Skip to product information
1 of 1

High-Risk Homosexual

High-Risk Homosexual

A Memoir

Edgar Gomez
Regular price $16.95
Regular price Sale price $16.95
Sale Sold out
Shipping calculated at checkout.
Binding
This witty memoir traces a touching and often hilarious spiralic path to embracing a gay, Latinx identity against a culture of machismo--from a cockfighting ring in Nicaragua to cities across the U.S.--and the bath houses, night clubs, and drag queens who help redefine pride

 

I've always found the definition of machismo to be ironic, considering that pride is a word almost unanimously associated with queer people, the enemy of machistas . . . In a world desperate to erase us, queer Latinx men must find ways to hold on to pride for survival, but excessive male pride is often what we are battling, both in ourselves and in others.

 

A debut memoir about coming of age as a gay, Latinx man, High-Risk Homosexual opens in the ultimate anti-gay space: Edgar Gomez's uncle's cockfighting ring in Nicaragua, where he was sent at thirteen years old to become a man. Readers follow Gomez through the queer spaces where he learned to love being gay and Latinx, including Pulse nightclub in Orlando, a drag queen convention in Los Angeles, and the doctor's office where he was diagnosed a "high-risk homosexual."

 

With vulnerability, humor, and quick-witted insights into racial, sexual, familial, and professional power dynamics, Gomez shares a hard-won path to taking pride in the parts of himself he was taught to keep hidden. His story is a scintillating, beautiful reminder of the importance of leaving space for joy.

 

Edgar Gomez is a Florida-born writer with roots in Nicaragua and Puerto Rico. A graduate of University of California, Riverside's MFA program, he is a recipient of the 2018 L. M. and Marcia McQuern Graduate Award in Non-Fiction Writing. His work has been published and anthologized widely in such outlets as PopsugarLongreadsNarrativelyThe Rumpus, and Ploughshares. He lives in Queens, New York, where he is saving up for good lotion.

 

  • Publisher: Soft Skull (January 11, 2022)
  • Language: English
  • Paperback: 304 pages
  • ISBN-10: 1593767056
  • ISBN-13: 9781593767051
  • Item Weight: 13 ounces
  • Dimensions: 5.51 x 0.79 x 8.25 inches
View full details