Queering Public Address: Sexualities in American Historical Discourse

Ten noted rhetorical critics disrupt the silence regarding nonnormative sexualities in the study of American historical discourse and upend the heteronormativity that governs much of rhetorical history. Reconfiguring Quintilian's mandate that an orator is a good man speaking well, contributors grapple at the intersection of rhetoric, history, and sexuality as they interrogate historically situated discursive performances, politics, and meanings of the good queer speaking well. Enacting both political and radical visions, these scholars articulate the promises of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender public address and the queer critiques that work to deepen their fulfillment. The contributors consider figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, Harvey Milk, Marlon Riggs, and Lorraine Hansberry.