Family Outing : A Guide to the Coming-Out Process for Gays, Lesbians and Their Families - Softcover

Family Outing is two books in one: a memoir of Chastity Bono's experience coming out as a lesbian to her famous parents and a look at the difficulties and triumphs that are part of every uncloseted homosexual's family life, with narratives drawn from interviews with members of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). Sometimes the two projects work against each other, but for the most part, Bono is right in assuming that her story reflects something larger in the culture and that others' stories, in turn, bear on her own experience. Readers skimming for intimate details about the mother-daughter conflict between Cher and Chastity won't be disappointed by Bono's sensitively written account. For a long time, Cher overlooked the troubling evidence of her daughter's emerging sexual identity: "Instead, she focused on superficial issues that bothered her: my short hair, my mannish clothes, my weight." Their relationship deteriorated, and it was Sonny to whom Chastity eventually confided; ironically, the father who offered immediate, warm acceptance of his daughter's lesbianism would later sponsor the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act in the House of Representatives. --Regina Marler

" Chastity Bono lectures around the country on coming out and on gay and lesbian portrayals in the media. She was formerly the entertainment media director of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). From 1995 through 1996, she was Writer-at-Large at The Advocate. In 1996, she became the National Coming Out Project spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay and lesbian political organization. She lives in Los Angeles."