High-Risk Homosexual - A Memoir Book

RELEASE DATE - 4 JANUARY 2022

This witty memoir traces a touching and often hilarious spiralic path to embracing a gay, Latinx identity against a culture of machismo—from a cockfighting ring in Nicaragua to cities across the U.S.—and the bath houses, night clubs, and drag queens who help redefine pride.

I’ve always found the definition of machismo to be ironic, considering that pride is a word almost unanimously associated with queer people, the enemy of machistas . . . In a world desperate to erase us, queer Latinx men must find ways to hold on to pride for survival, but excessive male pride is often what we are battling, both in ourselves and in others.

A debut memoir about coming of age as a gay, Latinx man, High-Risk Homosexual opens in the ultimate anti-gay space: Edgar Gomez’s uncle’s cockfighting ring in Nicaragua, where he was sent at thirteen years old to become a man. Readers follow Gomez through the queer spaces where he learned to love being gay and Latinx, including Pulse nightclub in Orlando, a drag queen convention in Los Angeles, and the doctor’s office where he was diagnosed a “high-risk homosexual.”

With vulnerability, humour, and quick-witted insights into racial, sexual, familial, and professional power dynamics, Gomez shares a hard-won path to taking pride in the parts of himself he was taught to keep hidden. His story is a scintillating, beautiful reminder of the importance of leaving space for joy.

"A breath of fresh air . . . Gomez writes with a humour and clarity . . . Gomez's voice is equal parts warmth and acid wit, like a good friend you're slightly afraid of . . . An exciting debut from an author with a rare point of view. High-Risk Homosexual deals with some titanic questions. What is Latinidad? What is machismo? What does it mean to be a man, never mind a queer man? By its own admission, the book doesn't have all the answers, but it makes a compelling case that they will come from the razor-sharp queers living in the margins."
John Paul Brammer, The New York Times Book Review

"I loved this memoir so much. Gomez had me crying and laughing while also taking deep breaths throughout the pages."
Lupita Aquino, TODAY

"Gomez's compelling memoir of embracing his gay, Latinx identity in a world that so often prizes neither takes the reader on a whirlwind tour from a Nicaraguan cockfighting ring to a drag queen convention in Los Angeles and far beyond."
Emma Specter, Vogue

"Gomez explores his upbringing and coming to terms with his identity in a series of humorous essays."
Alamin Yohannes, Entertainment Weekly

"The catalogue page for this debut memoir lists a number of things you can expect to find within the book's contents. Among them are 'Maybelline foundation shade: Rich Tan, ' 'A baby wailing in an ancient Jesuit language, ' and 'The most famous woman in the world.' If that doesn't entice you to read Gomez's account of figuring out how to embrace his queer identity amid a culture of machismo, I'm not sure what will."
Keely Weiss, Harper's Bazaar, A Best LGBT Book of the Year

"High-Risk Homosexual is a book that will stick with readers."
Sarah Neilson, Shondaland

"Gorgeous and hilarious."
Sophia June, NYLON, A Most Anticipated Book