Virtually Normal: An Argument About Homosexuality
Cover of the first edition
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| Author | Andrew Sullivan |
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| Cover artist | Chip Kidd |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Homosexuality |
| Published | 1995 (Picador) |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 225 |
| ISBN | |
Virtually Normal: An Argument About Homosexuality is a 1995 book about the politics of homosexuality by Andrew Sullivan, in which Sullivan discusses and criticizes four different perspectives on gay rights in American society, which he calls the "Prohibitionist", "Liberationist", "Conservative", and "Liberal" views. Sullivan also argues in favor of same-sex marriage and an end to the Don't ask, don't tell policy, which banned military service by openly gay people. The book received some praise from reviewers, as well as more negative and critical reactions.
The book presents the reader with four groups of citizens who view homosexuality in a specific manner within American society, criticizing the arguments: Prohibitionists, Liberationists, Conservatives, and Liberals.
The Prohibitionists comprise strict followers of the Bible. They believe that "homosexuality is an aberration and that homosexual acts are an abomination" and that homosexuality is an illness that requires a cure and that homosexual acts should be punished. Sullivan asserts that there is inconsistency with Prohibitionists that use Biblical and moral arguments against homosexuality yet not against other conditions many Christians find sexually immoral. In order for Prohibitionists to have effective policy, they have to be hypocritical in their denial of marriage to gays yet not to infertile couples (because they claim marriage's sole purpose is procreation). However, if the Prohibitionists are consistent, then their views are too marginal to be accepted by society at large.
The Liberationists are epitomised by Queer Nation. They believe, like the Prohibitionists, that no one is "homosexual" but for a different reason. To a Liberationist, words such as "homosexual", "homosexuality", "gay", and "lesbian" are simply tools that the straight majority use to oppress the gay minority. An example of this would be that a gay man who feels sexual attraction for a particular woman would be limited by the chains of his "sexual orientation". Sullivan claims their flaw to be that liberationist policy, by rejecting the notion of limiting oneself to words, fails to improve the plight of the gay community.
Conservatives, unlike the Prohibitionists, don't believe that everyone is essentially heterosexual. They acknowledge the existence of a gay minority. However, they believe that homosexuality should be only a private matter and kept silent in public matters. They further believe that gays should not seek to change public acceptance of homosexuality because social change will come with time, just as it has for other minorities. Sullivan says that the problem of the Conservatives is that as gays gain increasing acceptance in Western societies, they are faced with two alternatives. The first is a path of "increasing isolation and uncomfortable hostility to homosexuality". The second is to incorporate homosexual trends into their conservatism, as those originally opposed to women's suffrage eventually accepted the notion of women contributing to the conservative tradition of democracy.
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