Book cover of Banned from California

Book description

A Gripping Biography of a Gay Trailblazer

Jim Foshee had always known that he was different. Born in 1939 to a conservative family, he longed for a place where he could be himself and find love. At the age of 15, he decided to take matters into his own hands…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Banned from California as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I love this book because it is a nearly unbelievable tale of human resilience and a timely reminder that not so long ago, queers had bigger problems than micro-aggressions and pronouns. Jim Foshee had the gay life you don’t want. By age fourteen, he had been abused by his mother, his step-father, a reform school, a mental hospital, police, older kids at a juvenile jail, and a judge.

The only love he had received was from a drag queen who had taken him off the street and her partner, and for this, they were tried and nearly imprisoned. Jim was…

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