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Show 188 Church's reductive views of gay life." In other cases, the church's adversarial policies actually backfired, fostering awareness of gayness as a collective identity rather than the isolation intended by the emphasis on "personal responsibility." The church's position reflected what sociologist Stephen Murray describes as a "divide and conquer" strategy of dealing with homosexuality on an individual basis while creating an unappealing, generic representation of gays as a group.'?" In many cases, however, discovering the subculture and the disparity between stereotypes and actual gay people weakened the dominant culture's credibility and reinforced gay identification. In addition to antigay stereotypes, Rick Pace had to overcome discomfort over bars when a friend invited him to a gay club following his excommunication. Unlike Bill Cloward, however, Rick's "discredited" status and need for a welcoming community in place of the LDS Church made him receptive to the subculture, and his misgivings quickly melted away: I remember going, "What is wrong with me? This is where I belong, this is who I am." I came out with a vengeance and thought, "I'm never going to apologize for loving other men again. I don't have to believe in a church I don't believe in, I don't have to justify anything that I'm doing, I just be myself." That was just an immediate effect of finally getting to see two men kissing each other.'?' can Rick's embracing of the gay subculture was in direct proportion to his need and the humiliations he had endured. Although he previously had furtive relationships with other 99Hewitt, Cloward interviews. lOOStephen O. Murray, "The Institutional Elaboration of a Quasi-Ethnic Community" in Social Perspectives in Lesbian and Gay Studies, 212. IOlpace interview. |
