April 19, 2012
Transgender, Scientologist, "Cult Hero"
Why America's Most Radical Transgender Activist Spent Twelve Years in Scientology, and What It Teaches About the Rest of Us
By Jay Michaelson
http://www.religiondispatches.org/books/sexandgender/5899/transgender,_scientologist,_%E2%80%9Ccult_hero%E2%80%9D/ I admit, I didn't expect to think of any of these theological questions when I received my review copy of Kate Bornstein's new memoir, A Queer and Pleasant Danger. I was hoping for a good read, and I got it—Bornstein is hilarious, honest, acerbic, and fearless in her writing. I was also hoping, if you'll pardon my French, for a good genderf---, and I got that too. Bornstein, who made her name with the transgender (as in transcending gender) classics Gender Outlaw and My Gender Workbook, not only re-confounded my ideas about gender (and I am a professional queer activist) but forced me to reexamine my assumptions about BDSM and a host of other erotic topics.
But what I didn't know, until reading this book, was that there's a whole other chapter to Bornstein's story: as Al Bornstein, he was one of the most elite members of the Church of Scientology. And while several exposes of the "Church" have already appeared, A Queer and Pleasant Danger is one of the most damning, most sympathetic, and most knowledgeable.
