Stonewall Strong

Gay Men's Heroic Fight for Resilience, Good Health, and a Strong Community

John-Manuel Andriote

Longtime Washington, D.C. health journalist John-Manuel Andriote didn’t expect to mark the twenty-fifth year of the HIV-AIDS epidemic in 2006 by coming out in the Washington Post about his own recent HIV diagnosis. For twenty years he had reported on the epidemic as an HIV-negative gay man, as AIDS killed many of his friends and roused gay Americans to action against a government that preferred to ignore their existence. Eight little words from his doctor, "I have bad news on the HIV test," turned Andriote's world upside down.

Over time Andriote came to understand that his choice, each and every day, to take the powerful medication he needs to stay healthy, to stay alive, came from his own resilience. When and how had he become resilient? He searched his journals for answers in his own life story. The reporter then set out to learn more about resilience. Stonewall Strong is the result.

Drawing from leading-edge research and nearly one hundred original interviews, the book makes it abundantly clear: most gay men are astonishingly resilient. Andriote deftly weaves together research data and lived experience to show that supporting gay men's resilience is the key to helping them avoid the snares that await too many who lack the emotional tools they need to face the traumas that disproportionately afflict gay men, including childhood sexual abuse, substance abuse, risky sexual behavior, depression, and suicide.

Andriote writes with searing honesty about the choices and forces that brought him to his own 'before-and-after' moment, teasing out what he learned along the way about resilience, surviving, and thriving. He frames pivotal moments in recent history as manifestations of gay men's resilience, from the years of secrecy and subversion before the 1969 Stonewall riots; through the coming of age, heartbreak, and politically emboldening AIDS years; and pushing onward to legal marriage equality.

Andriote gives us an inside look at family relationships that support resilient sons, the nation's largest organizations' efforts to build on the resilience of marginalized LGBTQ youth, drag houses, and community centers. We go inside individuals’ hearts and groups’ missions to see a community that works, plays, and even prays together. Finally, Andriote presents the inspiring stories of gay men who have moved beyond the traumas and stereotypes, claiming their resilience and right to good health, and working to build a community that will be "Stonewall Strong."

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 326 • Trim: 6¼ x 9¼

978-1-4422-5823-5 • Hardback • October 2017 • $48.00 • (£37.00)

978-1-5381-3106-0 • Paperback • May 2019 • $27.00 • (£19.99)

978-1-4422-5824-2 • eBook • October 2017 • $25.50 • (£19.99)

Subjects: Health & Fitness / Sexuality, Psychology / General, Psychology / Human Sexuality, Self-Help / General, Psychology / Psychology of Sex & Gender

Stonewall Strong

Gay Men's Heroic Fight for Resilience, Good Health, and a Strong Community

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

Longtime Washington, D.C. health journalist John-Manuel Andriote didn’t expect to mark the twenty-fifth year of the HIV-AIDS epidemic in 2006 by coming out in the Washington Post about his own recent HIV diagnosis. For twenty years he had reported on the epidemic as an HIV-negative gay man, as AIDS killed many of his friends and roused gay Americans to action against a government that preferred to ignore their existence. Eight little words from his doctor, "I have bad news on the HIV test," turned Andriote's world upside down.

Over time Andriote came to understand that his choice, each and every day, to take the powerful medication he needs to stay healthy, to stay alive, came from his own resilience. When and how had he become resilient? He searched his journals for answers in his own life story. The reporter then set out to learn more about resilience. Stonewall Strong is the result.

Drawing from leading-edge research and nearly one hundred original interviews, the book makes it abundantly clear: most gay men are astonishingly resilient. Andriote deftly weaves together research data and lived experience to show that supporting gay men's resilience is the key to helping them avoid the snares that await too many who lack the emotional tools they need to face the traumas that disproportionately afflict gay men, including childhood sexual abuse, substance abuse, risky sexual behavior, depression, and suicide.

Andriote writes with searing honesty about the choices and forces that brought him to his own 'before-and-after' moment, teasing out what he learned along the way about resilience, surviving, and thriving. He frames pivotal moments in recent history as manifestations of gay men's resilience, from the years of secrecy and subversion before the 1969 Stonewall riots; through the coming of age, heartbreak, and politically emboldening AIDS years; and pushing onward to legal marriage equality.

Andriote gives us an inside look at family relationships that support resilient sons, the nation's largest organizations' efforts to build on the resilience of marginalized LGBTQ youth, drag houses, and community centers. We go inside individuals’ hearts and groups’ missions to see a community that works, plays, and even prays together. Finally, Andriote presents the inspiring stories of gay men who have moved beyond the traumas and stereotypes, claiming their resilience and right to good health, and working to build a community that will be "Stonewall Strong."

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 326 • Trim: 6¼ x 9¼

978-1-4422-5823-5 • Hardback • October 2017 • $48.00 • (£37.00)

978-1-5381-3106-0 • Paperback • May 2019 • $27.00 • (£19.99)

978-1-4422-5824-2 • eBook • October 2017 • $25.50 • (£19.99)

Subjects: Health & Fitness / Sexuality, Psychology / General, Psychology / Human Sexuality, Self-Help / General, Psychology / Psychology of Sex & Gender

Author

John-Manuel Andriote has written about LGBT, HIV-AIDS, and other health and medical subjects since the early 1980s, for publications ranging from the Advocate to the Washington Post. He is the author of Victory Deferred: How AIDS Changed Gay Life in America; Hot Stuff: A Brief History of Disco/Dance Music; Tough Love: A Washington Reporter Finds Resilience, Ruin, and Zombies in his ‘Other Connecticut’ Hometown; and a ‘fable for kids ages 5 to 105’ called Wilhelmina Goes Wandering. His articles have appeared in the Washington Post, The Atlantic, the Huffington Post, and leading LGBT publications across America. Andriote regularly speaks to audiences at conferences and universities, is interviewed and profiled by print and broadcast media, and has been an adjunct communication professor at Eastern Connecticut State University.

Reviews

John-Manuel Andriote’s message in his latest book manages to be both simple and complex all at once; and most importantly, relevant to people from all walks of life who have needed to find their inner resilience in order to rise above their personal struggles.
— The Norwich Bulletin

Andriote's journey to discover how he made those affirming choices to be resilient led to his latest book, "Stonewall Strong: Gay Men's Heroic Fight for Resilience, Good Health, and a Strong Community" (Rowman & Littlefield). He writes about the traumas in his own life, drawing from journals he kept since 1980, and how he managed to stay sane, hopeful, and optimistic. Drawing from leading-edge research and almost 100 original interviews, he shows how gay men have been resilient before Stonewall, through the AIDS years, and onward to marriage equality.
— Bay Area Reporter

This multifaceted book invites readers on a journey through Andriote’s life—starting from scratch in a lower middle-class abusive household to the trials and triumphs of learning to respect oneself in relationships—sexual and otherwise.
— Windy City Times

All of this [Andriote’s] research is woven together in a remarkable volume showing that individually and collectively, gay people have proven to be tough, thriving, resilient folk.
— thebody.com

Stonewall Strong is in many ways quite remarkable. John-Manuel Andriote has combined his own personal story of being a PLWHIV with an amazingly detailed examination of how the LGBTQ community refused to lie down and die and instead formed a genuine community to care for one another, to fight our government’s indifference, to combat pharmaceutical companies’ greed, and to erase the stigma that, unfortunately, continues to attach to HIV/AIDS to this day.
— Art & Understanding Magazine

Andriote argues that gay men face an inherent obstacle of being marginalized for their sexuality, which forces them to find resilience and strength within themselves to fight back. . . . It is a story of resilience that Andriote tells with personal commitment and passion.
— The Gay & Lesbian Review

Beginning with the famed 1969 Stonewall Riots, to the initial shock of the early years of dealing with the crisis, and pushing onwards to the fight for marriage equality and basic human rights for all, Andriote has penned an informative and insightful yet touching work that will resonate deeply with readers.
— HIVPlus Magazine

Through his own personal experiences, Andriote tells a much larger story of a societal transformation marked by historic psychological resilience in the face of antigay stigma, discrimination, and outright hatred. It is a story that will inspire any reader, regardless of their sexual orientation.
— Psych Central

Stonewall Strong is a tour de force, interweaving John-Manuel Andriote's personal journey with a trenchant analysis of societal transformation. He recounts the harrowing early days of the recognition of the devastation of AIDS, his responses to becoming HIV-infected, while insightfully telling the parallel narrative of the evolution of the LGBT community, from pre-Liberation, to crisis management and beyond. He skillfully educates the reader how the lessons learned from addressing the epidemic have laid the foundations for a stronger, more resilient community. The book is well-written, compelling, and highly informative.
— Kenneth Mayer, MD, Infectious Disease Attending and Director of HIV Prevention Research, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Medical Research Director,The Fenway Institute

As John-Manuel Andriote writes about himself, he tells, in bits and pieces, the story of us all. How the LGBTQ community refuse to lay down and die (literally) and fought back with resilience for our place in the American society and how we did not go "quietly into the night." Andriote's book, Stonewall Strong, is truth telling at its best!
— Rev. Troy D. Perry, founder, Metropolitan Community Church

Andriote skillfully integrates history and science with compelling personal stories -- his own and those of the many people he interviewed -- to create a highly readable narrative of men’s resilience and thriving in the face of antigay stigma and the HIV epidemic. Stonewall Strong will inform and inspire readers of all sexual orientations and genders.
— Gregory M. Herek, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Davis; Author of the blog Beyond Homophobia (www.beyondhomophobia.com/)

Features

6/24/19, Psychology Today: Stonewall Strong author John-Manuel Andriote writes about why Stonewall matters and how LGBTQ people took control of the telling of their stories as a consequence. Link:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/nz/blog/stonewall-strong/201906/why-stonewall-mattered

7/5/19: Learn how the history of the LGBTQ-rights movement impacts the language we use to talk about these issues today, in Hampshire Life Magazine's new op-ed from author John-Manuel Andriote, "Words Matter."

Link: https://www.gazettenet.com/Friday-Takeaway-Words-Matter-26678422

10/23/2019: "HIV Taught me to tell my story, my way." John-Manuel Andriote writes for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Link: https://www.inquirer.com/health/hiv-aids-survivor-stonewall-andriote-20191024.html

11/6/2019: Read the articles that inspired the book by exploring John-Manuel Andriote's column for Psychology Today.

Link: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/stonewall-strong

6/23/20: Read John-Manuel Androite’s latest for San Francisco Bay Times, “Love in the Time of COVID-19.”
Link: http://sfbaytimes.com/love-in-the-time-of-covid-19/

12/28/20: The Mighty published author’s latest piece on book topic; “Learning How to Tell My Own HIV Story.”
Link: https://themighty.com/2020/12/learning-to-tell-my-hiv-story/