{"id":681,"date":"2012-02-09T07:20:21","date_gmt":"2012-02-09T13:20:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/?p=681"},"modified":"2012-02-05T07:25:15","modified_gmt":"2012-02-05T13:25:15","slug":"gay-in-america-portraits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/gay-in-america-portraits\/","title":{"rendered":"Gay in America: Portraits"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cover<\/a>Pasfield, Scott. Gay in America: Portraits<\/em>. New York: Wecome Books, 2011. Hardcover. 222p. $45.00. ISBN: 978-1-59962-104-3<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“If I had realized growing up that there\u00a0were so many options–that I didn’t haveto be this kind of gay or that kind of gay–had I been able to take comfort in knowingI was not alone in my feelings, it would\u00a0have made a huge difference in how and\u00a0when I accepted and learned to love\u00a0myself.”<\/p>\n

This statement from Pasfield in the\u00a0Huffington Post describes his motivation for\u00a0traveling 52,000 miles through all 50\u00a0states to find the 150 gay men highlighted in these stunning\u00a0personal portraits. Activists, farmers, professionals, fathers\u2014all\u00a0these men have one thing in common: they are all openly\u00a0attracted to other men, sometimes with severe consequences\u00a0and other times profound rewards.<\/p>\n

This book, the first photographic look at gays in their\u00a0homes, includes an extensive range of age, class, and ethnic
\nbackgrounds from a modern Manhattan apartment to a small\u00a0town outside Fargo. Both narratives, written by the men\u00a0themselves, and telling images intimately show Pasfield\u2018s deep\u00a0respect for his subjects as he avoids the stereotypes of\u00a0contemporary gay men and celebrates the diversity of family\u00a0life in the contemporary gay community. The men in these\u00a0breathtaking images cover the gamut of emotions–happy and\u00a0sad, hopeful and accepting\u2014as they tell their stories of life and\u00a0death, positive in the face of adversity.<\/p>\n

Pasfield has accomplished his goal, “to create a book that\u00a0would change opinions and educate,” by showing these men as\u00a0neighbors and friends, vital especially for people who live where\u00a0gays are not typically closeted. This is a must addition for all\u00a0public and upper-level libraries.<\/p>\n

Reviewed by\u00a0Nel Ward<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pasfield, Scott. Gay in America: Portraits. New York: Wecome Books, 2011. Hardcover. 222p. $45.00. ISBN: 978-1-59962-104-3. “If I had realized growing up that there\u00a0were so many options–that I didn’t haveto be this kind of gay or that kind of gay–had I been able to take comfort in knowingI was not alone in my feelings, it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1164,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19,41],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}