In his new, best-selling memoir, FAIRYBOY: Growing Up Gay And Out In Pre-Stonewall New York and Beyond, veteran journalist Garrett Glaser revisits a world unrecognizable to many contemporary LGBTQ readers. “It was a time before rainbow flags when very few gay people were able to live honestly and openly,” Glaser says. “When I graduated from high school, the headmaster was heard to say of me and a friend, ‘We just graduated our first fags.’  Such was the world before the Stonewall rebellion.”

When Glaser came out as gay to his mother at age fourteen, she told him, “You are going to a psychiatrist right now, young man! We are going to nip this in the bud.” Fortunately, she came around to accept her son’s orientation, and Glaser used his psychiatric sessions to address the challenges of finding a boyfriend, not an easy task in the pre-internet era of 1967. Glaser was an unusually adventurous and self-assured teenager. In FAIRYBOY, readers follow as he explores the hidden world of gay New York, from the infamous “trucks” along the West Side Highway to the Continental Baths in its opening weeks. Glaser marched in the first Pride Parade in 1970, which was called the Christopher Street Liberation Day March. A “Gay-In” followed in Central Park.

Glaser grew up to become an Emmy Award-winning TV news correspondent, with stints at CNBC, NBC, ABC, CBS and Entertainment Tonight. During his thirty-year career, he interviewed the biggest stars and notables of the era, from Elizabeth Taylor and President George H.W. Bush to Oprah Winfrey and even Charles Manson. In 1994, he became the first local TV reporter to come out on the air.

In FAIRYBOY, Glaser examines changes in gay politics over the decades and weaves stories demonstrating the importance of mentors and of remaining true to oneself. “Journalists are living role models to their audience. They need to live and work 100% out of the closet. They should bring ALL of themselves to the newsroom every day and capitalize on the outsider status they endured growing up. Sexual orientation is such a basic part of our lives. I can’t imagine what it would have been like to deny that primal piece of my identity to anyone. I knew from a very young age that I would have to live ‘out and honest.’  What’s more, when I think back on it, I truly believe being ‘out’ actually helped my career.

FAIRYBOY: Growing Up Gay And Out In Pre-Stonewall New York and Beyond by Garrett Glaser is now available on Amazon.com in print and eBook formats. There’s also an audiobook narrated by the author.