New Book 'Hide and Speak' Helps Gays Come Out

From This Week In Texas

Books
New Book 'Hide and Speak' Helps Gays Come Out
By Twit
Nov 21, 2006, 06:33

A new edition of a classic coming-out book, Hide and Speak by Kittredge Cherry, offers advice that is much needed in today's era of gay sex scandals.

The coming-out guide gives practical help with the coming-out process for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) people--and anyone else with a story to tell. Former U.S. congressman Mike Foley and evangelical leader Rev. Ted Haggard might have prevented their recent national sex scandals by following the book's powerful program of self-acceptance and appropriate disclosure.

"How much suffering I could have avoided for myself and others if only I had read Hide and Speak before blundering out of my own darkness into the light," said Rev. Mel White, founder of Soulforce. White came out as gay after working as a ghostwriter for Jerry Falwell and other conservative Christian celebrities.

Each chapter of Hide and Speak includes real life examples and tested, highly effective exercises used by lesbian author Kittredge Cherry in coming-out workshops nationwide. She tells positive ways to come out to yourself, create a circle of supporters and deal with family, job and school. Readers will learn how to live proud, free and balanced, no matter what happens.

"Coming out of the closet is still difficult, and Hide and Speak can help," said Cherry. "Foley and Haggard need it, but so do many others. Queer teens are exploring their sexual orientation at younger ages. Gay and lesbian soldiers are facing the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy while they fight in Iraq. Transgender surgery is now common. Hide and Speak is the right resource for all of these challenges and more."

Hide and Speak was recently released by AndroGyne Press, a new queer studies press based in Berkeley, CA. Originally published by HarperSanFrancisco, the book now includes an afterword updating the guide for 2006.

Cherry noted that 3,000 Gay Straight Alliances that have cropped up at U.S. high schools, almost all in the last decade. "Visibility has made coming out different, but not always easier," she said. "More people than ever are deciding whether to come out of the closet, and yet there are fewer guides to help with the process."

Hide and Speak is not just about homosexuality. The life-changing handbook is useful for all people who struggle with secrets and their consequences.

"This is a helpful guidebook, reader-friendly and timelessly relevant for people in all stages and walks of life--but especially for LGBT people who are thinking about opening their closet doors," said Virginia Ramey Mollenkott, author of Transgender Journeys, Omnigender and other books.