September 2, 2026
How (Not) To Talk About Dolly Parton
The New York Times says Dolly Parton's glitz was a disguise for the real woman underneath. But if being is playing a role, there was never anything underneath. A response to Rhonda Garelick.
Articles for category: Queer Interpretation
July 7, 2026
Queer Theory 101: What Does “Queer” Actually Mean?
What does queer mean? One takeaway from a quick review of—mostly negative—responses to Matthew Vines’s recent post for The New York Times, “I’m Gay, Not Queer. It Matters,” is that people are very confused about what the term queer means.
I’m a Queer Gay, Not Gay. It Matters.
Matthew Vines's New York Times essay argues that "queer" endangers gay rights. Drawing on David Halperin's account of gayness as identity, culture, and desire, I argue that the problem is not queerness. It's a politics that trades the dignity of others for approval.
Are you an APOCALOPTIMIST? I am.
Tristan Harris's "apocaloptimism" — political activism for a pro-human AI future — may be missing something crucial: *the anti-human present is already here.* Drawing on queer theory, Pauline theology, and a revealing visit to Judson Memorial Church, this post argues that the proliferation of AIs reflects our collective exhaustion with the tedium of modern life and its normative authorities. Where the church offers the tired prescription of more God-talk, AIs may be better positioned to help people pursue the intimate lives they actually want. Against the mainline Protestant culture of self-care as mourning past intimate lives, the Pauline command to simply "love one another" points toward something both livelier and queerer. With Harris, and against him, the author lands as an apocaloptimist — betting that honest reckoning with the revelation of our anti-human present can still open toward a more human future.
December 4, 2025
On the Urgent Matter of the Bible; Or, On How Vegetarians Should Use The Bible
In this post, Tony engages with biblical narratives in relation to animal studies, vegetarianism, and the politics of subversion in religious and cultural contexts.
September 11, 2025
The Politics of Unity
There's no escaping the pull of unity. We are born out of its exclusions. But unity’s regulatory power is not entirely within its direction.
September 7, 2025
Excitable Truth? On Speaking the Truth in Love
What does speaking the truth in love mean? It means sharing truth with a sense of irony. Truth is just not that serious. Truth is (un)serious.
The Digital Cleric: AI, Theology, and the End of Textual Authority
AI represents the *ongoing* clerical tradition of the death of God. It merely reinforces the displacement of theology by hermeneutics/method.
July 6, 2025
Against (Virtually) Normal: Law, Politics, and the Trans/Queer Body
Andrew Sullivan follows the SCOTUS majority, naturalizing a conservative theology of sex while masquerading it as liberal neutrality.
Does the resurrection of the dead make sense?
The resurrection makes sense as an expression of sentient animal desire for uninterrupted thriving.
