When sexual orientation is politicized, merely being gay becomes a political act. This is strikingly apparent in America's "Bible Belt," where the overwhelming presence of fundamentalist, evangelical Christians--most of whom oppose homosexuality--affects LGBT people in profound ways at work, at home and in their social lives. In Pray the Gay Away, sociology and women's studies professor Bernadette Barton explores the complex and interlocking conflicts that ensue when one tries to live in or out of the closet in a Bible Belt community.
Pray the Gay Away presents a compassionate, clear-headed exploration of life for gay individuals in the Bible Belt that is instantly refreshing, given the politicized and often polarizing nature of the topic. Barton neither writes off LGBT individuals as sinful nor conservative Christians as bigots. Rather, she humanizes both, presenting personal accounts from gay Bible Belt residents who were disowned, shunned and even attacked by family and friends for their orientation and statements from those for whom church and community are one unit ruled by God's inerrant word as revealed in the Bible--then unifies both groups, pointing out the considerable overlap between them. (Indeed, that overlap is frequently the very source of the inter- and intrapersonal conflict.)
With honest accounts and a frank and open tone, Pray the Gay Away injects some much-needed humanity into the conversation about gay rights and religious freedom. It is a must-read for all points of the political and religious spectrum. --Dani Alexis Ryskamp, blogger at The Book Cricket