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Episode: Permission to be queer: the case for liberty
Description: Contributor(s): Professor Deirdre Nansen McCloskey | Join us in welcoming back to LSE, economist Deirdre Nansen McCloskey who will deliver this special lecture.
Fear of the queer, says McCloskey, undermines our liberty every time, from the persecution of heretics and witches down to the demonization of Catholics, gays, immigrants, and trans people.
The ideal of a liberal society has been 'Do anything you want, but don't spook the horses'. Don't damage people physically but otherwise feel free. It's a noble and uniquely modern ideal. No masters. As Richard Rumbolt declared from his scaffold at Edinburgh in 1685, ‘there was no man bo...