Gay Like Me

November 4, 2019
Broadway producer Jackson chronicles his life as a gay man in America over the past 50 years in this heartfelt debut written as a letter to his college-bound gay son. Highlighting the differences between older and younger generations of the gay community, Jackson notes that he came out to his mother in 1984, at the height of the AIDS epidemic. He chronicles early sexual experiences; describes his relationships with his husband, theater owner Jordan Roth, and his son’s other father, actor B.D. Wong; thanks such mentors as actor Harvey Fierstein, who “modeled being a good gay citizen”; and celebrates the LGBTQ artists and writers who “showed me that my own thread of otherness is part of a great expanse of a bright human fabric.” He stresses the importance of knowing gay cultural and political history, and warns that the gay community’s “brief liberation has emboldened our adversaries,” including Donald Trump (who was a guest at his wedding to Roth). Jackson’s sincerity shines through, even when he takes a back seat in his own story to focus on the representative experiences of his generation. LGBTQ readers on both ends of the age spectrum will value this earnest attempt to build a bridge between generations. Agent: Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, William Morris Endeavor.

November 1, 2019
A father advises his son on their mutual homosexuality--the reasons to celebrate and the challenges they face--in a book that shows what has changed in recent decades and what hasn't. As his older son prepared to leave for college, TV producer Jackson wrote to him, "I am enthused for the flight ahead of you; I am apprehensive of the fight ahead of you." The author was enthused because he attributes so much of what has enriched his life to his sexual orientation. He says that he would choose to be gay. He also knew early on that he would choose to be a father, and he clearly loves that his son can experience the same joy in his sexual identity as he has. However, he also fears that he and his husband have minimized the ongoing threat of homophobia in giving their son a safe and sheltered childhood. "You are leaving home and entering a riptide of hate," writes Jackson, "and we taught you as a child never to swim directly into a riptide, always swim with it, parallel to where you want to be. Not so with this fierce current. Here you have to join the battle to fight just as I did. The only way to safe shore is forward." Though the narrative only presents one side of the conversation, the author acknowledges that his son thinks being gay isn't that big a deal and that the emphasis his father places on it is anachronistic in a time of pride marches, gay marriage, and legal advances. Jackson, however, sees abundant evidence of backsliding in the age of Trump, who, ironically, was an enthusiastic guest at the author's wedding. "The grief, the dread, the fear, the carefulness, is my ball and chain," writes Jackson. "It goes where I go. You are not weighted down by any of this. It's a history lesson for you." He wants his son to internalize that history. An easily digestible collection of lessons recommended for readers struggling with their sexual identities.

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December 1, 2019

Like the famous letter of James Baldwin to his nephew in The Fire Next Time, Jackson's first book, a letter to his gay son, is full of personal experience and sage advice. This beautifully written book is a love letter from one generation of gay men to another. Jackson, a Broadway, television and film producer (Shortbus, Nurse Jackie), reflects on his life while imparting to his son the lessons he's learned throughout his life about topics such as falling in love and being knowledgeable about LGBTQ history. He writes eloquently about surviving the AIDS epidemic, and argues convincingly about the conflict between the joys of being gay and the struggles it sometimes entails. Many will be able to relate to his descriptions of coming out, along with his first sexual experience, or observe these same occasions with heartfelt recognition. Jackson's observations on the AIDS quilt are especially touching. VERDICT Beautifully written with crystalline prose, most anyone could profit from reading this love letter from a parent to a child, whether they are gay or not.--David Azzolina, Univ. of Pennsylvania Libs., Philadelphia

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from December 1, 2019
When his son was 18, the boy came out to Jackson and his husband. In the wake of that revelation and the boy's imminent departure for college, Jackson has written this insightful and sometimes passionate letter?or let's call it a collection of epistolary topical essays?about being LGBTQ in America today, hoping to provide his son with some of the tools Jackson didn't have. For the author, being gay is at the very core of his being. Recognizing this, the son tells his father that he makes everything about being gay when, for the boy, it's no big deal. But, for Jackson, having known he was gay since he was in the third grade, it obviously is a big deal. He considers himself lucky to be gay, for being gay, he feels, is a gift. He delights in the enormous strides that LGBTQ people have made, while, at the same time, recognizing how far there remains to go, especially in today's climate of repression. Jackson obviously aches with love for his son, and his advice and information about being gay is nearly encyclopedic, ranging from Stonewall to coming out, from safe sex to the continuing AIDS crisis. The result is an invaluable book for all young LGBTQ people. Jackson wishes he had had a mentor when he was young, but now he has assumed that role for every reader of this heartfelt, wise, and compassionate book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)