'Odets's warm and lyrical voice his inspiring picture of how imaginative gay life can be has
sent me queuing for the couch.' Evening Standard ' A gay man could read this book as if his
life depended on it - and perhaps it does' Andrew Holleran author of Dancer from the Dance
Even in our modern progressive world it's not easy to be a gay man. While young men often come
out more readily even those from the most liberal of backgrounds still struggle to accept
themselves and experience stigma shame and difficulties with intimate relationships. They also
suffer from ongoing trauma wrought by the AIDS epidemic something that is all too often
relegated to history. Drawing on a lifetime's work as a clinical psychologist Walt Odets uses
the stories of his patients as well as those of his own deep relationships with other gay men
to illuminate how these difficulties may be overcome. From a 74-year-old who only felt able to
come out after his wife had died to the boy raised in a strict religious family who worked his
way to San Francisco to the middle-aged defence lawyer who left everything behind to embrace a
new life the experiences here explore everything from grief to survival childhood pain to the
definition of gay itself. Out of the Shadows shows us how a new way forward is possible through
learning to accept ourselves and others as they are and independently inventing our own lives.
