Gay Men and The New Way Forward

“Gay men are just like everyone else.”

“Gay men are inherently different.”

Both statements contain truths. In the drive for equal rights and social acceptance, so many in the LGBT movement have emphasized gay people’s commonalities with straights. But what if gay men’s differences were distinct gifts? What if gay men—and you—played important and singular roles in the human family?

From a perspective seldom considered in mainstream gay—or straight—culture, Raymond L. Rigoglioso, founder of Gay Men of Wisdom, takes a fresh and open-hearted look at the critical roles that gay men play in the world. Organized around 14 Distinct Gay Male Gifts, Gay Men and The New Way Forward shows how gay men have emerged from a history dominated by victimization to become teachers for humanity. It proposes that, when we understand how we contribute to the health and vitality of society, LGBT people can make an entirely new case for equality and begin an important new era in our movement.

Written as an invitation to self-discovery, Gay Men and The New Way Forward includes a self-assessment to help the reader discover how he serves and heals humanity, reinvents manhood, and frees and enriches the human spirit.

Raymond L. Rigoglioso is the founder of Gay Men of Wisdom (www.gaymenofwisdom.com) and is certified as a life coach through the International Coach Federation. His professional background includes more than two decades as a writer and editor for nonprofit organizations in New York City and Boston. In 1989, two months after Ray came out, he and a friend co-founded the Danbury [Connecticut] Area Gay and Lesbian Youth Group. He facilitated this group for a year before moving to New York City. After receiving his bachelor of arts degree from The New School in 1991, Ray landed a job at the only place he wanted to work at the time: Gay Men’s Health Crisis. In 1993, while living in Provincetown, Massachusetts, for the summer, he met his partner, Keith D. Pettey. Ray and Keith live in White Plains, New York, with their dog, Baxter.