My essay "Mormon and Queer at the Crossroads" has officially been accepted into Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought! The editor, Kristine Haglund, has informed me that it will most likely show up in the Spring 2011 issue. I'll have one more chance to make perfectionist edits after the copy editor goes through it...and well, I already see a few tweaks here and there, but I also want the thing to be done.
The topic is so contentious. I feel like I should be awarded an honorary PhD in rhetoric just for having tackled the subject. I look forward to the discussion it generates...I cover a lot of important points. (I even have slightly grandiose ideas about changing the world.) At about 8500 words with 92 footnotes (might still change), it's my first major scholarly publication.
My hope is that the essay can land me [at some unspecified point down the road] in a PhD program of some sort. This is one of those interdisciplinary pieces: queer studies, feminist studies, cultural studies, psychology, sociology of religion, even a little bit of law.
Congratulations!! I cannot even conceive of writing something with 92 footnotes. THAT alone would have scared me off. I look forward to reading your essay. Will you please let us know more details about where we can find it, exact date of publication, etc.?
ReplyDeleteAnd, while I have not yet been able to read the book you wrote, I have read several great reviews of it and look forward to being able to read it soon. From what I hear, it is a hard book to put down once one picks it up. Way to go!!
Happy day. :)
Great job! Congratulations!
ReplyDeletePlease guest post the below immediately.
ReplyDeleteThank you,
Brad Carmack
2011 JD/MPA Candidate
Title: Homosexuality: A Straight BYU Student’s Perspective
1) President Packer’s general conference talk
2) The recent rash of suicides by gay teens across the country, accompanying “It Gets Better Project,” and current suffering of my homosexually oriented brothers and sisters
3) My coauthor, from whom I have received much help and inspiration, wants it out sooner than later
These are the reasons why I am releasing my book now. I preferred to wait until Homosexuality: A Straight BYU Student’s Perspective was groomed and edited further; however, it is not my book alone. Heavenly Father helped me write it, and I believe He would have me release it rather than keep it on my hard drive while I spend months making minor improvements. This book is destined to relieve some of the suffering of my homosexual brothers and sisters, though I don’t yet know by how much. Stuart Matis, shortly before committing suicide on the steps of an LDS chapel on February 25, 2000 in Los Altos, California, wrote to his family: “Perhaps my death ... might become the catalyst for much good. I'm sure that you will now be strengthened in your resolve to teach the members and the leaders regarding the true nature of homosexuality. My life was actually killed many years ago. Your actions might help to save many young people's lives."
So here it is- my 165-page magnum opus to date, in raw .docx and .pdf form (google doc: https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B1u3K43P-3JoYTUzNjYwMGEtNzNmYi00ODkwLTllMzYtNjRlOTVlMWUwYTM2&hl=en
Non gmail users, in .pdf only:
http://rapidshare.com/files/426861209/Homosexuality_A_Straight_BYU_Student_s_Perspective_Draft_2.pdf). I invite your feedback as I’m still in the later editing stage. Summary of the book below.
My promise to the open-minded reader is that you will be touched, you will learn things you had never considered, and your views on same-sex marriage and homosexuality in the LDS church will likely change voluntarily.
-Bradley Carmack
Summary: The book has two parts: 1) homosexuality (chapters 1-3) and 2) same-sex marriage (chapters 4-7).
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 1, I argue that church members should have great compassion for homosexually oriented members of the church because of the personal difficulties they experience as a result of their orientation and how the Mormon community typically responds to that orientation. I quote a number of studies and give voice to the experiences of many LDS homosexually oriented people.
In chapter 2, I explore causation, detailing both the religious voice and the scientific consensus. Elder Oaks noted how appropriate this type of an inquiry is: "The Church does not have a position on the causes of any of these susceptibilities or inclinations, including those related to same-gender attraction. Those are scientific questions — whether nature or nurture — those are things the Church doesn’t have a position on." I detail 60 statements by church leaders on what causes homosexuality. On the scientific side, I discuss 32 separate subjects to juxtapose two opposing hypotheses for the causation of homosexual orientation: 1) biological factors such as genes and pre-natal hormones, and 2) factors such as infection, molestation, and choice. Some examples of the evidence addressed: homosexual men have, on average, measurably and significantly different ratios of the second to fourth digit of their hands than their heterosexual counterparts. The anterior commissure of their brains is gender shifted away from the heterosexual male norm and toward the heterosexual female norm. Their limb:trunk ratio is similarly gender-shifted, as is their performance on visio-spatial tasks, third interstitial nucleus (a region of the brain thought to be directive of male-type sexual behavior) size and density, left:right brain hemisphere ratio, brain response to sex pheromones, cochlear sound production, thalamic response to female faces, verbal abilities, physical aggressiveness, expressiveness, and childhood gender conformity to name just a few.
In chapter 3 I examine how changeable sexual orientation is by considering relevant church doctrines and looking at the empirical evidence on both sides.
In chapter 4 I show why homosexuals can reproduce, contrary to popular belief, and note that they are no different from inherently infertile heterosexual couples as to their reproductive capacity.
In chapter 5 I argue why, assuming for a moment that homosexual behavior is not sinful, it makes a lot of moral sense to support LDS same-sex marriage. For instance, I show how important family is to mortal experience and point out that celibacy does not provide a family experience, while same-sex marriage does.
Chapter 6 contains rebuttals to common anti- same-sex marriage arguments, many of which are deeply flawed.
Chapter 7 applies Elder Oaks's recent speech on the Constitution. Many church members have said that Judge Walker should not have heard the Perry v. Schwarzenegger (Prop 8) case, but instead should have let the voice of the people of California decide the matter. I show why this view is antithetical to our constitutional system of governance.
In closing, I explain my motivations for writing and make invitations to the reader.
____________________________________________________
Bio:
Brad Carmack is in his last year of the JD/MPA program at BYU. He majored in Biology, performed clerk assignments for Justice Joel Horton of the Idaho Supreme Court, and is currently a teacher’s assistant for Human Resources Law and Bioethics. Brad also regularly participates in USGA [Understanding Same Gender Attraction], an unsponsored BYU student talk group.
Will you please let us know more details about where we can find it, exact date of publication, etc.?
ReplyDeleteYes, when it is in print I will post a .pdf copy here, as Dialogue contributors have full rights over their works. In terms of the exact date, I'm not sure when "Spring 2011" is for the journal. Next February/March maybe?
Brad, I've taken a look at your magnum opus. =)
ReplyDeleteMy first impression is that it is difficult for the reader to sift through in its present format. As a book, the reader might wonder what is the point of reading "one straight BYU student’s perspective," when there are are experts in these fields (biology, psychology, theology, law, etc)--particularly since you spend a lot of time referring to these people anyway. Perhaps if it were in a website format (where one question links to another at the reader's leisure), it could have a populist feel to it. All of a sudden this "one straight BYU student's perspective" could be a go-to place to get educated on the issue.
Another reason I suggest a website is because there is a lot of overlap. There are pages and pages of quotations that read like raw data rather than analysis. I would agree (as I assume you take the position) that this raw data is important to demonstrate patterns of thought and scientific consensuses and whatnot. But this presentation speaks to a specific audience that processes this issue by comparing scientific data and doctrine, personal narrative, etc, the way you have. You lay out this stuff, and then your voice emerges, which I can see happening in much cleaner and cohesive way on a website.
Congratulations, I have just read your last few posts. I can't wait to read more.
ReplyDeleteYou deffo get snaps! :)