Gay Ideas: Outing and Other Controversies

One of the most provocative thinkers in the gay community has turned his attention to the urgent moral dilemmas facing gays in America today. Gay Ideas addresses, in diverse and often unexpected ways, how gays ought to represent themselves in the face of an increasingly threatening climate of homophobia, repression, and violence. Mohr's topics are controversial: he offers an ethical defense of outing, criticizes ACT UP for misunderstanding rights, and shows how society's treatment of gay men and lesbians has affected for the worse the general state of civil liberties in America. Covering different areas of gay life - politics, culture, and education - Mohr shows how "gay ideas" interact with the most entrenched American values. In one of the book's most controversial chapters, the author uses homoerotic images to espouse a model and guarantor of democracy, ultimately arguing that gays have more to offer democracy than it has offered them. He also shows how the AIDS Quilt embodies the central values of liberalism. In the final section of the book, Mohr critiques theories of the social construction of homosexuality and redeems nature as a source of beauty and wonderment for gays. Throughout Gay Ideas, Mohr affirms the importance of liberty, privacy, dignity, and individual worth in gay life. His groundbreaking arguments offer fresh insight into gay culture, American identity, democracy, and social justice.