What’s Right with Kansas

By Sarah Kaplan

In No Place Like Home: Lessons from Activism in LGBT Kansas, C. J. Janovy offers up progressive lessons in a red state.

Thomas Frank’s 2004 book, What’s the Matter with Kansas, continues to be a touchstone for people analyzing our current political situation. “Kansas” became shorthand for conservative social and economic policy informed by the values of the Religious Right. And, when many of us who live on the coasts or in big cities think of Kansas, we think of the hateful practices of the Westboro Baptist Church (whose URL is www.godhatesfags.com), which targets reproductive health clinics, the LGBT community, and many other minority communities, or we think of Governor Sam Brownback’s extreme opposition to gay marriage and transgender rights. But we forget that Topeka is also the site of the important Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision that led to the desegregation of schools.

Full (paywalled) review in Stanford Social Innovation Review: What’s Right with Kansas