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It began in 1991. A local independent Baptist Church in Kansas began picketing at a nearby park popular with gay men. Citing Romans 1:32, the protestors paraded handmade signs proclaiming that gays deserve death.

The church’s pastor, Fred Phelps, had taught his small flock that loving one’s neighbour meant warning them of judgement to come. “We always equated love with rebuke. As long as we believed our words to be truthful, we were free to rebuke the rest of the world at any time, in any place, and in any way we wanted.” Before long, protests expanded to include demonstrations at the funerals of gay people, military veterans, and disaster victims. The church believed that these deaths were divine punishment for a nation with corrupt values. They alone knew the truth and were God’s vehicles for warning the nation of coming destruction.

Review—What’s a Girl Worth?

Rachael Denhollander was the first woman to publicly accuse Larry Nassar, former USA Gymnastics doctor, of sexual assault. What’s a Girl Worth? is her story of survival, unmasking Nassar as a sexual predator, and the institutional cover-ups that allowed him to perpetrate his behaviour for more than twenty years. It is a gripping, if at times uncomfortable, read, detailing her childhood, her gymnastics career, Nassar’s assault at the Michigan State University clinic, the long road that led to her speaking out, and the victory that the survivors achieved after the lengthy investigation and trial process.