Gay & Healthy in a Sick Society: The Minor Details [Paperback]

Robert N. Minor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2003

In this collection of short articles, Dr. Robert N. Minor, author of Scared Straight: Why It’s So Hard to Accept Gay People and Why It’s So Hard to be Human, a 2002 finalist for both the Lambda Literary Award and the Independent Publisher Book Award, applies his critically acclaimed insight to the issues of life today.

Written since 1998 as monthly columns, Gay and Healthy in a Sick Society challenges gay people and their allies to see how not being or acting "straight" is actually a healthy approach to life. Gay people are just fine, Dr. Minor affirms. It’s society that’s very sick. Most societal perspectives, attitudes, and solutions prevent all people from living fully, stifle their abilities to relate to themselves and others as human beings, and keep society stuck using the same old failing political, social, and religious answers to life’s challenges.

Dr. Minor doesn’t waste energy complaining about those opposed to gay people, but speaks to how lesbians, gay men, bisexual and transgender people, and their allies see themselves, respond to their critics, and define their own life. Admiring the values of the sickness around them may help people fit in but not contribute to personal or societal healing. Instead, Gay and Healthy proclaims, LGBT people must not bury, but value, their own language, definitions, answers, and insights into the variety of problems around them problems which hurt everyone but which society would prefer to act out against LGBT people.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Book of the Week, January 5-11, 2004" -- www.Menstuff.org

"One of the "Best Gay Books of 2003" -- Jesse Monteagudo,

"kindly, clear-headed, sensible, honest, accessible, compassionate...." -- Richard Labonte,

...kindly collection of clear-headed musings...His talent for pithy analysis is one of the collection's strengths....accessible, compassionate.... -- Bookmarks (Q Syndicate), January 5, 2004

...the textbook we've been waiting for...I challenge anyone not to be inspired, challenged and reawakened.... -- Midwest Times, December 2003

2004 Finalist -- Independent Publisher Book Award

An excellent addition to any library -- Virginia Gayzette

This ground-breaking book challenges old-fashioned social concepts. A savvy scholar examines personal relationships and core issues. -- Gay Today.com, December 5, 2003

About the Author

Robert N. Minor, Ph.D. is a nationally acclaimed lecturer, writer and workshop leader on issues of gender, sexual orientation, and active change. He is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Kansas. In 1999, GLAAD awarded him its Leadership Award in education.

Product Details

• Paperback: 233 pages
• Publisher: Humanity Works (November 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970958110
• ISBN-13: 978-0970958112
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,974,208 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A national resource for information on gender issues and gay/straight relationships for organizations, businesses, educational institutions, and media outlets such as NBC and USA Today, Robert N. Minor, Ph.D. has been speaking, consulting, and leading workshops for fifteen years.

He is Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at the University of Kansas where he taught for thirty-three years and was the chair of the Religious Studies Department for six. A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he received the Ph.D. in Religion from the University of Iowa in 1975 and an M.A. in Biblical Studies from Trinity Divinity School in Chicago.

He is the author of eight books. His first five were scholarly writings on his first specialty, religious thought and practice in South Asia and their relationships to culture. His current research is on gender studies and the relationships of religion, gender, and sexuality. At the University of Kansas one of his popular courses is "Religious Perspectives on Selfhood and Sexuality." 

His newest book, When Religion is an Addiction was published by HumanityWorks! in St. Louis. Previously he wrote Gay and Healthy in a Sick Society: The Minor Details published by HumanityWorks! in November, 2003, which was a Finalist for the Independent Publisher Book Award in 2004, and was named in national reviews as one of the best gay books of 2003. His Scared Straight: Why It's So Hard to Accept Gay People and Why It's So Hard to Be Human, also published by HumanityWorks! in 2002 was named a Finalist for both a Lambda Literary Award and the Independent Publisher Book Award. In little more than a month from their publication, Menstuff.org, the premier men's issues website, named each of them "Book of the Week."

Dr. Minor also writes articles including two popular columns -- one a monthly column of analysis and opinion entitled "Minor Details" on issues affecting the progressive and gay communities which is printed nationally in on-line and print publications around the country; the second, "Romance and Dating," a bimonthly column for Baby Boomers on dating, romance, and relationships for the popular website, 50PlusPrime.com.

He is the parent of a thirty-two year old son. In 1994 he was a member of the Values Panel for the Kansas City Star (the daily newspaper for Kansas City) for its award-winning "Raising Kansas City Project."

He was a member of the Communities Against Hate Crimes Task Force of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Kansas and the Diversity Advisory Committee of KCPT, the public television station for Kansas City, MO. He serves on other boards and task forces, such as the Advisory Board of the nationally acclaimed Center for Religious Experience and Study of Kansas City, the LGBT Task Force of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and Western Missouri, and the Organizing Committee of Kansas City Jobs with Justice as its Co-Chair.

He is past president of the Board of Directors of the Lesbian & Gay Community Center of Greater Kansas City, and currently a member of the Board of Directors of the American Men's Studies Association and President of the Board of Directors of Ecumenical Christian Ministries of the University of Kansas.

"Bob" leads workshops on gender roles, homophobia, and racism for universities, colleges, churches, businesses, government organizations, and community and religious groups throughout the US as well as workshops for non-heterosexuals on personal growth beyond "coming out" and how to be a healthy activist. He is a regular conference presenter for the NGLTF's "Creating Change " Conference, and for PFLAG, locally, regionally, and nationally. He worked closely with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation in its Kansas City "Communities of Faith" projects. In 1999 GLAAD awarded him its Leadership Award for Education.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy reading but deceptively profound, May 15, 2006

By 

Discriminating Reader (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gay & Healthy in a Sick Society: The Minor Details (Paperback)

A great follow-up to Dr. Minor's book: Scared Straight. Though the title talks about being gay, it soon becomes evident to the reader that the unique perspectives he has on the variety of topics applies to any human being who wants to create their own psychological health in a society that, as the author shows, is very, very ill. His insights on relationships, sex, self-esteem, and culture are surprising in the sense that they are not what I expected but are so right on. Even the sections that refer to past events contain ideas that are so relevant today. And it's easy reading with ideas that seem like common sense, but only after Dr. Minor points them out. I'd love to go to one of the workshops he does around the country if he comes to New York.