This was very much my pre-Internet experience as a teenager and young man. Novels about the gay experience, like The Front Runner, existed, but most of them were pretty subtle with titles and dust jacket blurbs.

Somehow though, a certain sixth sense, even when I was only 14 and 15, helped ensure I slipped them into my book bag.

I can’t remember the titles of all the queer themed books I read in high school, but I know I’m forever grateful for them.