Growth and Intimacy for Gay Men: A Workbook

The book chronicles the time in childhood, when a perceptable shift occurs in the way adults begin to act, in a more critical or jugdmental way. The period following often accompanies attempts by the child to win back the favor of parents and other adults in their life, by, being better, getting better grades, helping more, being good and still not able to put the finger on what caused the uneasy distance. The awful day comes, when the realization of why our circle of family and friends have begun the judging behaviors. In that moment, our sexuality becomes apparent to us, the rush of shame, fear and self hatred hits like an avalanche. It can be a very bleak time in a gay childs life, most often occuring during adolescence. The clear, step by step, process of working through those old behaviors and learning to embrace the truth in who we are, is life altering and can be a catylist for healing. I have purchased over 20 copies of the book and given it to other adults, to work through their own growth. The book is written for therapists, but is easy to understand and each chapter finished with excercises and a quiz. I have also used the book for group discussion, as together, we begin the arduous journey to accepting a role of satisfaction and fulfillment in our life as gay members of our family and in our community.

This is definitely more for pro-gay therapists than their gay male clients. It's a lifespan text, ranging from childhood memories to the aging process. One of the last sections is on gay men and aging. This ads to the growing and needed literature on older gay men. This book is full of exercises and thus might not go as in depth as readers who want to delve deeply into various topics. Key issues covered here are drug recovery, AIDS, depression, etc. The author works out of New Mexico, rather than San Francisco, so I think he's probably had to work with gay men that have had to face much homophobia outside of many coastal, liberal environments.