ABSTRACT

"...And Then I Became Gay is about the lives of young men who express the complications, adversities, and satisfactions of being a sexual outsider in North America during the 1980s and 1990s. Consisting of narratives which chronicle developmental progression from first memories of being attracted to other males to a subsequent integration of their sexual identity with a personal identity, this book is also unique in its cross-section of men from different ethnic backgrounds. Although each story in this volume has a personal meaning to the individual youth disclosing it, aspects of these narratives can express a normative experience growing up gay or bisexual during the past two decades. For many of the contributors and readers, these stories may prove to be not only ones of coming out, but coming of age.

chapter |29 pages

First Gay Sex

chapter |23 pages

First Heterosexual Sex

chapter |18 pages

Disclosure to Others

chapter |21 pages

First Gay Romance

chapter |21 pages

Positive Identity

chapter |17 pages

Ethnic Youths

chapter |13 pages

The Diversity of Gay Youth