Oy Vey! I'm Glad I'm Gay eBook Barry Losinsky
Download As PDF : Oy Vey! I'm Glad I'm Gay eBook Barry Losinsky 
In this witty, insightful memoir, longtime school psychologist Barry Losinsky shares his painful coming of age story as an overweight gay man against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, his Jewish ancestry, Baltimore's race riots and the AIDS epidemic. He eventually comes to terms with himself, finds the love of his life, and uses his own experiences to help troubled kids in the public schools. Written with warmth and heartbreaking honesty, the writer takes the reader on a journey that explores gay relationships and power of acceptance.
"In his first book, Losinsky has managed to create an intimate yet delightful take on coming to terms with one's sexuality and identity. Losinsky's memoir takes readers to Baltimore, where the author grew up in a world rich with diversity within the Jewish community. The memoir explores both positive and negative experiences—from instances of sexual assault and near-death experiences to what Losinsky calls "The Perils of Barry" to sexual exploration and his ultimate coming-of-age that leads him to both define and own his sexuality. Losinsky's brutal honesty about his life and his struggles with his identity is something readers of all backgrounds will appreciate."
— Philadelphia Gay News
Oy Vey! I'm Glad I'm Gay eBook Barry Losinsky
Barry Losinsky's first book (let's hope there are more) could easily be classified as a classic coming of age story but that would be akin to labeling To Kill A Mocking Bird a story of law or Pride and Prejudice one of social grace and table manners. While this book is indeed a coming of age story with the associated angst, alienation and self-discovery, it is far richer, comprehensive and transformative in experience and reader engagement.Losinsky invites the reader to become an intimate family member, a best friend who shares his deepest and at times disturbing fears and experiences including some he swore to keep secret while his mother was alive.
The story starts with the author's Russian immigrant grandparents and the family settling into gritty Baltimore at the end of the 19th century. By the end of the first chapter you will have an understanding not only of Losinsky's immediate ancestors but also of the hardscrabble world of turn of the century Baltimore.
We share his early childhood and teen years in an ethnically and religiously diverse neighborhood on the cusp of major social shifts, a microcosm of both Baltimore and the nation at the time. It was tough enough to be a teen but to be closeted gay and not have the support and understanding of others or even the personal acknowledgment of identity was torturous at best.
Losinsky's path of self discovery and acceptance takes him from a fearful virgin hesitantly dancing on the outside of a gay lifestyle to experimentation, flamboyance and fittingly, a decades long, symbiotic, committed and loving relationship that continues to this day. Along the way we meet a menagerie of characters that range from cliche drag queens and urban cowboys, gay sugar-daddies, his classically strong Jewish mother, heroic teachers (of which Barry himself was one), abused teens and supportive cops.
There are similarities with this book and Barry Levinson's great films Avalon and Liberty Heights, being centered around Jewish families in Baltimore. But Losinsky's story is more personal, painful and inspiring as it deals with many of the issues in the films but complicated by being a young gay man in a time and place that sent very destructive messages about such an identity.
This is a book of personal suffering (most of it unnecessary), fear, confusion and even at times, self-loathing. But it is also a book of self-sacrifice, survival, experimentation, growth, transformation and most of all, endless love and kindness.
Gay or straight, Jew or Gentile, male or female, you will not only find experiences that resonate with your life but also come away with a deeper understanding and empathy of the human condition. Among all the angst and joy, heartbreak and love, Losinsky weaves great humor that leaves you teary-eyed one moment and laughing out loud the next. He is a skilled writer and storyteller. Highly recommended.
Steven Bustin, Author
Humble Heroes: How the USS Nashville CL43 Fought WWII
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Oy Vey! I'm Glad I'm Gay eBook Barry Losinsky Reviews
Thoroughly enjoyed Barry's account of his life. I couldn't put this book down.
Thank you for letting me share your journey.
Great read. Insight into difficulties of gays before the gay revolution, but lots of humor. They certainly weren't the good old days.
good
Wonderful read about growing up into a "normal" gay person!! We're different, just like everyone else. And we're unique, just like everyone else! Very enjoyable story of a young man growing into a not-so-young man!!
Once I started reading this book, I couldn't put it down! It takes you on the journy full of ups and downs. It took a lot of courage to write this book. I strongly recommend it to anyone of any sexual orientation. Thank you Barry Losinsky for putting it all out there!!!
From the beginning it looked like everything was stacked against young Barry growing up poor, grossly obese, with an incredibly intrusive over-involved mother and an emotionally absent father, plus Barry's early and painful awareness of being different, and his self-loathing. These are not exactly the signals of success, and might have led to a tragic and self-pitying memoir. Instead, Barry Losinsky's humorous style puts a smile on the reader's face. Barry succeeds as a counselor with gifts for reaching out to youth with similar backgrounds, and he succeeds ln developing a long-lasting and loyal relationship with a gay partner. Their relationship breaks most of the heterosexual stereotypes of what a love relationship is supposed to look like, but, even when put to the test, it works for them. It's a story worth reading.
David R. Matteson, PhD psychologist and author
this book could have been so, so much more. i started reading it because the author and i had a few things in common; i'm from new york city, immigrant parents/grandparents, lesbian and jewish. while the author has the right to any book he wants to write, i was hoping for a more broad book; experiences within the gay community at a very formative time. metaphorically, instead of the binoculars or glasses we could have viewed his life thru, it began to seem more and more as if we were looking into people's beds and pants with a magnifying glass. i got half-way, stopped at his labeling an acquaintance as 'c*m buckets'.
perhaps this book is great if you are more like the author; gay, landed, rural homeowners in foggy bottom. but for this reader at least, it was way tmi.
Barry Losinsky's first book (let's hope there are more) could easily be classified as a classic coming of age story but that would be akin to labeling To Kill A Mocking Bird a story of law or Pride and Prejudice one of social grace and table manners. While this book is indeed a coming of age story with the associated angst, alienation and self-discovery, it is far richer, comprehensive and transformative in experience and reader engagement.
Losinsky invites the reader to become an intimate family member, a best friend who shares his deepest and at times disturbing fears and experiences including some he swore to keep secret while his mother was alive.
The story starts with the author's Russian immigrant grandparents and the family settling into gritty Baltimore at the end of the 19th century. By the end of the first chapter you will have an understanding not only of Losinsky's immediate ancestors but also of the hardscrabble world of turn of the century Baltimore.
We share his early childhood and teen years in an ethnically and religiously diverse neighborhood on the cusp of major social shifts, a microcosm of both Baltimore and the nation at the time. It was tough enough to be a teen but to be closeted gay and not have the support and understanding of others or even the personal acknowledgment of identity was torturous at best.
Losinsky's path of self discovery and acceptance takes him from a fearful virgin hesitantly dancing on the outside of a gay lifestyle to experimentation, flamboyance and fittingly, a decades long, symbiotic, committed and loving relationship that continues to this day. Along the way we meet a menagerie of characters that range from cliche drag queens and urban cowboys, gay sugar-daddies, his classically strong Jewish mother, heroic teachers (of which Barry himself was one), abused teens and supportive cops.
There are similarities with this book and Barry Levinson's great films Avalon and Liberty Heights, being centered around Jewish families in Baltimore. But Losinsky's story is more personal, painful and inspiring as it deals with many of the issues in the films but complicated by being a young gay man in a time and place that sent very destructive messages about such an identity.
This is a book of personal suffering (most of it unnecessary), fear, confusion and even at times, self-loathing. But it is also a book of self-sacrifice, survival, experimentation, growth, transformation and most of all, endless love and kindness.
Gay or straight, Jew or Gentile, male or female, you will not only find experiences that resonate with your life but also come away with a deeper understanding and empathy of the human condition. Among all the angst and joy, heartbreak and love, Losinsky weaves great humor that leaves you teary-eyed one moment and laughing out loud the next. He is a skilled writer and storyteller. Highly recommended.
Steven Bustin, Author
Humble Heroes How the USS Nashville CL43 Fought WWII
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