Gay 101, A Straight Look at Gay Life is a book based on a premise that doesn't exist. Oh sure, there may be some small number of aging, old-fashioned parents with daughters or sons who have announced "I'm gay" and to those people I recommend this book as a most basic primer on how gays feel generally about a wide range of issues. Turns out it's no fun to be discriminated against and in nearly all ways they're just like the rest of us. Gay 101 by Qualicum Beach authour Steven Coull and Sandra Janssen not only bites off more than it can chew - trying to address all manner of subjects, from a homosexual's first tentative steps out of the closet to the question of whether or not one is born gay in a breezy, condensed package of 157 pages - but actually hinders enlightened dialogue by lumping gays into a convenient one-size-fits-all package based on sexual orientation which, as the book itself correctly points out, is but a small portion of how any person (gay or straight) identifies themselves. Anyone who is gay, or counts someone who is among their friends, will find little of interest in this book - essentially a collection of quotes from gay men and women on coming out, dealing with relatives and the like. Anyone else is either a homophobe who would never crack the cover or someone who, like the vast majority of us, has simply moved on from worrying that much about gay people at all. They can marry now, hurrah, it is only just, now let's get on with the more serious issues in life. This book simply doesn't try hard enough to address any subject with depth or clarity and as such it has nothing new to offer. The authors' largest contribution is "our take," a brief snippet of back and forth that follows each chapter, dispensing wisdom such as: "It doesn't really matter who you are, so long as you are comfortable with who you are."
At times it's difficult not to smirk.
Gay 101 is an earnest book that tries hard to educate and in rare instances actually does, though in a most summary way.
Perhaps if you're comfortably ensconced in a stultifying life of routine where a mere homosexual inspires a litany of questions and confusion, this book is for you. Certainly the quotations from the many gay and lesbian contributors make it worthwhile endeavor, if only to gain a limited understanding of what some gays endure in the face of ongoing hostility and resentment.
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