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Ben Appel

Goodreads Author

Born

in Baltimore, MD, The United States

Website

https://www.benappelwrites.com/

Twitter

benappel

Genre

Memoir, Gay and Lesbian, Nonfiction

Influences

Augusten Burroughs, Meghan Daum, Andrew Sullivan

Member Since

January 2026

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In 2016, after working as a hairstylist for over a decade, I returned to school to become a professional writer. In May 2020, I graduated from Columbia University with a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing.
I am the recipient of Columbia’s 2019 Nonfiction Prize for my essay, “Heinrich Hofmann’s Christ.” I have written for The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, The Free Press, New York Post, UnHerd, Washington Examiner, Queer Majority, spiked, The Spectator, Daily Mail, and Quillette.
My memoir, "Cis White Gay: The Making of a Gender Heretic" (Bombardier, 2025), about my childhood in a Christian covenant community and my experiences in LGBT activism and Ivy League academia, is now available where books are sold. ...more

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Ben Appel’s books

Average rating: 4.41 · 37 ratings · 11 reviews · 1 distinct work • Similar authors

Cis White Gay: The Making of a Gender Heretic

4.41 avg rating — 37 ratings — published 2025 — 2 editions

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Ben Appel rated a book it was amazing Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Ben Appel rated a book it was amazing 1984 by George Orwell	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Ben Appel rated a book it was amazing Night by Elie Wiesel	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 05, 2026 08:24AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Night by Elie Wiesel. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Night by Elie Wiesel <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
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Jan 05, 2026 08:24AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Ben Appel rated a book really liked it The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Quotes by Ben Appel (?)

“To queer cultists.... It doesn't matter that i''ve battled and overcome mental illness and drug addiction. I'm able-bodied. Besides, being a survivor is declasse. Victimhood is where it's at.”
― Ben Appel, Cis White Gay: The Making of a Gender Heretic

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“To be queer, then, is to marginalize oneself, to rebel against the existing order, even if that order benefits the many over the few. To be queer is to revel in victimhood. It is to reject Western epistemology. It is to act on one's base instincts and desires. It is to fail, even when success is within reach, if only to prove that failure is inevitable in the current system for anyone who is not cisheteronormative and white.”
― Ben Appel, Cis White Gay: The Making of a Gender Heretic

tags: gay-authors, gender, gender-identity, gender-ideology, gender-studies, lgbtq, lgbtq-literature, marginalization, queer, queer-theory

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“Queerness," then, is not a sexual orientation, but rather a radical political project, and a form of revolutionary activism.”
― Ben Appel, Cis White Gay: The Making of a Gender Heretic

tags: lgbtq, queer, queerness, radical-politics, revolutionary-activism, sexual-orientation, trans, transgender

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