Title: “Pray the Gay Away: The Extraordinary Lives of Bible Belt Gays”
Speaker: Dr. Bernadette Barton, Professor of Sociology and Women’s Studies, Morehead State University
Thursday, January 17, 2013, 2-3:30pm—*WGSS-sponsored
Location: Tangeman University Center 400B
What is it like to grow up gay and live in the Bible Belt?
While discussions of gay rights are increasingly prevalent in American
media, the thoughts and experiences of gay people, especially those from Bible
Belt states, remain background noise in the conversation. Legally, Bible
Belt gays are still second-class citizens.
Living in the Bible Belt, a region
highly saturated with conservative Christian beliefs and practices, socializes
gay men and lesbians to suppress their same-sex attractions, hide them and try
to pray the gay away. In this powerful multi-media presentation –
including original interview data from lesbians and gay men living in the Bible
Belt, video clips and photographs – Dr. Barton illustrates the effects of
religious-based homophobia on individual lives.
She concludes the lecture
noting that although the institutional voices condemning homosexuality are
loud, there is much evidence that acceptance of homosexuality is rapidly
increasing among a range of social groups, even in the Bible Belt. Lesbians,
gay men and their allies, indeed all those committed to social justice, have
reasons to feel hopeful about the future of gay rights in the region.
Dr. Barton is the author of two books, Pray the Gay Away: The
Extraordinary Lives of Bible Belt Gays (New York University Press, 2012),
and Stripped: Inside the Lives of Exotic Dancers (New York University
Press, 2006). Her research on gender, sexuality, feminism, work, and religion has
appeared in Feminist Formations, Gender & Society, Journal
of Contemporary Ethnography, Journal of Homosexuality, Qualitative
Sociology, Sexuality & Culture, and Symbolic Interaction.
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