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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE
August 23, 2002
HIV
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dental and social support services to persons living with HIV/AIDS who are uninsured and underinsured in northeast Ohio.
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For additional information about eligibility, services and local service providers:
216.348.3986
All inquiries are strictly confidential.
Services are funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources Services Administration. Information provided by
The Cuyahoga Regional HIV Services Planning Council.
D.L. Dunkle & Associates
A LESBIAN & GAY PSYCHOTHERAPY PRACTICE
Debra L. Dunkle, LISW
Jane Miller, MSSA, LISW
Martha Webb, CCDC, LPC
John O'Connor, LISW Lisa Gilbert, MD
Offering Professional, Confidential Services To Individuals, Couples, And Groups.
12417 Cedar, Suites 21-24 Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44106
216-229-2100
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eveningsout
A good resource for coming out, except for the photos
Growing Up Gay in America by Jason R. Rich
Franklin Street $11.95 paperback Reviewed by Kaizaad Kotwal
If anything has changed about being gay in America, it is that individuals who choose to come out seem to be doing so at younger and younger ages than in times before. Nevertheless, the challenges of coming out and staying out remain important and contentious. The nature of some of the challenges may have changed for youth choosing to come out, but the emotional strain and practicality of such decisions has not changed at all.
Jason R. Rich uses a fun and simple approach to tackling issues for gay male youth in his book Growing Up Gay in America. It includes coming out to oneself, coming out to others, the gay social scene, relationships, sex, gay life in cyberspace, religion and planning for the future.
The teenage years are volatile ones, compounded by strong emotions, raging hormones and a wide range of desires and challenges. The issue of sexuality only further complicates this. Rich recognizes this and tries to take the gay youth on a comforting journey through this turbulent time period and the even more tumultuous process of coming out.
"While there are no truly accurate statistics about the size of America's gay popu-
designed with the target demographic in mind and the book succeeds very well here.
The book is also a good reference source of names and contacts of organizations and groups who can aid gay youth in particular areas. The book also understands that one of the first outlets for many gay youth coming out is the internet. The author offers advice and tips about the ups and downs of cyberspace along with web sites and other sources of information.
Growing Up Gay in America is a valuable, comprehensive and fun amalgamation of many relevant and important issues that need to be considered by youth coming to terms with being gay.
There is, however, one very big kvetch with the book and the author. The book is littered intermittently with images of young men and boys to help break up the text. There
is nothing wrong with photographer Mark V. Lynch's images per se. But, without exception, every single pho-
Growing Up tograph used depicts a young
Gay In *America
lation," Rich writes, "one estimate is that between five and six percent of America's youth (people under the age of 18) consider themselves to be gay, bisexual or lesbian. This translates to upwards of 2,700,000 young people in America who don't believe themselves to be straight."
The book is a really good smorgasbord of issues that gay male youth need to know about as they start to deal with coming to terms with becoming adults as well as reckoning with their sexualities. The book is written an in easy, conversational style. It never preaches and yet helps the reader to work through an understanding of issues ranging from domestic abuse and safe sex to dating and finding a long-term relationship.
The sections on each topic or issue are concise and fun to read. The layout of the book uses playful graphics, cartoons, and a variety of design styles to keep the reader interested and to make the experience fun. The book clearly has been written and
tofarmative and Practical Advice for Tuen Guys Questioning Their Sexuality and Growing Up Gay
Jason R. Rich
man with a perfectly sculpted body revealed either through an open shirt or no top at all.
If this were a soft-porn book or a collection of eye candy there would have no problem with these images. We do know however, that one of the biggest problems among young people, increasingly so among gay youth, are issues of body image and physical perfection.
Where are the images of different types of gay youth? Or is the book only being written for young boys with six-pack abs and perfectly chiseled pectorals? Intentionally or unintentionally, a young man who doesn't quite look like those hunks in the pictures will get a series of negative and damaging messages about the body fascism that so pervades gay culture today.
It is a shame that a book that seems to want to help gay youth in a variety of positive and uplifting ways falls prey to the cliché of having to use sex to sell everything.
If you can overlook this, the book still has value in it. If you are a young person reading the book, remember that you don't have to look like that to come out or to be a valuable member of the rainbow community. And if you are a parent, friend or someone else buying the book for a young gay man, make sure to tell him that he is okay just as he is. That ultimately is the biggest challenge of growing up gay in America to be okay, to feel okay just as we are.
Serving the Lesbian & Gay Community for Over a Decade
Edele Passalacqua
Attorney at Law
Keep it in the Community!
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Call for Free Consultation. Evenings & Weekend Hours Available 2830 Franklin Blvd., Cleveland, Ohio 44113. 216-696-0040
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