Hillbilly Elegy

suck dicks?” I was flabbergasted. Why
would someone want to do that? She
repeated herself, and I said, “Of course
not!” “Then,” she said, “you’re not gay.
And even if you did want to suck dicks,
that would be okay. God would still love
you.” That settled the matter. Apparently
I didn’t have to worry about being gay
anymore. Now that I’m older, I
recognize the profundity of her
sentiment: Gay people, though
unfamiliar, threatened nothing about
Mamaw’s being. There were more
important things for a Christian to worry
about.
In my new church, on the other hand,
I heard more about the gay lobby and the