Gay Body: A Journey Through Shadow to Self (Stonewall Inn Editions) - Tapa blanda

A combination autobiography and philosophical treatise explores the passage to adulthood for gay men, discussing spiritual healing and dangerous archetypes while reviewing the author's journey from a difficult family upbringing, through the leather movement, to his own integration and fulfillment. Reprint.

Mark Thompson was born and raised on the Monterey Peninsula, California, where he was exposed to a wide range of spiritual beliefs and practices. In 1973, he helped lead the Gay Students Coalition at San Francisco State University, and has worked for gay and feminist causes since that time.

He began his career in journalism with the national gay newspaper The Advocate in 1975, reporting on culture and politics in Europe. He continued to serve the publication during the next nineteen years in a number of capacities--as a feature writer, photographer, and senior editor. In 1994, he completed his tenure at the magazine by editing Long Road to Freedom: The Advocate History of the Gay and Lesbian Movement (St. Martin's Press), a massive volume of half a million words and over seven hundred photographs documenting the gay and lesbian struggle for civil rights. The book was nominated for two Lambda Literary Awards.

Thompson's other work includes the acclaimed 1987 anthology Gay Spirit: Myth and Meaning (St. Martin's Press), which examined gay spirituality from different perspectives. Leatherfolk: Radical Sex, People, Politics, and Practice (Alyson Publications), a 1991 collection, and Gay Soul: Finding the Heart of Gay Spirit and Nature (Harper San Francisco), a 1994 book consisting of in-depth interviews and photographs with sixteen writers, teachers, and visionaries, have also been nominated for Lambda Literary Awards.

Thompson has contributed to a variety of other publications, including Hometowns: Gay Men Write About Where They Belong (Dutton), Positively Gay: New Approaches to Gay and Lesbian Life (Celestial Arts), Out in Culture (Duke University Press), and Gay Men at the Millennium: Sex, Spirit, Community (Tarcher). He frequently lectures on contemporary aspects of gay male experience, and has spoken at the University of California/Los Angeles, City University of New York, and the University of Wisconsin, as well as to groups ranging from the National Organization of Changing Men to the Unitarian Church. Thompson lives in Los Angeles with his longtime life partner, Episcopal priest and author Malcolm Boyd. He is 0currently working toward a graduate degree in clinical psychology at Antioch University.