GAY LIKE ME | Kirk Reviews

Contents:

• GAY LIKE ME
• GAY LIKE ME: A FATHER WR TO HIS SON
• RICHIE JACKSON’S GAY LIKE ME ASKS: HOW MUCH SUFFERG SHOULD A FATHER PASS ON TO HIS SON?
• GAY LIKE ME
• THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

GAY LIKE ME

DuBois quote about the black experience, orr to scribe the [whe] gay experience, while failg to talk even once about whe privilege the LGBT muny is upsettg. In fact, Richie Jackson's "Gay Like Me" left me wonrg: if a gay father is wrg a letter about "beg gay" to his gay son 2020, is irrponsible to rema silent on the ways which whe gays have gaed numero privileg while their trans and PoC siblgs have not? Wrten as a long form letter to his llege-aged gay son, "Gay Like Me" is a memoir-meets-epistle that reunts the numero stggl members of the LGBT muny have faced om the AIDS crisis through the current Tmp princy.

Much of this is admirable, and I, for one, am thankful for the activism and work Jackson did his own time ACT UP and wh other anizatns anizg for our issue, though, is that his book fails to analyze the ways which he, himself, as a whe, wealthy, gay man, also experienc a vast amount privilege that buffers him om the experienc of members of the LGBT muny who aren't as lucky.

That's not a crique; 's a historil fact), and nversatns that jt don't seem to want to acknowledge that anizatns like the HRC and people like Pete Buttigieg, while certaly beg nomally gay, actually stand for polil posns that negatively impact a lot of non-whe, non-cis, and non-male queer people.

GAY LIKE ME: A FATHER WR TO HIS SON

" In this book, wrten by a gay father to his gay son, he says, "It's a cel world out there and you have to be reful.

He thks gay people should always be gay, bee we have our enemi and any sort of progrs n easily be taken away. Multiple tim he rhetoric and quot directly om black liberatn movements, and jt appli the exact same thg to gayns?? All-lgbtq tob-memoir528 reviewsFebary 1, 2020If I had to pare this book to another, I would say ’s siar to “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coat but a gay man wrg to his gay son, stctg him how to survive a straight world.

RICHIE JACKSON’S GAY LIKE ME ASKS: HOW MUCH SUFFERG SHOULD A FATHER PASS ON TO HIS SON?

And yet, gay men are not immune om the heartbreak of losg a child, gettg divorced, havg a reer. The thor has many famo iends and seemed to be the heart of the gay revolutn New York. Prejudice, vlence, hatred still exists towards gay people the Uned Stat and around the world.

If you do not live as a gay man every day, this may be the clost you’ll get. ◾︎381 reviews31 followersJune 19, 2021An important book markg the generatns between father and son om a gay male perspective.

Hont, btal, tenr, lovg, polil - this book clearly scrib the world younger gay men face never sugar atg. This book lovgly and telligently lays out one man's journey, fg his generatn for his teenage gay son. I'm glad this gay dad is wrg to his gay son about his life, and his work to make the world more clive.

GAY LIKE ME

Jackson is gay and otherwise super-privileged, which he acknowledg, but is still apparent his wrg. His inty is pletely vted his beg gay, which I unrstand, but he is very obliv other 's so irrponsible to nflate the experienc of cis gays and trans people, pecially sce trans people are statistilly more at-risk when to hate crim and siar suatns. The name-checkg of Pete Buttigieg, while not acknowledgg all the harm Buttigieg has done as a fellow gay whe man, really mak this clear.

If you're lookg for a super-basic oversharg om a whe gay father to a biracial gay son, this is that, but hs all the not lgbtq memoirs 533 reviews15 followersFebary 26, 2020Richie Jackson is the award-wng talent manager and producer of the h televisn show, Nurse Jackie, as well as other Broadway plays, films, and televisn shows. When the baby need a blood transfn a uple months later, Jackson wr his son that “bee BD and I are gay, we were prohibed by US Food and Dg Admistratn regulatns to be your blood donor…bee we were gay we uldn’t take re of you the way you need to be taken re of, the way we had pledged to take re of you. A smackdown when we were already down—one son ad, one son cril ndn who may not survive…Jt a few months old and you were already nonted wh gay prejudice.

”Gay Like Me is Jackson’s letter to his gay son, a book-length letter which he reflects upon gay inty, history, and culture as he prepar his son to live as a gay man a untry that “don’t want you, don’t accept you, is systematilly attemptg to erase you.

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

Wrg about his own g out experience, Jackson remds his son that even though gay persons are now visible, “our new mastream inty…is a false salve.

”Jackson then wr his son that “your nfint attu about beg gay when you say your generatn jt don’t thk is a “big al” greatly ncerns me. I am aaid that you aren’t aware of what tak to be an out gay man a society that ems you as ls than others, of the fortu, stama, and perseverance need to live a safe, fulfillg, and priful life of gay self-teem a world that is tryg to erase you.

” He go on to say that one way to celebrate that otherns which “breeds empathy, embolns ias, and expands boundari” is to see what gay artists and wrers have unrstood about beg gay a straight tells him to look at the art of Keh Harg and Robert Mapplethorpe, to see plays like Angels Ameri, and to read books by Jam Baldw and Andrew Holleran.