Center Blog

“I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.” – Abraham Lincoln

Scott Pasfield’s just released book Gay In America should make a lot of places proud. Pasfield traveled for more than three years, logging more than 54,000 miles, as he chronicled the lives of gay men. One hundred forty portraits appear in the book and each state in the union is represented at least once. Pasfield was at The Center on October 17 as part of the Center Author Series to discuss the creation of the book and share the stories of some of the men featured.

The idea for the book came to Pasfield at a time he was looking for a project to rekindle his passion for photography. “I needed a personal project that would speak from my heart,” he told the audience. “The media has a way of portraying gay men and I knew there was more to us than that.”

To achieve the goal of showing as many variations as possible, he posted ads on Craigslist and other sources in an effort to find men who would tell their stories. He said there was a mating dance that would occur as men would contact him. “There was a trust that happened, gay man to gay man,” he said.

Some of the men profiled in the book where in attendance at The Center: Manny & Brian, from Patterson, NJ whose photo was the alternate cover choice for the book; Chip and Gabriel from New York City; and Lt. Dan Choi, who was the final cover choice for the book.

“He is one of the best advocates out there,” says Pasfield of Choi. “It’s an honor to have him on the cover. He came out in a big way and he hasn’t stopped yet.”

Stories that Pasfield shared during his presentation included:

Steven from Miami, who was so comfortable in his skin as a teenager, that the therapist his parents took him to called him the most well adjusted teen he’d ever met.

David from Snellville, Georgia, wrote about his partner’s children trying to figure out what to call him. Since he stayed home with the kids, they settled on “mommy with a beard” as his name.

Henry, Scott and Henry’s son Cameron from Minneapolis, provide one of the sadder stories of the book. Henry is a cancer survivor and Cameron had brain cancer. Their photo shoot was postponed because Henry and Scott were scheduled to be married on a cruise, and Cameron very much wanted to be at the wedding. Two weeks later, the shoot took place and Cameron was so weak, Henry and Scott kept Cameron upright between them. Cameron passed away five weeks later and, a few months after that, Henry and Scott broke up. Pasfield convinced Henry to keep the story and image in the book because Cameron had felt so strongly about the project. It’s also a story that shows that gay families can go through the very same tragedies that everyone else does. This is also the only story that was allowed to be updated in the book; everything else is frozen as a moment in time just as the photographs are.

Jakoury from Chester, West Virginia, was encouraged by his father to learn how to defend himself. In 10th grade that came in handy when he was bullied and preceded to knock the bully out. He ended up gaining respect and starting a gay/straight alliance in the school.

Pasfield says he became an accidental activist because of the book. “If more people took their passion and used it to better their community, the world would change. We all have to do what we can.”

There is some controversy since the book focuses only on men, but Pasfield points out there is no word that signifies “gay men” as there is for lesbians. He hopes someone does a book on lesbians (he’s considered it himself but he’s not sure he could do the topic justice), transgender people and bisexual people. He firmly believes, “to study each group individually gives them the attention they deserve.”

Meanwhile, he hopes the attention focused on Gay in America can secure funding to allow him to do further volumes since there are so many diverse stories across the country.

You can find out more about Gay in America, and see the video Pasfield showed at the start of his discussion, at gayinamerica.us.

By Jeff Adams