Virtually Normal: An Argument About Homosexuality

Virtually Normal is an exploration of today's principal arguments about homosexuality, from the Catholic church to Michel Foucault. It is a book not about individual feelings but about the way society deals - or does not deal - with the homosexual minority. And, finally, it charts a new politics to lead us out of our cultural and political impasse - based not on the behaviour of the private citizen but on the activity of the state - and argues for full equality for homosexuals, especially in marriage and in the military. Virtually Normal is a political and moral treatise in the grand tradition. Impassioned, reasoned, subtle and uncompromising, it will set the terms of the debate on homosexuality for years to come; and will enable the bitter and unfocused arguments relating to outing, established religion and anti-gay prejudice to have an intellectual - and ultimately pragmatic - framework.