Crashing a book party...

On Wednesday night, after the Outfest party at The Abbey, I decided to head over to A Different Light Bookstore on Santa Monica Boulevard. I could barely get in the door!
No, NOT because I had drank two vodkas with pink grapefruit juice at The Abbey, it was hard to get in because there was this huge crowd listening to readings from a intriguing new book "Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys: True Tales of Love, Lust, and Friendship Between Straight Women and Gay Men." I quickly made my way to the front (pushy reporters just know how to do that I guess) and settled in. Glad I did. These essays look beyond the Will & Grace cliches these gay man-straight female relationships that have also been prominent in such shows as "Sex and the City" and the books and miniseries from "Tales of the City." Through 28 personal essays, the book delves deeper look into the complexity and varieties of straight woman/gay man relationships in the real world.
After the readings had ended and the book signings began, I gabbed with Melissa de la Cruz (pictured, right) who is one of the editors (along with Tom Dolby) of the just-published anthology. She was very excited by the turnout and the response from the crowd. You could hear a pin drop during the readings by several of the authors who showed up to share their stories. She herself is a contributor to the anthology with "A Manhattan Love Story" which details the intensely intimate relationship she had during and post-college with her gay friend, Morgan. She has commented that straight women and gay men seek each other out because they are natural allies since both have both been marginalized. They can be honest with each other without the sexual tension.
Of course, the experiences shared in the book vary. Theater director Philip Himberg wrote moving story of his high school girlfriend, who is now the mother of his child, and read it Wednesday night for the crowd. (That picture is Himberg and his daughter at the reading) His essay alone is worth the price of the book it is so good, so well told, and so real. It took me back to high school and to a time when gay boys like me really could hurt the girls who loved us and didn't understand why we didn't love them back...at least romantically.

For more information about the book and to buy it, here is a link to AMAZON.com.