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33rd out of 36 books
—
9 voters
Pray the Gay Away: The Extraordinary Lives of Bible Belt Gays
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 securin...more
Hardcover, 304 pages
Published
October 1st 2012
by New York University Press
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This was a fascinating book. It was not quite what I had expected; the presentation is much more scientific that I would have imagined. However, I do not intend that as a criticism. Rather, it gives the book added credibility. I found it very interesting to read about the psychological and cultural underpinnings of conservative Christianity's hatred of homosexuals and the struggles and triumphs of Bible Belt gays and lesbians in the face of culturally and politically sanctioned oppression. The a...more
Barton, herself a lesbian living in the Bible Belt, has written an engaging, highly readable text that is compassionate both to queer folks and to those who would condemn them. She doesn’t demonize evangelicals or fundamentalists but instead attempts to explain the social and cultural ideas that undergird Christian homophobia. Barton extends Foucault’s idea of the prison panopticon to the Bible Belt, arguing that the ubiquity of Christian symbols and churches, ‘personalism’ (be polite, don’t off...more
This book caught my eye when it came in on Interlibrary Loan. What must it be like to live in a microcosm in which everything from billboards to bumper stickers proclaim you are a filthy sinner who doesn't have the same rights as everyone else? Barton gives us a peek into the lives of gay people who live, work, and love in the American Bible Belt.
The section of the book I found most thought provoking was a devastating rebuke to the common homophobic rant, "I don't care what they do, but why do t...more
The section of the book I found most thought provoking was a devastating rebuke to the common homophobic rant, "I don't care what they do, but why do t...more
Dec 18, 2012
Candy Wood
added it
Considering that part of the motivation for this sociological study was a homophobic comment by a neighbor, I’m impressed with the care Bernadette Barton takes to avoid demonizing evangelicals like that neighbor. Her interviews document the struggles of many gays and lesbians, mostly in Kentucky, to affirm their own identity in the atmosphere of hatred fostered by many churches. As a participant-observer, she explored the methods of the “ex-gay” movement and concludes that those methods are not...more
I did quite enjoy this book, really. I opened it expecting it to be quite academic and found it to be so; I thus didn't find that disappointing (and was accustomed to it) but could understand why others would find it a bit duller than expected. I'll admit I wasn't all too impressed with her sampling method--the snowball survey, how many couples she chose, the spread of diversity--and wouldn't take much from it scientifically as a study, although I did enjoy the anecdotes and statistics. The scen...more
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I think anyone who lives in a predominantly Christian country and cares about the LGBTQ community can relate to many elements of Bernadette Barton's book Pray the Gay Away: The Extraordinary Lives of Bible Belt Gays, in that we have some experience with homophobia and some of that homophobia is religious-based, often from Christian groups. Certainly not all homophobes are Christian and not all Christians are homophobic, but in the Venn diagram of Christian...more
I think anyone who lives in a predominantly Christian country and cares about the LGBTQ community can relate to many elements of Bernadette Barton's book Pray the Gay Away: The Extraordinary Lives of Bible Belt Gays, in that we have some experience with homophobia and some of that homophobia is religious-based, often from Christian groups. Certainly not all homophobes are Christian and not all Christians are homophobic, but in the Venn diagram of Christian...more
This was a good book, yet maddening and sad that some Christians are the way they are on this topic. I wish the author had reported more about the Christian churches out there that are welcoming and affirming of LGBT people. I'm happy to be a part of the United Church of Christ and the Alliance of Baptists, two types of churches that are open and affirming towards LGBT people. The book talks about the importance of hearing the personal stories of LGBT people and I believe that is true.
This books reads like it is a sociology book, which is not surprising given that the author is in fact a sociology professor. This is not at all a problem for me because I was a sociology minor and find that a large majority of non-fiction books that I enjoy belong in a similar category. I only mention it because the book is written in a more academic fashion than your casual reader might appreciate.
The content of the book is based on sociological research via interviews with a number of gays l...more
The content of the book is based on sociological research via interviews with a number of gays l...more
A brilliant touching book that really informed me, a new englander, the situation of Bible Belt gays. I haven't dealt with 90% of what happened in these books, and this inspires me to teach others the risk of spirituality vs. gay dilemma. Also, even though I am not gay, in my transgender life I have experienced the 'dont ask dont tell' situation and seeing this is words, articulated by someone else, makes me feel only more kinship to the lgbt+ community.
Excellent and illuminating read...
Barton does a great job showcasing the lives of gays in the Bible Belt. The interviews are enlightening and her perspective is insightful. The book does seem to drag on toward the middle because it gets repetitive, but perhaps that's because what gays go through is consistent across the entire region.
Very good. This book contains many excerpts from insightful interviews, mostly with people from or living in Kentucky. I gained new insights about the ubiquitous nature of religion in Bible Belt areas and how it can affect people there.
This look at homosexuality in relation to Bible Belt culture was interesting, and some of the personal quotes and anecdotes were eye-opening and horrifying, but I think it could have been better-written.
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