God Hates Fags: The Rhetorics of Religious Violence

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments In 1992, my hometown of Colorado Springs, which had always been conservative , had suddenly become hateful. This book is my belated attempt to come to grips with that animosity. It could have been written only after a tour of brilliant places and people, who’ve taught me the value of creative, critical thinking. In Maine, Chicago, Ithaca, Haverford, and Toronto, many dear people have aided me as I thought about and, in Toronto, wrote this book. I’m humbled by their generosity, warmth, attention, and smarts. I fear the roster of thanks is long. I begin with great teachers: Debra Campbell and Nikky Singh, who taught me religion and feminism; Lauren Berlant, Elizabeth Povinelli, Bill Brown, George Chauncey, Anthony Yu, and Homi Bhabha almost made Chicago a place to stay; Hortense Spillers, Ellis Hanson, Elizabeth DeLoughrey, Jacqueline Goldsby, Mark Seltzer, and Emily Apter made Ithaca the best place to learn. Now I’m thrilled to be living in Canada. The University of Toronto English Department is an absolute delight, and I simply could list the entire faculty . Brian Corman leads this merry bunch, and our happiness is due in no small part to his direction and vision. Linda Hutcheon is both a stellar colleague and a dear friend. Elizabeth Harvey is so much more than the perfect mentor. My terrific colleagues at the U of T make all the work much more like play, and some deserve special mention: Alan Ackerman, John Baird, Alan Bewell, Ritu Birla, Angela Blake, Elspeth Brown, Corinn Columpar, Jeannine DeLombard, Paul Downes, Andrew Dubois, Uzo Esonwanne, Maureen Fitzgerald , David Galbraith, Daniel Justice, Charlie Keil, Jeremy Lopez, Lynne Magnusson, Jill Matus, Alice Maurice, Naomi Morgenstern, Andrea Most, Nick Mount, Heather Murray, Mary Nyquist, David Rayside, Sara Salih, Paul Stevens, Dan White, and Sarah Wilson. Colleagues and pals have been more than encouraging over the years. I xi must thank them by name, even if they don’t know how, exactly, they helped: Jennifer Ashton, Samuel Baker, Ian Balfour, Leo Bersani, Amy Bingaman , Rey Chow, Eric Clarke, Jonathan Culler, Ann Cvetkovich, Wai Chee Dimock, David Eng, Diana Fuss, Billy Galperin, Jody Greene, Sara Guyer, Judith Halberstam, Gillian Harkins, Andrew Hebard, Dana Luciano, Dwight McBride, Anna McCarthy, Dorothy Mermin, Doug Mitchell, Rajeswari Mohan , José Muñoz, Tim Murray, Chris Nealon, Andrew Parker, Ann Pellegrini, Jordana Rosenberg, Shirley Samuels, Cannon Schmitt, Bethany Schneider, Dana Seitler, Gus Stadler, Kate Thomas, Amy Villarejo, Rebecca Zorach, and Christina Zwarg. I need to make some special comments about the writing and production of this book. Audiences at the Queer Matters Conference in London, the MLA, and the ASA all provided fantastic questions and feedback. José Esteban Muñoz was a devoted fan of the project when it was still an idea, and has subsequently become a dear friend. Ann Pellegrini is a most inviting editor and pal, pushing this project into a polished existence. Terrell Scott Herring provided readings of the manuscript on numerous occasions, offering acute advice and always the warmest friendship. Chris Nealon made me understand what this book was arguing and why it was valuable to argue it in the first place. Janet Jakobsen was a superlative reader, whose pages and pages of commentary were a generous gift. Eric Zinner started encouraging me years before I even decided to write this book (when I was a little boy writing another project, a dissertation on race and American literature that barely mentioned the word “queer”). He has been a terrific editor. Everyone should be so lucky to have Emily Park orchestrate the countless details of making a book appear. Close friends in Toronto and south of Toronto are what make me feel charmed. Toronto is marvelous because of Karen Azoulay, Jeremy Laing, Paul P., Scott Treleaven, Alice Maurice, Mark Rigby, Will Munro, Amish Morrell, Luis Jacob, Joel Gibb, G. B. Jones, and, suddenly, there’s Shawn Micallef. Kate Bolick, Rattawut Lapcharoensap, June Glasson, Kate Rubin, Julia Perini, Genevieve Love, Hong-An Tran, Scott Herring, Sara Guyer, Descha Daemgen, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xii Heather Cadigan, Tina Otto, Jason Walta, Rose-Ellen Lessy, Sonam Singh, Rosten Woo, and Cheryl Beredo are friends who make me long for trips home. I attempt to find ways to thank Hortense Spillers every time I get some words into print, and each time I can’t quite express what I should. I know she is a very patient person, so I hope one of...