Generation Queer: A Gay Man's Quest for Hope, Love, and Justice Book

Bob Paris, a former Mr. Universe, became internationally famous when he came out in the early 1990s. His relationship with bodybuilder-model Bob Jackson made national headlines when they appeared as an openly gay couple on the cover of International Muscle Mag, and in 1994 they wrote Straight from the Heart, a joint autobiography. Generation Queer is a meditative volume of thoughts and advice to young people about coming out, loving, and seeking social justice in a world that seems, all to often, to hate homosexuals. As in his 1997 Gorilla Suit: My Adventures in Bodybuilding, Paris is perceptive and engaging. The first half of Generation Queer offers Paris's personal contemplation of what it has meant to be gay; the writing here is gentle and reflective as he describes his transformation from closeted small-town boy to gay icon. In the book's second half, Paris answers 19 questions from young gay men and women, offering sound, sometimes surprising advice about how to make your way in the world even while you're changing it. Alternately funny, sensible, and spiritual, Paris's answers attempt to map a new world in which younger gay people can be safe, happy, and sexual. --Michael Bronski Read More