  | Book Details Title: Gay Like Me: A Father Writes to His Son |
Book DescriptionReview “Richie Jackson beautifully captures the magic of love, life and what it means to be a parent in this beautiful must-read memoir. His powerful story reminds us all that being open to love and making it the central focus of our lives allows us to tap into our deepest inner wisdom.” (Arianna Huffington, founder and CEO of Thrive Global)”Gay Like Me is an invaluable chapbook for our times. Read it if you want to be reminded of what a long and valiant journey it’s been for us queers and what hard-earned wisdom we now have to offer the young.” (Armistead Maupin, bestselling author of Tales of the City and Logical Family)”A beautiful and important guide to understanding the queer journey. I wish I had this book to guide me when I was young, and to help my straight parents understand the complexity I was struggling with as a gay kid.” (Jesse Tyler Ferguson, actor best known for portraying Mitchell Pritchett on the sitcom Modern Family )”This much needed history lesson and often poetic love letter is a call to arms that should be required reading for all LGBTQ youth and their families. Each page is filled with love, rage and a dose of reality that reinforces the resiliency of LGBTQ people and reminds us all that the fight for LGBTQ equality and acceptance is far from over.” (Sarah Kate Ellis, CEO & President of GLAAD)”If all fathers were as open, vulnerable, and wise as Richie Jackson, it would be a better world. The deep truth of his writing makes this a beautiful book.” (Salman Rushdie, bestselling author of The Satanic Verses and The Golden House)“An invaluable book for all young LGBTQ people. Jackson wishes he had had a mentor when he was young, but now he has assumed that role for every reader of this heartfelt, wise, and compassionate book.” (Booklist (starred review))“Jackson’s sincerity shines through, even when he takes a back seat in his own story to focus on the representative experiences of his generation. LGBTQ readers on both ends of the age spectrum will value this earnest attempt to build a bridge between generations.” (Publishers Weekly)“Richie uses his experiences growing up gay to talk to his son about family and friendship, sex and relationships, anger and citizenship. And by doing this, Richie has penned a love letter to our generation of gay men who fought for respect, helped secure rights and are now fearful of what lies ahead for the LGBTQ generation rising behind us.” (Jonathan Capehart, journalist at The Washington Post)”Jackson’s first book, a letter to his gay son, is full of personal experience and sage advice…[It] is a love letter from one generation of gay men to another. Beautifully written with crystalline prose, most anyone could profit from reading this love letter from a parent to a child, whether they are gay or not.” (Library Journal)“An endearing and practical guide to navigating the beauty and dangers of queer life in Trump’s America.” (O, the Oprah Magazine) Read more About the Author Richie Jackson is the author of Gay Like Me, published by HarperCollins. He is an award-winning Broadway, television and film producer who most recently produced the Tony Award-nominated Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song on Broadway. He executive produced Showtime’s Nurse Jackie (the Emmy and Golden Globe nominee for Best Comedy Series) for seven seasons and co-executive produced the film Shortbus, written and directed by John Cameron Mitchell. As an alumnus of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, he endowed a fellowship program, the Richie Jackson Artist Fellowship, at his alma mater in 2015 to assist graduates in the transition from academia to a lifelong career in the arts. He and his husband, Jordan Roth, were honored with the Trevor Project’s 2016 Trevor Hero Award. They live in New York City with their two sons. Read more Customers Review: If you’ve ever wanted the perfect gift to give in your coming out welcome baskets, this book is it. It’s a powerful fatherly overview of the gay world from 1980’s to today. I’m blown away.Formatted as a loving letter from Richie to his gay young adult son, it’s also universal enough to be fully relate-able to any LGBTQ individual young and old, those of us who came out late in life, and allies, especially allies.I’m inspired by his perspective of gay rights, gay history, gay pride, gay shame, sex, fatherhood, love, work, coming out, and spirituality. He pulls no punches on topics that are urgent for LGBTQ today and I love him for it.Richie is still respectful of differing views and honors his audience by sharing his own vulnerability here. It is fatherly advice gained by the thrashing about of real life. I am so grateful that he’s using his life experiences to counsel, enlighten and care for his LGBTG brothers and sisters young and old like he does in this book. | |
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