“God Would Punish Them...”: Gay Masculinity, Religiosity, and Violence in Genevieve Hudson’s Boys of Alabama: A Novel

This article examines how heteropatriarchal hegemonic masculinity and religious prejudiceintersect, forming a violent tool that marginalizes queer individuals in Genevieve Hudson’sdebut novel Boys of Alabama: A Novel (2020), a finalist for the Oregon Book Award. Set inAlabama, the novel follows Max, a German immigrant boy negotiating the complexities ofmasculinity in a Christian society, his queer romance with Pan, and his ultimate subordination tosocietal power, symbolized by the character of Judge. Using a queer theoretical framework andcritical close reading, this qualitative study highlights how the forces of heterosexual masculinityand religious bigotry perpetuate moral policing, effectively erasing queer existence from aheteronormative world.