Title: Growing up gay in the South : race, gender, and journeys of the spirit /
Authors: Sears, James T. 1951-
Publisher: Harrington Park Press,
Year: 1991
Subjects: Homosexuality; Gay teenagers Southern States.; Homosexuality Southern States Case studies.; Homosexuality Religious aspects Christianity; Southeastern United States
Abstract: Growing Up Gay in the South gives voice to the extraordinary struggle of lesbian and gay adolescents as they try to define themselves in a homophobic society. Through the lives of these "sexual rebels," Sears tells stories of courage and triumph in the face of defeat. Growing Up Gay in the South artfully blends the distinctive features of Southern life into the biographies of young people who must make sense of their sexual identities and struggle in a hostile world. Sears gives visibility to a largely invisible population and in doing so he has made a wonderful contribution to the body of information on gay and lesbian youth. - Foreword.
Contents: Foreword / Virginia Uribe -- Preface / Jonathan Kozol -- Introduction / Walter L. Williams -- Peering through prisms of sexual rebels -- Vantage point one : Homosexuality and the religious South -- White churches : the Southern Baptists and the fundamentalists -- Vince and the True Tones -- Black churches and sects : the African Methodists and the Jehovah's Witnesses -- Malcolm and the Young Pioneers -- Vantage point two : Homosexuality and Southern communities -- "White trash" and female in a Southern community -- Norma Jean, ROTC, and the live oak tree -- A gentle-man in a Southern community -- Royce and the Rockview Country Club -- Black or gay in a Southern community -- Jacob and the bus boycott -- Vantage point three : Homosexuality and Southern families -- Questioning authority in a Southern Black family -- Obie and the breaking of ties -- Honoring and carrying on the family name -- Terry and the two tux prom -- Vantage point four : Gender and sexuality : being and behaving queer in the South -- The kids -- Cory and the little redneck hell-raisers -- The outcasts -- Alston and the Rocky Horror Picture Show -- The tomboys -- Everetta and the "Cinderella complex" -- Vantage point five : Sexuality and adolescence : peers, queers, and tears -- Relationships -- Olivia and the silenced relationships -- Peers -- Phillip, Edith, and the Three Musketeers -- Educators -- Brett and the baseball bat -- On homosexual communities, identities, and culture : journeys of the spirit -- Appendix : Research methods, methodological issues, and participant data.