A Queer Thing Happened To America (Hardcover)

A Queer Thing Happened To America (Hardcover)

$27.99


 

Forty years ago, most Americans said they didn’t know anyone who was homosexual and claimed to know little or nothing about homosexuality. Today, there’s hardly a sitcom without a prominent gay character, movies like Milk and Brokeback Mountain have won Oscars, and even People Magazine celebrated the marriage of Ellen Degeneres and Portia DeRossi. Forty years ago, the word “queer” was considered to be an extremely insulting, ugly slur. Today, we have books like Queering Elementary Education and The Queer Bible Commentary, while Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was a cable TV sensation and even school children are learning the meaning of “Gender Queer.” Forty years ago, people were fired from their jobs for being gay. Today, college professors have been fired for taking issue with same-sex practice, counselors have been dismissed for refusing to affirm gay and lesbian relationships, and even pastors have been arrested for saying that homosexual behavior was sinful.

 
A Queer Thing Happened to America chronicles the amazing transformation of America over the last forty years, literally, from Stonewall Inn to the White House, and addresses the question head-on: Is there really a gay agenda, or is it a fiction of the religious right? Written in a lively and compelling style, but backed with massive research and extensive interaction with the GLBT community, this forthright and yet compassionate book looks at the extraordinary impact gay activism has had on American society - from nursery school to college, from the pulpit to Hollywood, and from science to semantics - also analyzing the foundational arguments of the gay civil rights movement and exposing the extreme intolerance of those calling for tolerance. This could easily be the most controversial book of the decade. Read it and find out why the publishing world was afraid to touch it.
 
From the back cover:
 
From a conservative pundit: “Book publishing is a difficult business now, and no media is willing to promote a book that opposes homosexuality. . . . Economic self-interest is going to make it very tough for a publisher to say yes.”

 

From a conservative publisher: “There would be a very concrete, though difficult to measure financial penalty to pay for publishing your book. . . . Practically speaking it could actually destroy the firm . . . .”

 

From a bestselling conservative author: “Honestly, there is no NY publisher . . . who will touch this manuscript.”

 

From the head of a New York City publicity firm: “Unfortunately [he] spoke with his team and he doesn’t have anyone willing to take on Dr. Brown’s book.”

 

From a publishing insider: “I’d be better off burning the money in my fireplace.  . . . . The economics of publishing a book like this are bleak.”

 

From a top literary agent who farmed the manuscript out to a number of major publishers: “Most thought the material was too controversial....all felt that the title would need to be changed.”

 


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