Born This Way: Real Stories of Growing Up Gay

by Paul Vitagliano

Hardcover, 2012

Status

Available

Call number

HQ76.25 .B655 2012

Genres

LGBTQ+

Biography & Memoir

Nonfiction

Collection

LGBTQ Iowa Archives & LIbrary

Publication

Quirk Books (2012), Edition: Illustrated, 128 pages

Description

Biography & Autobiography. LGBTQIA+ (Nonfiction.) Sociology. Nonfiction. HTML:Sure to become a modern LGBTQ+ pride classic, this �amazing� celebration of the pains and joys of growing up gay features personal stories from around the world (The Huffington Post) Based on the hugely popular blog of the same name, Born This Way shares 100 different memories of growing up LGBTQ+. Childhood photographs are accompanied by sweet, funny�and at times, heartbreaking�personal stories. Collected from around the world and dating from the 1940s to today, these memories speak to the hardships of an unaccepting world and the triumph of pride, self-love, and self-acceptance. This intimate little book is a wonderful gift for all members of the LGBTQ+ community as well as their friends and families. Like Dan Savage�s It Gets Better Project, Born This Way gives young people everywhere the courage to say, �Yes, I�m gay. And I was born this way. I�ve known it since I was very young, and this is my story.�.… (more)

Media reviews

I'm Here, I'm Queer

User reviews

LibraryThing member schatzi

This book is a cute, affirming book. Each page has a picture accompanied by a paragraph or two about that person's childhood. Nearly everyone knew that they were gay at an early age (which made me super envious, since I didn't even know what a lesbian was until the age of 17).

I just wish that the

author had included more stories from lesbians. The book jacket states that this book has 100 stories of growing up gay (I didn't count), but only about ten of them feature lesbians. Nothing against guys, but I would like to see the book's stories a little more balanced.

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LibraryThing member wifilibrarian

A short cute book about people who've grown up to be gay. The book features a photo from the childhood of a person, some celebrities mostly just ordinary folk, and on the opposite page is a sentence, upto a few paragraphs, of reminiscing about the photo and their early lives knowing they were

different at an early age. Some had no words to describe who they were, and some still reject labeling, which is fair enough. But all people featured have accepted who they truly are, and are happy succesful adults, and this book is very affirming and encouraging for any young person who is worried there's no one like them or no one grows up happily gay. My only critique is that I'd have like to have seen just a couple of photos from present day, would have made the book even more powerful but the, sometimes camp, pictures of kids and young adults were still great.

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LibraryThing member ijustgetbored

This is an enjoyable and uplifting book. It's not intended to be on the deep, soul-searching level of coming out literature, and I found this lighter, photography-based book to be a good counterbalance in what can often be a harrowing body of writing.

This is not a book that is intended to be

academic: as the title indicates, it's an oral history-- "stories"-- and the individual author's personalities shine through, even in the brief blurbs.

There is a lack of balance in the narratives included, with stories by gay males predominating. I feel that this reflects the dominance of gay male voices in the queer community (literary and otherwise), and I would happily read a volume II, if it was more inclusive.

Over all, though, I'm happy to have this book on my shelf and enjoy rereading a story or two from time to time. It's the kind of book that's good to revisit.

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