Advocate Today
As Tennessee becomes the first state to restrict Drag performances, Tracy E. Gilchrist of Advocate Today speaks to Joe Gantz about his book "A Secret I Can't Tell." The book interviews LGBTQ+ families and their children as they fend off hate and ostracization from their communities.
As Tennessee becomes the first state to restrict Drag performances, Tracy E. Gilchrist of Advocate Today speaks to Joe Gantz about his book "A Secret I Can't Tell." The book interviews LGBTQ+ families and their children as they fend off hate and ostracization from their communities.
19th News
As the anti-gay activist Anita Bryant launched her “Save the Children” campaign, Gantz grew curious about the lives of queer parents and their kids, forced to keep their families secret… Now, four decades later, the book is hitting shelves again, this time with fresh interviews with the kids (now middle-aged adults) and a new title. “A Secret I Can’t Tell” is not just a rare history about youth raised by queer parents in the 1980s; it is an eerily timely arrival as anti-LGBTQ+ laws are sending many queer families back into the closet.
As the anti-gay activist Anita Bryant launched her “Save the Children” campaign, Gantz grew curious about the lives of queer parents and their kids, forced to keep their families secret… Now, four decades later, the book is hitting shelves again, this time with fresh interviews with the kids (now middle-aged adults) and a new title. “A Secret I Can’t Tell” is not just a rare history about youth raised by queer parents in the 1980s; it is an eerily timely arrival as anti-LGBTQ+ laws are sending many queer families back into the closet.
Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES
In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ talks with writer-filmmaker and fierce LGBTQ ally Joe Gantz about his new book “A Secret I Can’t Tell” available on Carpenter Hill Publishing. Originally published in 1983 the nonfiction book was the only record of American gay and lesbian headed household family life during the heyday of the homophobic Moral Majority. In republishing the book Gantz revisits the families 40 years later with new interviews and a new unparalleled look at how far we’ve come and underscores how close we are to returning to a dark past.
In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ talks with writer-filmmaker and fierce LGBTQ ally Joe Gantz about his new book “A Secret I Can’t Tell” available on Carpenter Hill Publishing. Originally published in 1983 the nonfiction book was the only record of American gay and lesbian headed household family life during the heyday of the homophobic Moral Majority. In republishing the book Gantz revisits the families 40 years later with new interviews and a new unparalleled look at how far we’ve come and underscores how close we are to returning to a dark past.
Dumb Gay Politics with Julie & Brandy
On the last episode of 2022, Julie and Brandy talk to acclaimed director & writer Joe Gantz about his book, “A Secret I Can’t Tell.” Published in 1983 (and updated in 2022), the book tells the groundbreaking story of five brave families who raised their children in openly gay homes, during one of the most volatile and transformative periods in history.
"A moving testimony to the courage, determination and inventiveness of same-sex parents who battled against all odds to create loving happy families. A Secret I Can't Tell shows how the families Joe Gantz first met four decades ago have gone from being rare and frowned upon to becoming an increasingly common, accepted and successful facet of family diversity in modern America. Bravo!”
-Peter Tatchell, human rights campaigner and gay-rights activist
"As the song says, "Sons of the thief, sons of the saint, who is the child with no complaint" -- and it turns out that four decades ago, as now, the kids of pioneering gay parents had their share of complaints, too, alongside joys, triumphs, and love. All are skillfully rendered in the family vignettes that make up the bulk of A Secret I Can't Tell. Joe Gantz's original interviews and later updates confirm what the evidence, expertise, and experience of the intervening years have shown: despite discrimination, gay parents are doing a great job, their kids are okay, and families are, well, families. All deserve love, respect, and support."
-Evan Wolfson, internationally recognized civil rights lawyer and strategist. He was the founder and president of Freedom to Marry, the pioneering campaign which drove the successful strategy that won same-sex couples the right to marry throughout the United States.
"It is fascinating to read these testimonies of historical pioneers who paved the way for the extraordinary changes which have taken place in my lifetime. Like many in the LGBTQ+ community, I am deeply grateful for those who took the risk for us all. A Secret I Can’t Tell recounts the starting point for our journey toward being an open and unashamed secret! Thank you, Joe Gantz for reminding us of whence we came."
-Vaughan Jones, is the minister of Union Chapel in London, and was the founding CEO of Praxis, a voluntary organization supporting refugees and migrants. He has been active in human rights, homelessness and migrant rights throughout his long career.
"Although our planet continues to progress each year towards a state of greater sexual toleration and respect, we must remember that, back in the 1970s and 1980s, lesbian and gay mothers and fathers suffered tremendous shame for having challenged the traditional model of heterosexual parenting. In this gripping book, Joe Gantz has chronicled his pioneering research work, providing us with a detailed portrait of the lives and minds of those who challenged the unquestioned standards of yesteryear. As both a psychotherapist and a sexologist, I hold this iconic book in very high regard indeed.”
-Professor Brett Kahr, Senior Fellow at the Tavistock Institute of Medical Psychology in London, and Visiting Professor of Psychoanalysis and Mental Health at Regent’s University London, and author of Who’s Been Sleeping in Your Head?: The Secret World of Sexual Fantasies.
"When you open "A Secret I Can't Tell" you step into an American time machine, nervously set the dial for the year 1983, hit go and whoosh, you're suddenly at the kitchen tables, in the dens or riding along in cars with a brave collection of parents with their teenagers who all have something in common, but, because it's 1983, they barely have the vocabulary or the confidence to tell you what it is. With his remarkable 40-year long, three-generation portrait of gay families, Joe Gantz has found a profoundly moving way of moving back and forth between 1983 and today and showing us that, despite momentary setbacks in human and civil rights, we do live in a culture that can evolve for the better."
-John Hoffman, six-time Emmy Award winning documentary filmmaker whose work includes FAUCI for National Geographic, OUT OF MANY ONE for Netflix, RANCHER, FARMER, FISHERMAN for Discovery and THE WEIGHT OF THE NATION for HBO.
-Peter Tatchell, human rights campaigner and gay-rights activist
"As the song says, "Sons of the thief, sons of the saint, who is the child with no complaint" -- and it turns out that four decades ago, as now, the kids of pioneering gay parents had their share of complaints, too, alongside joys, triumphs, and love. All are skillfully rendered in the family vignettes that make up the bulk of A Secret I Can't Tell. Joe Gantz's original interviews and later updates confirm what the evidence, expertise, and experience of the intervening years have shown: despite discrimination, gay parents are doing a great job, their kids are okay, and families are, well, families. All deserve love, respect, and support."
-Evan Wolfson, internationally recognized civil rights lawyer and strategist. He was the founder and president of Freedom to Marry, the pioneering campaign which drove the successful strategy that won same-sex couples the right to marry throughout the United States.
"It is fascinating to read these testimonies of historical pioneers who paved the way for the extraordinary changes which have taken place in my lifetime. Like many in the LGBTQ+ community, I am deeply grateful for those who took the risk for us all. A Secret I Can’t Tell recounts the starting point for our journey toward being an open and unashamed secret! Thank you, Joe Gantz for reminding us of whence we came."
-Vaughan Jones, is the minister of Union Chapel in London, and was the founding CEO of Praxis, a voluntary organization supporting refugees and migrants. He has been active in human rights, homelessness and migrant rights throughout his long career.
"Although our planet continues to progress each year towards a state of greater sexual toleration and respect, we must remember that, back in the 1970s and 1980s, lesbian and gay mothers and fathers suffered tremendous shame for having challenged the traditional model of heterosexual parenting. In this gripping book, Joe Gantz has chronicled his pioneering research work, providing us with a detailed portrait of the lives and minds of those who challenged the unquestioned standards of yesteryear. As both a psychotherapist and a sexologist, I hold this iconic book in very high regard indeed.”
-Professor Brett Kahr, Senior Fellow at the Tavistock Institute of Medical Psychology in London, and Visiting Professor of Psychoanalysis and Mental Health at Regent’s University London, and author of Who’s Been Sleeping in Your Head?: The Secret World of Sexual Fantasies.
"When you open "A Secret I Can't Tell" you step into an American time machine, nervously set the dial for the year 1983, hit go and whoosh, you're suddenly at the kitchen tables, in the dens or riding along in cars with a brave collection of parents with their teenagers who all have something in common, but, because it's 1983, they barely have the vocabulary or the confidence to tell you what it is. With his remarkable 40-year long, three-generation portrait of gay families, Joe Gantz has found a profoundly moving way of moving back and forth between 1983 and today and showing us that, despite momentary setbacks in human and civil rights, we do live in a culture that can evolve for the better."
-John Hoffman, six-time Emmy Award winning documentary filmmaker whose work includes FAUCI for National Geographic, OUT OF MANY ONE for Netflix, RANCHER, FARMER, FISHERMAN for Discovery and THE WEIGHT OF THE NATION for HBO.