Stonewall Strong: Gay Men's Heroic Fight for Resilience, Good Health, and a Strong Community

(Hardback)

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Longtime Washington, D.C. health journalist John-Manuel Andriote didnt expect to mark the twenty-fifth year of the HIV-AIDS epidemic in 2006 by coming out in the Washington Post about his own recent HIV diagnosis. For twenty years he had reported on the epidemic as an HIV-negative gay man, as AIDS killed many of his friends and roused gay Americans to action against a government that preferred to ignore their existence. Eight little words from his doctor, "I have bad news on the HIV test," turned Andriote's world upside down. Over time Andriote came to understand that his choice, each and every day, to take the powerful medication he needs to stay healthy, to stay alive, came from his own resilience. When and how had he become resilient He searched his journals for answers in his own life story. The reporter then set out to learn more about resilience. Stonewall Strong is the result. Drawing from leading-edge research and nearly one hundred original interviews, the book makes it abundantly clear: most gay men are astonishingly resilient. Andriote deftly weaves together research data and lived experience to show that supporting gay men's resilience is the key to helping them avoid the snares that await too many who lack the emotional tools they need to face the traumas that disproportionately afflict gay men, including childhood sexual abuse, substance abuse, risky sexual behavior, depression, and suicide. Andriote writes with searing honesty about the choices and forces that brought him to his own 'before-and-after' moment, teasing out what he learned along the way about resilience, surviving, and thriving. He frames pivotal moments in recent history as manifestations of gay men's resilience, from the years of secrecy and subversion before the 1969 Stonewall riots; through the coming of age, heartbreak, and politically emboldening AIDS years; and pushing onward to legal marriage equality. Andriote gives us an inside look at family relationships that support resilient sons, the nation's largest organizations' efforts to build on the resilience of marginalized LGBTQ youth, drag houses, and community centers. We go inside individuals hearts and groups missions to see a community that works, plays, and even prays together. Finally, Andriote presents the inspiring stories of gay men who have moved beyond the traumas and stereotypes, claiming their resilience and right to good health, and working to build a community that will be "Stonewall Strong."

Reviews

Through his own personal experiences, Andriote tells a much larger story of a societal transformation marked by historic psychological resilience in the face of antigay stigma, discrimination, and outright hatred. It is a story that will inspire any reader, regardless of their sexual orientation. * Psych Central *
Stonewall Strong is a tour de force, interweaving John-Manuel Andriote's personal journey with a trenchant analysis of societal transformation. He recounts the harrowing early days of the recognition of the devastation of AIDS, his responses to becoming HIV-infected, while insightfully telling the parallel narrative of the evolution of the LGBT community, from pre-Liberation, to crisis management and beyond. He skillfully educates the reader how the lessons learned from addressing the epidemic have laid the foundations for a stronger, more resilient community. The book is well-written, compelling, and highly informative. -- Kenneth Mayer, MD, Infectious Disease Attending and Director of HIV Prevention Research, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Medical Research Director,The Fenway Institute
As John-Manuel Andriote writes about himself, he tells, in bits and pieces, the story of us all. How the LGBTQ community refuse to lay down and die (literally) and fought back with resilience for our place in the American society and how we did not go "quietly into the night." Andriote's book, Stonewall Strong, is truth telling at its best! -- Rev. Elder Troy D. Perry, founder, Metropolitan Community Churches
Andriote skillfully integrates history and science with compelling personal stories -- his own and those of the many people he interviewed -- to create a highly readable narrative of mens resilience and thriving in the face of antigay stigma and the HIV epidemic. Stonewall Strong will inform and inspire readers of all sexual orientations and genders. -- Gregory M. Herek, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Davis; Author of the blog Beyond Homophobia (www.beyondhomophobia.com/)

Author Bio

John-Manuel Andriote has written about LGBT, HIV-AIDS, and other health and medical subjects since the early 1980s, for publications ranging from the Advocate to the Washington Post. He is the author of Victory Deferred: How AIDS Changed Gay Life in America; Hot Stuff: A Brief History of Disco/Dance Music; Tough Love: A Washington Reporter Finds Resilience, Ruin, and Zombies in his Other Connecticut Hometown; and a fable for kids ages 5 to 105 called Wilhelmina Goes Wandering. His articles have appeared in the Washington Post, The Atlantic, the Huffington Post, and leading LGBT publications across America. Andriote regularly speaks to audiences at conferences and universities, is interviewed and profiled by print and broadcast media, and has been an adjunct communication professor at Eastern Connecticut State University.