Cover illustration of Affliction courtesy of Laura Hall. Headshot of Laura Hall courtesy of same.
EVENT DESCRIPTION
Author Laura Hall will discuss her new memoir, Affliction: Growing Up With a Closeted Gay Dad (She Writes Press, 2021) which recounts the life story of her gay father, Ralph, from 1918 to 2008. Hall was 24 when her father came out to her in 1975. She learned that in the late 1930s, her father had been in a relationship with a musician in Los Angeles. But two arrests for homosexual activity sent him back into the closet, prompted him to enlist in the Army and ultimately led him to marry a woman. With a panoramic sweep covering the conservative Central Valley oilfield culture of Ralph Hall’s youth, to his double life in postwar America, to his care for dying friends during the AIDS crisis, Affliction is a window into the life of a man who felt that he had no choice but to live in the shadows. The memoir also recounts how her father’s secret became a path to Hall’s own healing.
Attendees who purchase copies of Affliction: Growing Up with a Closeted Gay Dad from the GLBT Historical Society’s Bookshop.org page will receive a personalized autographed bookplate from Hall. Please send an email with your ticket confirmation and Bookshop.org receipt to leigh@glbthistory.org, with information on how you would like yours personalized, by August 23.
For more information about Affliction, see the publisher’s webpage here: https://shewritespress.com/product/affliction/.
SPEAKERS
Laura Hall (she/her/hers) was born and raised in a small city on the San Francisco peninsula. After receiving her BA and MA in landscape architecture at University of California at Berkeley, she went on to teach for the school’s Extension program and build an urban-design professional practice where her projects included community facilitation in Northern California communities and rebuilding plans for Mississippi Gulf Coast towns following the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. She currently works in EPA’s Region 9 Tribal, Intergovernmental, and Policy Division in San Francisco.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
This event will take place online. After you register, you will receive a confirmation email with a link and instructions on how to join.
ADMISSION
$5 | Free for members
Tickets are available online here: https://bit.ly/3w8ahNH
ASL INTERPRETATION
ASL interpretation provided upon request. Please write at least three days in advance of event to leigh@glbthistory.org.
JOIN THE GLBT HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Become a member of the GLBT Historical Society for free museum and program admission, discounts in the museum shop and other perks: http://www.glbthistory.org/memberships.