"Boys Like Us" (365 pages) edited by Patrick Merla is a book that was given to me by my mother, probably for Christmas, in 1996. I know I started the collection of stories at one point but never finished. I picked the book back up this winter and read it off and on between other readings. From Goodreads:"In stunning essays written especially for this collection, 29 noted gay writers recount their true 'coming out' stories, intensely personal histories of the primal process by which men come to terms with their homosexuality. These essays form a documentary of changing social and sexual mores, timed to coincide with National Coming Out Day (October 11) and AIDS Awareness Month."
Though the collection of stories is somewhat outdated it's still an interesting read to see the various coming out stories over a couple of generations arranged chronologically from Manhattan in the late '40s to San Francisco in the early '90s. Reading the collection now really makes one appreciate how far we've come as a society in regards to homosexuality.
To quote the inside cover of the dust jacket: "These are intense, sometimes unexpectedly funny tales of romance and heartbreak, repression and liberation, rape and first love-defining moments." Highly recommended especially to those who care to look to the past struggles of being gay throughout the latter part of the 20th century.
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