FAIRYBOY

Garrett Glaser was fourteen when he told his mother he was gay. Her first reaction was to march him off to a psychiatrist so that the problem could be stopped before it took hold. She later came to accept him, and Garrett used his sessions to talk through the practical difficulty of finding a boyfriend.

The year was 1967 and he was a tenth grader at the prestigious Dalton School in New York City. At his graduation the headmaster was overheard remarking that the school had just graduated its first gay boys, using a slur to say so. That was life before the Stonewall rebellion, before rainbow flags, when very few gay people could live honestly and openly.

Garrett was an adventurous, self-assured teenager, and FAIRYBOY follows him into the hidden gay world of New York, from the notorious trucks along the West Side Highway to the Continental Baths during its first weeks of operation.

He went on to a thirty-year career as an Emmy Award-winning TV news correspondent, working at CNBC, NBC, ABC, CBS and Entertainment Tonight. Along the way he interviewed the major stars and public figures of his era, among them Elizabeth Taylor, President George H.W. Bush, Oprah Winfrey and Charles Manson.

The memoir also reflects on how gay politics have changed over the decades, and its stories show how much mentors matter and why it is important to stay true to yourself.