Brown and Gay in LA: The Lives of Immigrant Sons

The stories of second-generation immigrant gay men coming of age in Los Angeles

Growing up in the shadow of Hollywood, the gay sons of immigrants featured in Brown and Gay in LA could not have felt further removed from a world where queerness was accepted and celebrated. Instead, the men profiled here maneuver through family and friendship circles where masculinity dominates, gay sexuality is unspoken, and heterosexuality is strictly enforced. For these men, the path to sexual freedom often involves chasing the dreams while resisting the expectations of their immigrant parents-and finding community in each other.

Ocampo also details his own story of reconciling his queer Filipino American identity and those of men like him. He shows what it was like for these young men to grow up gay in an immigrant family, to be the one gay person in their school and ethnic community, and to be a person of color in predominantly White gay spaces. Brown and Gay in LA is an homage to second-generation gay men and their radical redefinition of what it means to be gay, to be a man, to be a person of color, and, ultimately, what it means to be an American.

ISBN-13: 9781479824250

Media Type: Hardcover

Publisher: New York University Press

Publication Date: 09-19-2022

Pages: 240

Product Dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

Series: Asian American Sociology - #8

Anthony Christian Ocampo is Professor of Sociology at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. He is the author of The Latinos of Asia: How Filipino Americans Break the Rules of Race and co-editor of Contemporary Asian America, 3rd edition. A Tin House and VONA/Voices of Our Nations Arts fellow, he has published essays in GQ, Catapult, Colorlines, Gravy, and the Chronicle of Higher Education, among others. His work has also been featured on NPR, NBC News, BuzzFeed, and in the Los Angeles Times. Raised in Northeast Los Angeles, he earned his BA and MA from Stanford University and his MA and PhD in sociology from UCLA. Say hi to him on Twitter: @anthonyocampo.

Table of Contents

A Note on Language ix

Preface xiii

1 The Gay Second Generation 1

2 Lessons in Manhood and Morality 15

3 Surviving School 36

4 Escaping to College 64

5 Becoming Brown and Gay in LA 101

6 Not That Gay 135

7 Beyond Acceptance 163

Acknowledgments 173

Appendix: The Research Process 177

Notes 185

Bibliography 195

Index 207

About the Author 217

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