with her partner of many years. VERDICT This book can be very hard to read on an emotional level. Many of the gay Southerners the author interviewed communicate their deep sense of oppression, betrayal, and rejection by the very people they most love: parents, family members, and spiritual guides. Very much worth reading, and at times moving, the book indicts the conservative wing of Christianity for promoting cruelty and intolerance."-Library Journal,
Review
"[The author] draws on a trove of ethnographic data, including in-depth interviews with Bible Belt gays, visits to the Creation Museum and a local megachurch, attendance at an Exodus International conference for ex-gays, and her own experiences as an openly lesbian professor... Though Barton documents numerous cases of religious-based abuse, she is tolerant of conservative Christians."-Publishers Weekly,
Review
"The authors tales of gay life in this area of the country, where anti-gay evangelical Protestantism holds sway, range from the harrowing to the mundane...[The book is] worthwhile reading for anyone interested in what it means to be gay in an overtly hostile environment."-Kirkus Reviews,
Review
"I highly recommend Pray the Gay Away to anyone with an interest in contemporary queer experience, in Bible Belt Christianity, and the intersection of the two. Id go so far as to say its required reading for anyone who cares about what it means to be gay in America today. Whether or not youve ever lived in the 'toxic closet' yourself, too many of our fellow citizens still wake up there every morning. We owe it to them to listen to the stories they have so generously shared."-Anna J. Cook,The Feminist Librarian
Review
"Very much worth reading, and at times moving, the book indicts the conservative wing of Christianity for promoting cruelty and intolerance." -Library Journal,
Synopsis
2013 Finalist for the Lambda Literary Awards, LGBT Studies categoryIn the Bible Belt, it s common to see bumper stickers that claim One Man + One Woman = Marriage, church billboards that command one to Get right with Jesus, letters to the editor comparing gay marriage to marrying one s dog, and nightly news about homophobic attacks from the Family Foundation. While some areas of the Unites States have made tremendous progress in securing rights for gay people, Bible Belt states lag behind. Not only do most Bible Belt gays lack domestic partner benefits, lesbians and gay men can still be fired from some places of employment in many regions of the Bible Belt for being a homosexual. In Pray the Gay Away, Bernadette Barton argues that conventions of small town life, rules which govern Southern manners, and the power wielded by Christian institutions serve as a foundation for both passive and active homophobia in the Bible Belt. She explores how conservative Christian ideology reproduces homophobic attitudes and shares how Bible Belt gays negotiate these attitudes in their daily lives. Drawing on the remarkable stories of Bible Belt gays, Barton brings to the fore their thoughts, experiences and hard-won insights to explore the front lines of our national culture war over marriage, family, hate crimes, and equal rights. Pray the Gay Away illuminates their lives as both foot soldiers and casualties in the battle for gay rights. "
Synopsis
2013 Finalist for the Lambda Literary Awards, LGBT Studies category
Barton argues that conventional Southern manners and religious institutions provide a foundation for homophobia in the Bible Belt
In the Bible Belt, it's common to see bumper stickers that claim One Man + One Woman = Marriage, church billboards that command one to "Get right with Jesus," letters to the editor comparing gay marriage to marrying one's dog, and nightly news about homophobic attacks from the Family Foundation. While some areas of the Unites States have made tremendous progress in securing rights for gay people, Bible Belt states lag behind. Not only do most Bible Belt gays lack domestic partner benefits, lesbians and gay men can still be fired from some places of employment in many regions of the Bible Belt for being a homosexual.
In Pray the Gay Away, Bernadette Barton argues that conventions of small town life, rules which govern Southern manners, and the power wielded by Christian institutions serve as a foundation for both passive and active homophobia in the Bible Belt. She explores how conservative Christian ideology reproduces homophobic attitudes and shares how Bible Belt gays negotiate these attitudes in their daily lives. Drawing on the remarkable stories of Bible Belt gays, Barton brings to the fore their thoughts, experiences and hard-won insights to explore the front lines of our national culture war over marriage, family, hate crimes, and equal rights. Pray the Gay Away illuminates their lives as both foot soldiers and casualties in the battle for gay rights.
About the Author
Bernadette C. Barton is Associate Professor of Sociology and Women's Studies at Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky.
Table of Contents
Introduction: “In the Eyes of the Lord”1. Welcome to the Bible Belt 2. “My Parents Disowned Me”: Family Rejection 3. “God Would Tell on Me”: Losing their Religion 4. “They Dont Know Who I Am”: The Toxic Closet 5. “Going Straight”: The Ex-Gay Movement 6. “Prepare to Believe”: The Creation Museum 7. “The Opposite of Faith Is Fear”: Destruction and Transformation 8. “God Can Love All of Me”: Living the Life 9. What the Future Holds