Brown and Gay in LA: The Lives of Immigrant Sons (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781479824250)

The stories of second-generation immigrant gay men coming of age in Los Angeles

Growing up in the shadow of Hollywood, the gay sons of immigrants featured in Brown and Gay in LA could not have felt further removed from a world where queerness was accepted and celebrated. Instead, the men profiled here maneuver through family and friendship circles where masculinity dominates, gay sexuality is unspoken, and heterosexuality is strictly enforced. For these men, the path to sexual freedom often involves chasing the dreams while resisting the expectations of their immigrant parents--and finding community in each other.

Ocampo also details his own story of reconciling his queer Filipino American identity and those of men like him. He shows what it was like for these young men to grow up gay in an immigrant family, to be the one gay person in their school and ethnic community, and to be a person of color in predominantly White gay spaces. Brown and Gay in LA is an homage to second-generation gay men and their radical redefinition of what it means to be gay, to be a man, to be a person of color, and, ultimately, what it means to be an American.

Author: Anthony Christian Ocampo
ISBN-10: 1479824259
ISBN-13: 9781479824250
Publisher: New York University Press
Language: English
Published: 09/19/2022
Pages: 240
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.20w x 1.10d

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 07/25/2022
Library Journal 08/01/2022 pg. 116
Kirkus Reviews 08/15/2022
Choice 07/01/2023