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Bashing Back: Wayne Besen on Glbt People, Politics, and Culture
The Best of Besen!
Bashing Wayne Besen on GLBT People, Politics & Culture is a compilation of 72 columns from the outspoken GLBT activist and author of Anything But Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth. Funny, provocative, and informative, this unique book puts a progressive spin on hot-button topics in the political, cultural, and social arenas, covering everything from AIDS and African-Americans to Zach Stark.
Bashing Back presents an A-to-Z look at Besen's worldview on a wide range of topics, including Bill O'Reilly, Brokeback Mountain, Ellen DeGeneres, gay pride parades, marriage rights, Mary Cheney, overhauling the gay movement, religion and politics, sports and homophobia, The Passion of the Christ, the pitiful state of TV news, the Vatican's war on gays, the World Trade Center, and New Orleans. Smart and funny, Besen delivers a knockout punch to the notion that liberalism stands for nothing and progressive means passive.
From the
The columns I have chosen for this book touch on politics and people, comedy and culture. But most of all, they are a strong defense of the liberal values that have made this nation strong. It is time we proudly stand up for what we believe in. If we don't defend our values, our opponents will define them. . . . Bashing Back is the first punch in a fight to take back our culture and restore progressive values for the good of the nation.
An excerpt from Bill O'
Once upon a time I actually enjoyed The O'Reilly Factor. While I almost always disagreed with him, he was at least entertaining. Lately, however, he has morphed into just another Bush mouthpiece. The master of the No Spin Zone is suddenly spinning so hard he is in the Twilight Zone, dizzy in his own deception. He even had the audacity on CNBC to suggest that Fox isn't a conservative news outlet. That's beyond spin. If it were closer to Hanukah I'd think O'Reilly was a dreidel.
My other problem with his show is that it's unnaturally obsessed with gay issues. More gay people appear on The O'Reilly Factor than on Showtime's Queer as Folk. I know that sounds strange coming from a gay columnist who has twice appeared on his show. But it seems like he's had on every gay person in America to use as his personal political piñata. When even gay activists are tired of watching gay segments, it's time to find a new culture war issue.
Bashing Back is an invaluable compilation of Besen's best columns from Planet Out, Gay. com, and the Washington Blade. It's an essential resource for longtime Besen readers and an entertaining introduction for newcomers.
Bashing Wayne Besen on GLBT People, Politics & Culture is a compilation of 72 columns from the outspoken GLBT activist and author of Anything But Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth. Funny, provocative, and informative, this unique book puts a progressive spin on hot-button topics in the political, cultural, and social arenas, covering everything from AIDS and African-Americans to Zach Stark.
Bashing Back presents an A-to-Z look at Besen's worldview on a wide range of topics, including Bill O'Reilly, Brokeback Mountain, Ellen DeGeneres, gay pride parades, marriage rights, Mary Cheney, overhauling the gay movement, religion and politics, sports and homophobia, The Passion of the Christ, the pitiful state of TV news, the Vatican's war on gays, the World Trade Center, and New Orleans. Smart and funny, Besen delivers a knockout punch to the notion that liberalism stands for nothing and progressive means passive.
From the
The columns I have chosen for this book touch on politics and people, comedy and culture. But most of all, they are a strong defense of the liberal values that have made this nation strong. It is time we proudly stand up for what we believe in. If we don't defend our values, our opponents will define them. . . . Bashing Back is the first punch in a fight to take back our culture and restore progressive values for the good of the nation.
An excerpt from Bill O'
Once upon a time I actually enjoyed The O'Reilly Factor. While I almost always disagreed with him, he was at least entertaining. Lately, however, he has morphed into just another Bush mouthpiece. The master of the No Spin Zone is suddenly spinning so hard he is in the Twilight Zone, dizzy in his own deception. He even had the audacity on CNBC to suggest that Fox isn't a conservative news outlet. That's beyond spin. If it were closer to Hanukah I'd think O'Reilly was a dreidel.
My other problem with his show is that it's unnaturally obsessed with gay issues. More gay people appear on The O'Reilly Factor than on Showtime's Queer as Folk. I know that sounds strange coming from a gay columnist who has twice appeared on his show. But it seems like he's had on every gay person in America to use as his personal political piñata. When even gay activists are tired of watching gay segments, it's time to find a new culture war issue.
Bashing Back is an invaluable compilation of Besen's best columns from Planet Out, Gay. com, and the Washington Blade. It's an essential resource for longtime Besen readers and an entertaining introduction for newcomers.
222 pages, Paperback
First published March 26, 2007
9 people want to read
About the author
Wayne R. Besen
3 books2 followersWayne Besen is an author and LGBTQ Rights Advocate.
He spent almost three decades researching, monitoring and debunking the “ex-gay” myth. He exposed their key leaders as frauds, helped shut down leading conversion groups and created a robust record documenting how the “ex-gay” industry is toxic and harms the very people it claims to help.
In 2006, Besen founded Truth Wins Out to help put “ex-gay” programs out of business. He is a former spokesperson for The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ political organization. Besen has appeared on leading news and political talk shows: NBC Nightly News, ABC World News Tonight, MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show and The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, CNN’s AC360, Fox’s O’Reilly Factor and The Sean Hannity Show, and Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
He has been quoted in The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, The Advocate, Newsweek, The Washington Blade, TIME, The Nation, and Mother Jones. Besen graduated from University of Florida in 1993.
He spent almost three decades researching, monitoring and debunking the “ex-gay” myth. He exposed their key leaders as frauds, helped shut down leading conversion groups and created a robust record documenting how the “ex-gay” industry is toxic and harms the very people it claims to help.
In 2006, Besen founded Truth Wins Out to help put “ex-gay” programs out of business. He is a former spokesperson for The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ political organization. Besen has appeared on leading news and political talk shows: NBC Nightly News, ABC World News Tonight, MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show and The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, CNN’s AC360, Fox’s O’Reilly Factor and The Sean Hannity Show, and Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
He has been quoted in The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, The Advocate, Newsweek, The Washington Blade, TIME, The Nation, and Mother Jones. Besen graduated from University of Florida in 1993.
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August 30, 2010
Though this book covers mostly articles written in 2004 and 2005 on gay political issues. It both informs about the times it was written and has become an important history book. It defines what has changed and what has remained the GLBT struggle for equal rights, and the fundamental opponent the Conservative Religious Right.
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