For immediate release: January 20, 2009

BLOOMSBURG — Cynthia Burack, professor of women's studies at Ohio State University, will give a talk based on her book, "Sin, Sex and Democracy: Anti-gay Rhetoric and the Christian Right," Thursday, Jan. 22, at 7 p.m. in Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania's McCormick Center, room 2303. The talk is free and open to the public.

Burack's presentation will focus on gay marriage, the ex-gay movement and same-sex sexuality in American politics and social life. She will discuss the role anti-gay talk plays in encouraging people to support anti-gay causes and projects, and the patterns in anti-gay rhetoric. She also will talk about a contemporary theme that she believes links gay people to terrorism, a link she identified while attending political events and reading conservative Christian literature.

The lecture is sponsored by the Curriculum Enhancement Fund, the Political Science Department, LGBTA Commission and the Campus-Wide Commission on Human Relations. For more information, contact Diana Zoelle at dzoelle@bloomu.edu.

Bloomsburg University is one of 14 universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. The university serves approximately 8,000 students, offering comprehensive programs of study in the colleges of Professional Studies, Business, Liberal Arts and Science and Technology.