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.
Summary
Sullivan presents the reader with four groups of types of people who view homosexuality in a specific manner within American society, criticizing the different arguments: Prohibitionists, Liberationists, Conservatives, and Liberals.
The Prohibitionists comprise strict followers of the Bible and Quran. They believe that "homosexuality is an aberration, homosexual acts are an abomination," homosexuality is an illness that requires a cure, and that homosexual acts should be punished. Sullivan argues that there is inconsistency with Prohibitionists who use Biblical and moral arguments against homosexuality, yet not against other conditions many Christians find sexually immoral. In order for Prohibitionists to have effective policy, they have to be hypocritical in their denial of marriage to same-sex couples, yet not to infertile heterosexual couples (because they claim marriage's sole purpose is procreation). However, if the Prohibitionists are consistent, then their views are too marginal to be accepted by society at large. In his discussion of the Prohibitionist view, Sullivan also draws on the work of the historian John Boswell to argue that biblical passages dealing with homosexuality, such as those by Saint Paul, may have been mistranslated. He also outlines and criticizes the ideas of Thomas Aquinas, evaluates the significance of the pastoral letter On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons (1986), arguing that it represented an important shift in the Catholic Church's position toward gay people, and discusses the views of Cardinal Ratzinger.
The Liberationists are epitomised by Queer Nation. Like the Prohibitionists, they believe that no one is "homosexual", but they hold this belief for a different reason. To a Liberationist, words such as "homosexual", "homosexuality", "gay", and "lesbian" are simply tools that the straight majority use to oppress the gay and lesbian minority. An example of this would be that a gay man who feels sexual attraction for a particular woman would be limited by the chains of his "sexual orientation". Sullivan claims their flaw to be that liberationist policy, by rejecting the notion of limiting oneself to words, fails to improve the plight of the gay and lesbian community. Sullivan identifies the philosopher Michel Foucault as "arguably the most significant influence on liberationist thinkers and politics," and criticizes his views as expressed in The History of Sexuality (1976–1984).
Conservatives, unlike the Prohibitionists, do not believe that everyone is essentially heterosexual. They acknowledge the existence of a non-heterosexual minority. However, they believe that homosexuality should be only a private matter and kept silent in public matters. They further believe that homosexuals should not seek to change public acceptance of homosexuality because social change will come with time, just as it has for other minorities. Sullivan says that the problem of the Conservatives is that as gays and lesbians gain increasing acceptance in Western societies, they are faced with two alternatives. The first is a path of "increasing isolation and uncomfortable hostility to homosexuality". The second is to incorporate homosexual trends into their conservatism, as those originally opposed to women's suffrage eventually accepted the notion of women contributing to the conservative tradition of democracy.
The Liberals seek to apply liberalism as has been applied to other minorities to the gay community. Sullivan argues that the liberals want to apply a cookie-cutter agenda of "liberalism" that would render many gays as permanent victims of civil rights abuse. He says that the liberals are guilty of "trying to use easy remedies for a problem that knows no easy remedies; using the language of rights in an area where it is impossible to avoid the language of goods; encouraging an attitude among homosexuals that might actually increase their isolation rather than undermine it". They are said to limit the freedom of the majority to give rights to minorities. Sullivan also adds that anti-discrimination laws are reifying. Sullivan argues in favor of same-sex marriage, maintaining that it would have both a humanising and traditionalising effort. He also advocates the repeal of don't ask, don't tell.
Publication history Virtually Normal was first published in 1995 by Alfred A. Knopf in the United States, Random House in Canada, and Picador in the United Kingdom. A revised edition with a new afterword by Sullivan was published by Picador in 1996.
Reception Overview of media reception Virtually Normal received positive reviews from Ray Olson in Booklist, the critic Denis Donoghue in The New York Times Book Review, the journalist E. J. Dionne in The Washington Post, the philosopher Harvey Mansfield in The Wall Street Journal, Jeffrey Ingram in Library Journal, the journalist Richard Bernstein in The New York Times, the critic Camille Paglia in The Washington Post, the journalist Chandler Burr in Washington Monthly, the journalist Christopher Hitchens in The Times Literary Supplement, Walter Olson in Reason, Publishers Weekly, The Economist, The Virginia Quarterly Review, and in Commonweal from Margaret O'Brie Steinfels and Paul Baumann. In National Review, Virtually Normal received a positive review from the political theorist Kenneth Minogue and later a mixed evaluation from Justin Katz.
The book received mixed reviews from Marc Peyser in Newsweek, the publisher Anthony Blond in The Spectator, Tom Gliatto in People, Tim Stafford in Christianity Today, the novelist and critic Adam Mars-Jones in the London Review of Books, Elizabeth Kristol in First Things, the political scientist James Q. Wilson in Commentary, the philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah in The New York Review of Books, and The Wilson Quarterly. The book received negative reviews from the philosopher Alan Ryan in The New Yorker, the journalist Richard Goldstein in The Village Voice, Scott Walker in The American Enterprise, ACT UP member Scott Tucker in The Humanist, and the journalist Charles Krauthammer in Time. According to Sullivan, reviews also appeared in The Tablet, the Financial Times, The Independent, Elle, and the "religious right publication" Lambda Report. Sullivan was interviewed about the book in New Statesman and Society.
Positive media reviews Ray Olson credited Sullivan with explaining controversies over homosexuality in American politics. He described Virtually Normal as skillfully argued and carefully written, and "the best book ever on gay politics." Donoghue credited Sullivan with arguing with "force and cogency". However, he described his view of marriage as "sentimental", arguing that marriage was not primarily about recognizing an emotional commitment between two people. He also questioned his characterizations of homosexuals. Dionne commended the book as a useful and fair discussion of the politics of homosexuality. He found Sullivan's discussions of the "conservative" and "liberal" views insightful, and credited Sullivan with helping to "advance civility, decency and mutual respect". However, he had reservations about Sullivan's case for same-sex marriage. Mansfield described the book as "excellent" and credited Sullivan with setting "a standard for depth and subtlety of argument that has not been reached before on either side of the debate." Ingram considered the book important, describing it as "a level-headed, clearly argued discussion of gay rights, the homosexual, and society." He described Sullivan's position on gay rights as "at once old-fashioned and highly original", and wrote that, "Sullivan's approach satisfies the concerns of conservatives and liberals alike, although his old-fashioned definition of laissez-faire liberalism will rile most liberals, and his most radical suggestion, legal recognition of gay marriages, will certainly flutter conservatives' tail feathers."
Bernstein described the book as a "a sober, reasoned reflection" on gay rights, and predicted that "few people are likely to remain entirely unmoved by at least some of his arguments or to feel exactly the same about homosexuality after reading his book as they did before." He praised Sullivan for reasoning calmly about a divisive subject, and credited Sullivan with the ability to help people who are not gay understand his experience, as well as with understanding the views of opponents of gay rights. He agreed with Sullivan that there should be "freedom to disapprove of homosexuality and to decline to keep company with gay people". He predicted that some supporters of the gay rights movement would be dissatisfied with Virtually Normal. He described Sullivan's case for same-sex marriages as "powerful", but nevertheless was not fully convinced by it.