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Amos Lassen wrote on 10/02/2011:

"Gay in America” is finally out and it is every bit as beautiful as I thought it would be (and I don’t say that because I am in it). It seems like it was just yesterday that I met Scott Pasfield when he came to Little Rock to photograph me but it has actually been more than two years. He talked about his project of traveling all over America to take photos of gay men and put those commonly held stereotypes to bed. The result is a glorious look at gay life that shows regular guys with regular lives, people you see at the supermarket or the mall who are just a part of the society we call home.

The photography is amazing as are the stories written by the men themselves. Pasfield traveled over 50,000 miles during two years photographing gay men from all areas of American life and the result is 140 men who are part of the fabric of America. It is the diversity here that is striking and the book punctuates that we are not all activists or known people but that we, in our own way, make up part of gay life that is, in turn, part of the American way of life. We are farmers, teachers, and salesmen and so on and we wake up every day and live our lives like everyone else and if there is a difference between us and others, it is that we love each other and other men. I think that is what many will find surprising here and it should not be. Like everyone else, we are diverse and like everyone else, we shop at Wal-Mart and walk our dogs, make our beds and relate to others. We pray or we don’t, we are husbands and fathers, we are involved in the dynamics of this country, we struggle and we are rich and we are poor. Some of us are fine with the way things are and some of us want to change them.


This is such an important book just for what I have said above—we need to be seen as part of this country and not separate from it. Pasfield captures who we are with great style and beauty. It is so interesting and important to see men who accept themselves and who are accepted by others and who live in Iowa, Montana, Missouri, Arkansas and all the other states and who live their lives openly. Because we love our own does not make us anything more or less than everyone else. This is our hope and it should be the hope of everyone and that the walls of discrimination and hatred will come down and we will all find a way to live in peace.

I personally know a lot of men like those in the book and now America needs to do the same. This is a great place to start and with Scott Pasfield’s beautiful book, it is now easy to do. Here is a book that captivates you the moment you open it (and I have opened it many times since my copy came on Monday). It is a validation of who we are and how we live and it is an inspiration to the young who fear that there are no others like them– especially to those who live in rural America and have little access to city or gay life. We forget that not all gay men live in cities and that we do not all shop for designer clothes or have the newest automobiles. We drive trucks and tractors and sow and plant and go to the movies with friends or stay home and watch television alone. We are the reality of gay life and this book is our legacy to the future—we are all so lucky that Scott Pasfield stayed with this project and thereby provided this wonderful resource to our community.

I have been reviewing LGBT books for several years now and I am constantly being asked if I have any favorites. That is a difficult question as there is so much that I love. However, now all those books that I love have to make place for a new addition to my favorites’ list. Here is a book that shows us as we are and I do not think anything can be more important than that.

By the way, I am on pages 24-25.