Virtually Normal
by Andrew Sullivan
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Book Summary Information
Author: Andrew SullivanEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1996-09-17
ISBN: 0679746145
Number of pages: 240
Publisher: Vintage
Book Reviews of Virtually Normal
Book Review: Stimulating and enjoyable, but don't forget the salt
Summary: 3 Stars
In this book, Sullivan divides and defines the political views on homosexuality into 4 views - the prohibitionists, the liberationists, the conservatives, and the liberals (the other reviewers have adequately summarized the 4 views, so I shall not add my own). He goes on to posit his view that all public (as opposed to private) discrimination against homosexuals be ended, particularly in the areas of marriage and the military.
Sullivan mercilessly dissects the 4 different views one by one, pointing out their flaws and weaknesses and internal inconsistensies, and why they are all essentially untenable. I found his essay on the liberationists (if they would allow you to label them so) is particularly poignant and even brilliant. He also has good discussions and arguments on the other views, but due to the sheer amount of arguments (and arguments based upon previous arguments), some flawed arguments have slipped in, rendering his conclusions not as convincing as it would seem to an uncritical reader.
I feel that the book would have been a great one despite the weaknesses pointed out above, if not for the completely dismal treament on the prohibitionists, which I am about to highlight.
Sullivan rightly notes that the prohibitionists are difficult to engage as they generally base their prohibitionistic views on the authority of the Bible. He goes on to show why the Bible does not really condemn homosexuality as much as it seems to.
For instance, in p.27 where he deals with the biblical passage in Leviticus 18, claiming that the "abomination" in v.22 is more clearly translated as "ritual impurity". This interpretation is from John Boswell, who is hardly recognized as an honest scholar, and happens to be gay (and Sullivan fails to mention that fact). Anyone familiar with the biblical languages or the passage in question will find this interpretation impossible.
Sullivan (from Boswell) goes on to claim that the context in Leviticus shows that there are "identical provisions against eating pork or engaging in sexual intercourse during menstruation." I looked up the passage(s) in question, and found that Sullivan forgot to mention that the immediate context is actually a command against offering one's children to Molech (in Lev. 18), and incest (Lev. 20), and bestiality (Lev. 18 & 20). Look it up for yourself.
This is not just intellectually biased. This is dishonest.
But he's not done -- there's still Romans 1 to deal with:
"26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet."
The book claims that the passage is not dealing with homosexuality per se, but heterosexuals who engage in homosexual behavior, against their own nature. Meaning that those who are "naturally" or born homosexuals are not condemned in this passage!
Simply ingenious, but completely warped. Are we to believe that Paul and his readers didn't know about the clear Levitical injunctions against homosexual acts? Any honest and unbiased reader without an agenda to justify homosexuality can never come to this interpretation.
Sullivan has good intentions in engaging the prohibitionist in argument, but doing so by misinterpreting their source of authority (the Bible) is poor argumentation and wishful thinking, and completely misses the point. Very disappointing.
Sullivan should have dealt with the real issue behind the prohibitionist ideal -- there is a fixed moral law set by God, and the Bible is God's revelation to man. Sullivan has failed to grasp this point, and thus completely misunderstands and misrepresents the core prohibitionist deal.
In as sense I am glad I did not give up on Virtually Normal after the dismal chapter on the prohibitionists (and rating it only 1 star), as the rest of the book was much better - thought-provoking and rather enjoyable (thus I give it a couple more stars).
My recommendation - read and enjoy the book by all means, but don't forget your pinch of salt.
Summary of Virtually Normal
no subject has divided contemporary America more bitterly than homosexuality.??Addressing the full range of the debate in this pathbreaking book, Andrew Sullivan, the former editor of The New Republic, restores both reason and humanity to the discussion over how a predominantly heterosexual society should deal with its homosexual citizens.Sympathetically yet relentlessly, Sullivan assesses the prevailing public positions on homosexuality--from prohibitionist to liberationist and from conservative to liberal.??In their place, he calls for a politics of homosexuality that would guarantee the rights of gays and lesbians without imposing tolerance.??At once deeply personal and impeccably reasoned, written with elegance and wit, Virtually Normal will challenge readers of every persuasion; no book is more likely to transform out sexual politics in the coming decades.
In a dizzyingly short period of time, homosexuality has gone from being the love that dare not speak its name to the one that shouts it. Refreshingly, in this wide-ranging discussion of the moral and political status of homosexuals, Sullivan, the gay former whizbang New Republic editor, prefers the middle register. On the one hand, he shuns the liberal tendency to give gays victim status but, on the other, advocates the legalization of gay marriage because he views it as the public recognition of a gay's basic human right to fully love another member of his/her group -- a right that, Sullivan notes, even bigots generally grant those they hate.
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