Virtually Normal: An Argument About Homosexuality - Hardcover

Sullivan, Andrew

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679423826 ISBN 13: 9780679423829

Publisher: Knopf, 1995

Synopsis

An unprecedented work from the brilliant young editor of The New Republic--who is celebrated also as an incisive defender of the equality of homosexuals--Virtually Normal is an impassioned, reasoned, subtle, and uncompromising political and moral treatise that will set the terms of the homosexuality debate for the foreseeable future.

About this title

About the Author

Andrew Sullivan was editor of The New Republic from 1991 to 1996.  He holds a B. A. in modern history and modern languages from Oxford University and a Ph. D. in political science from Harvard University.  He lives in Washington, D. C.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

From the Inside Flap

nted work from the brilliant young editor of The New Republic--who is celebrated also as an incisive defender of the equality of homosexuals--Virtually Normal is an impassioned, reasoned, subtle, and uncompromising political and moral treatise that will set the terms of the homosexuality debate for the foreseeable future.

Reviews

In this lucid polemic, New Republic editor Sullivan, who is gay, defines four major sets of attitudes toward homosexuality. Prohibitionists regard same-sex physical love as a sickness or a crime against nature, requiring cure or punishment. Liberationists, exemplified by historian Michel Foucault and ACT UP, regard homosexuality as a social construct defined variously by individual cultures. Conservatives combine private tolerance of homosexuality with public disapproval or discretion, believing that public acceptance could undermine the family. Liberals enmesh homosexuals in a web of rights and protections, yet their own arguments for free expression, association and contract have been turned against them. Advocating a synthesis of the best arguments of liberals and conservatives, Sullivan calls for an end to all public discrimination against homosexuals, for equal opportunity and inclusion in the military, for unbiased teaching about homosexuality in public schools and for legalized gay and lesbian marriage. 50,000 first printing.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the first page, one gets the impression that something important is happening here: this is a level-headed, clearly argued discussion of gay rights, the homosexual, and society. The author, editor of The New Republic, describes the major arguments in the continuing debate between the gay rights and special rights camps. He delineates the philosophical, religious, and social foundations and implications of each position, from the misplaced moral outrage of the far right to the victim politics of the left, and forecasts their respective political futures in the light of their logical conclusions and new political realities. Sullivan finds all these arguments lacking any hope of clear victory, and he glumly foresees a continuing political muddle unless an alternative is found. His own solution, a new politics of civility, is at once old-fashioned and highly original. He argues that the government should outlaw all public discrimination of gays and lesbians while at the same time allowing private individuals to discriminate as they wish. Sullivan's approach satisfies the concerns of conservatives and liberals alike, although his old-fashioned definition of laissez-faire liberalism will rile most liberals, and his most radical suggestion, legal recognition of gay marriages, will certainly flutter conservatives' tail feathers. Highly recommended.?Jeffery Ingram, Newport P.L., Ore.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

To the volcano of controversy homosexuality has become in American politics, the editor of the New Republic brings light rather than more heat. Acknowledging his own partisanship as a homosexual, he nevertheless coolly dissects the four political armies he sees arrayed on the homosexuality battlefield of the culture war. Sullivan finds the first two--prohibitionists, who object to homosexuality on the basis primarily of biblical authority, and liberationists (such as ACT-UP and Queer Nation), radical egalitarians who conceive of homosexuality as a social construct rather than a personal quality--ironically alike because neither engages in the give-and-take of politics, instead issuing demands based in attitudes of, respectively, indisputable rectitude and permanent rebellion. The other two, conservatives and liberals, are politically engaged, but on the issues of homosexuality, they are deeply conflicted internally. Conservatives have long practiced public disapproval and private toleration of homosexuals, but events have conspired to make this practice seem obtuse. Liberals, meanwhile, by attempting to treat individual prejudice against homosexuality as an object of civil rights legislation, have upended their own historic dedication to evenhanded governmental treatment of all citizens. Sullivan finally posits a new politics of homosexuality that blends liberal equality in the eyes of the state with conservative social stability in a program whose twin tenets are open, unimpeded gay military service and legal gay marriage. Skillfully argued and carefully written, this is the best book ever on gay politics. Ray Olson

Edition details

• Publisher: Knopf
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0679423826
• ISBN 13: 9780679423829
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 209