 Cover of the first edition | |
| Author | Andrew Sullivan |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Chip Kidd |
| Language | English |
| Subject | LGBT rights in the United States |
| Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf (United States) Random House (Canada) Picador (United Kingdom) |
Publication date | 1995 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 209 (first edition) 225 (second edition) |
| ISBN | 0-330-34696-2 |
Virtually Normal: An Argument About Homosexuality (1995; second edition 1996) is a book about the politics of homosexuality by the political commentator Andrew Sullivan, in which the author criticizes four different perspectives on gay rights in American society, which he calls the "Prohibitionist", "Liberationist", "Conservative", and "Liberal" views, seeking to expose internal inconsistencies within each of them. He also criticizes the philosopher Michel Foucault and gay rights activists he considers influenced by Foucault, and argues in favor of same-sex marriage and an end to the don't ask, don't tell policy, which banned service by openly gay people in the US military. However, he makes a case against legislation aimed at preventing private discrimination against gay people.
The book was compared to the gay rights activist Urvashi Vaid's Virtual Equality (1995), and received many positive reviews, praising it as well-written work on its topic. Virtually Normal has been seen as an important intellectual work on homosexuality and a significant contribution to public debate over same-sex marriage. Some reviewers credited Sullivan with exposing American liberalism's abandonment of its own fundamental principles. However, the book was controversial. Sullivan was criticized for being too sympathetic to the "Prohibitionist" view, for opposing anti-discrimination laws, and for supporting gay rights by arguing that being homosexual is not a choice, as well as for his account of Foucault's ideas and social constructionism, his treatment of natural law, his reliance on the work of the historian John Boswell in his discussion of biblical passages relating to homosexuality, and for blaming the sexual promiscuity of gay men on social disapproval of homosexuality. Several reviewers suggested that Sullivan advocated infidelity within marriage.