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The first book to detail how gay martyrs have influenced national debates over LGBT rights,
Dying to Be Normal establishes how religion has shaped gay assimilation in the United States and the mainstreaming of particular gays as "normal" Americans worthy of equal rights.
List of contents
- Dedication
- List of illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: Memorialization, Gay Assimilation, and American Religion
- Chapter One: The "Gay M.L.K.": Harvey Milk
- Chapter Two: The "Crucifixion" of "Anyone's Gay Son": Matthew Shepard
- Chapter Three: The "Epidemic of Bullying and Gay Teen Suicides": Tyler Clementi and It Gets Better
- Chapter Four: "The Place Where Two Discriminations Meet": Race, Gender, and the Threat of Violence
- Epilogue: The Pulse Nightclub Massacre and the Queer Potential of Memorialization
- Notes
- Selected Bibliography
- Index
About the author
Brett Krutzsch is Coordinator of the Center for Religion and Media and Instructor in the Department of Religious Studies at New York University. His scholarship examines intersections of religion, sexuality, gender, race, and politics in the United States.
Summary
The first book to detail how gay martyrs have influenced national debates over LGBT rights, Dying to Be Normal establishes how religion has shaped gay assimilation in the United States and the mainstreaming of particular gays as "normal" Americans worthy of equal rights.
Additional text
Brett Krutzsch's Dying to Be Normal is a brilliant study of martyrdom and memorialization as central to gay activism in the United States. Although religiosity and sexuality are often thought to be opposing forces, the book shows that religion and sex are powerfully entwined. Christian nationalism and Protestant secularism may form the current parameters of political possibility, but Krutzsch provides an expansive, alternative analysis that opens toward a diverse sexual democracy.
