Family Outing (Paperback, 1st Back Bay pbk. ed)

From Chastity Bono, daughter of Sonny and Cher, heroine of the gay community: the first comprehensive narrative guide to the coming-out process from the perspective of gays and lesbians and their parents.

Chastity Bono grew up in the spotlight cast on her parents. But nothing could have prepared her for the events of December 1990, when the tabloid newspaper the Star outed her to the world. At the time only her close friends and family knew she was gay; after the shock of that public revelation, Chastity retreated back into the closet. Coming out to her family had been difficult enough: although her father had been supportive and accepting, her mother threw her out of the house for three days. After the Star outing, it would be another five years until Chastity would decide, with her parents' blessing, to come out publicly on her own terms - and to unexpected acclaim - on the cover of The Advocate.

In Family Outing Chastity weaves her own dramatic story into those of other gays and lesbians to illustrate the phases, pitfalls, and rewards of coming out. We hear how gays and lesbians often feel indescribably "different" when they are quite young, how they come to recognize and explore that difference in themselves and then deal, in various ways, with parents' reactions, those of friends and coworkers, and their own unearthed homophobia. Ultimately, we learn how enormously empowering the whole process can be.

While Family Outing provides sensible, helpful advice to gays and lesbians who are thinking about coming out, it is also an important primer for parents. We hear parents talk about their difficult - but ultimately successful and satisfying - journey through their part of the coming-out experience. And in her own voice, Cher tells her side of Chastity's story, relating her suspicion, denial, confrontation, and eventual acceptance of her daughter's sexual orientation. For, as Chastity says, "Parents come out too."

Practical, cogent, and personally revealing, Family Outing is a guide like no other, necessary for anyone who's ever been involved in any aspect of the coming-out process.