Notes on the Preface
The argument the rest of the book has to earn.
The Preface to Gay Desire is now live at the book’s home (announced earlier). This is the companion post — the place to talk about it.
A few things to know going in.
The Preface is doing four things at once. It’s dedicating the book to David Halperin, which is more than a courtesy — How To Be Gay is the conceptual ground the book builds on, and saying so up front is part of the argument. It’s introducing my central claim: that traditional gay male Christian theology has been working from a flawed figure (the Androgyne) and needs to start over. It’s naming gay desire — Halperin’s term — as the alternative ground.
The Preface also has thirty-three footnotes, which is . . . a lot. The footnotes are for people who want the receipts. The argument stands without them.
A few things I’d love you to react to:
The preview of the Androgyne critique — does it feel right to you, or do you want to defend the Androgyne? Both reactions are useful.
Anything that landed wrong. Sentences that needed more breath, claims that needed more evidence, jokes that didn’t make you chuckle?
Read the Preface here. Then come back and tell me what you think.