All Out

**How having a gay child challenged a prominent anchorman and changed his family--for the better. Bracingly honest, *All Out* is a touching and disarmingly funny memoir that will resonate with any parents and children, gay or not, who have ever struggled to understand each other (or themselves).**

     When Kevin Newman's son, Alex, came out to his parents at age 17, they immediately told him they accepted him, and they meant it. But they were also panicked. Gay kids are far more likely to attempt suicide than straight kids are. How could they head off bullying and discrimination? How could they steer Alex away from the sexually charged scene online? Was the gay part of town safe for a cute teenage boy? The Newmans felt they were in a new world, with its own customs and culture, and no road map. Kevin couldn't find any advice or accounts written by fathers of gay men; in the literature, fathers were uniformly depicted as rejecting. Frankly, he'd never felt all that comfortable with the idea of two guys having sex. But he knew he had to get comfortable, fast, or he might lose his son. And in fact Alex was struggling to accept the notion that his own hopelessly straight dad really could accept him. Meanwhile, his sister, Erica wondered why Alex was suddenly encouraged to bring boys home but she wasn't allowed to. Their mother, Cathy, who'd always been so close to Alex, wondered how she could not have known he was gay. Now, a decade later, all 4 have contributed chapters to *All Out*, a unique family album of their own, sometimes wildly differing, perceptions and lessons learned (one of Alex's: making out in front of your parents isn't a bold political statement but rather a guarantee you'll be teased for years). Yet they all agree on some key points. Coming out isn't a one-time announcement. It's a long process, and one that can draw families even closer together--not despite the fact that a child is gay, but because of it.