Born This Way: Science, Citizenship, and Inequality in the American LGBTQ+ Movement
Across protests and courtrooms, LGBTQ+ advocates often argue that sexual and gender identities are innate. Oppositely, conservatives incite panic over 鈥済roomers鈥 and a contagious 鈥済ender ideology鈥 that corrupts susceptible youth. Yet, as this debate rages on, the history of what first compelled the hunt for homosexuality鈥檚 biological origin story may hold answers for the queer rights movement鈥檚 future.
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Born This Way tells this story, bridging past fights against pathological accounts of queer desire and searches for a 鈥済ay gene鈥 with ongoing scientific and political conversations about what it means to be a man or a woman, gay or straight, cis or trans. The book reveals how scientific and medical professionals came to bolster the fight for civil rights, how conservatives have fought back against equality and science alike, and what pitfalls biological narratives of identity present queer advocates today.