Queer Thing Happened to America - Michael Brown

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 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, counsellors have been dismissed for refusing to affirm gay and lesbian relationships, and even pastors have been arrested for saying that homosexual behaviour was sinful. The book chronicles the amazing transformation of America over the last forty years, literally, from Stonewall Inn to the Whitehouse, 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 analysing 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.