The Tolerance Trap: How God, Genes, and Good Intentions are Sabotaging Gay Equality (Intersections)
"Finally, a writer and critical thinker has treated queerness with true insight, and proper respect for its complexities and contradictions. Thank you, Suzanna Walters, for bringing so much rigor and balance; such ardent, subtle questioning; such respect for genuine human rights to the horrifically over-simplified term, 'tolerance.'"-Michael Cunningham,author ofThe Hours“The Tolerance Trapbrilliantly and boldly goes where few have gone before. It rattles the cage of tolerance in pursuit of true gay liberation. For gays and straights alike, it challenges us to be more our quirky, original, sexual gorgeous selves and to settle for nothing less than radical love and freedom.”-Eve Ensler,playwright and creator ofThe Vagina Monologues"The last decade has brought astonishing changes in the arena of lesbian and gay rights, culture, and everyday life, butThe Tolerance Trap—part memoir, part polemic, part sociological analysis—uncovers the troubling dilemmas inside of them. Walters brings her formidable brain, disarming humor, and sharp tongue to bear on the question of why it just sucks to be tolerated."-Joshua Gamson,author ofClaims to Fame: Celebrity in Contemporary America"Walters has a wicked sense of humor, and inThe Tolerance Trapshe wields it to argue against tolerance.This is a beautifully written and provocative brief for the integration of queer difference in U.S. society. Combining personal stories with analysis of popular culture, public opinion, movement activism, and trends in gay life today, Walters evaluates where we are in this contemporary moment, showing that we have both come a long way and have a long way to go. And tolerance, she insists, is not the way to get there.After reading this book, you'll never want to be tolerated again."-Leila J. Rupp,author ofSapphistries: A History of Love between Women"While the mainstream LGBT movement is clamoring for acceptance and tolerance, Walters worries about the radical vision contained by gay liberation being diluted, minimized, transformed, perhaps even lost forever. Is being accepted by the heterosexual majority really the best the movement can come up with? This book sparks a desperately needed conversation. It needs to be read by every heterosexual concerned about gay rights."-Michael Kimmel,author ofAngry White Men: American Masculinity at the End of an Era