The Gay Rights Debate

"Irreconcilable Differences? Intellectual Stalemate in the Gay Rights Debate" (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2002) offers a panoramic introduction to central issues in the gay rights debate, examining the scientific research (biology, psychology, sociology, anthropology), theological origins (Christian and non-Christian), and political implications (constitutional law, hate speech, harassment) of how Americans think about sexual diversity. It is structured to open up discussions for readers without pandering to the "already converted" or demonizing the opposition. The debate is stalemated because each side stereotypes or pathologizes the other's perspective, depicting them either as lost to conscience and reason or brain-washed victims of sin or dogmatism.

"Irreconcilable Differences" encourages readers to understand that both pro-gay rights and anti-gay rights positions bring something valuable to the debate, but that consensus is presently impossible because disputants work within separate intellectual traditions that make sense of the world in very different ways, with incompatible views as to what constitutes knowledge, interpretation, and persuasive evidence.

By surveying both scholarly and popular resources (including 57 web sites students can access for further research), I show how ideologically opposed groups identify themselves and maintain group solidarity by marshaling evidence to muster public support without addressing the conceptual divides between them. What do the words "sexuality," "unnatural," and "pluralism" mean? How have the methods and history of biblical scholarship contributed to conflicting interpretations? Can science provide compelling evidence for discussions of religious and social values when it has destabilized our definitions of who is "gay" or "straight" and what that means? Can government legislate values without discriminating against those who do not accept them? What kind of government intervention would protect both sides? Until we understand how difference (in spirituality, gender, sexuality, and social identity) is produced and what it means, the debate may generate only more legal skirmishes and mutual suspicion.