Pray the Gay Away: The Extraordinary Lives of Bible Belt Gays

Pray the Gay Away is the product of six years of ethnographic research on the lives and experiences of gays living in the “Bible Belt” of the United States. Through utilizing a variety of qualitative methods and placing herself in various contexts and situations (a creation museum, a megachurch, an ex-gay rally), Barton weaves a remarkable account. At its core, Pray the Gay Away examines the intersection of religiosity, region, and sexual identity. It illustrates the oppression, discrimination, exile, and silencing that Bible Belt gays experience within a religiously based homophobic context and how Bible Belt gays respond to these institutional and individual manifestations of suppression and oppression. In seeking to answer the question, “How does it feel to be a Bible Belt gay?” Barton argues that gay people are often talked about but seldom listened to, and her work seeks to ameliorate this neglect. Situating her work as a social justice project, Barton uses the individual experiences of the largely unseen world of Bible Belt gays to give voice to this neglected minority and participate in, as bell hooks labeled, “talking back.” Through sharing insights and stories, Bible Belt gays are given the opportunity to counter the oppression they experience and possibly encourage wider social change.