How does it feel when you see your first Pride parade? How do you make the decision to have sex in a time when there’s a deadly disease that no one knows how to prevent? How do you protect yourself from something you can’t see? What risk is worth it?
He has to figure out how to be the person he needs to be without being thrown out of his home. Gabriel only has eyes for Michael and for the first time in his life Michael is pushed out of his comfort zone. Once Michael meets Gabriel things change. While Becky and James have a bit of friction between them, Michael seems to be the glue that holds their friendship together. Becky, on the other hand, is worried about everyone. James is artistic, mysterious and creative and he draws people to him. Michael is often in the shadow of his friend James. Michael finds his escape from uncertainty at The Echo – a dance club that has become his little island of safety. His home life was heart-breaking with a homophobic father and a mother without the wherewithal to stand up for her sons. He’s complex and I really enjoyed being in his head for a while.
HIV/AIDS was such a huge thing hanging over a community of people who had once been very sexually free. Dunbar really captured the fear and confusion that was rampant in the 80s and 90s. Full transparency – I began volunteering at AIDS organizations in the early 90s and was running one five years later. All that keeps Michael sane is his free-spirited friend, James, his bestie Becky and the mysterious boy he keeps meeting at his favorite club. To add to the uncertainty in Michael’s life, his brother Connor has been kicked out of the family home by their homophobic father. HIV/AIDS is spreading even though, at that time, there was nothing certain about transmission. Michael is a young man who is just becoming comfortable with his sexuality, and he’s living in a time when he has to contemplate the fact that having sex might kill him. The descriptive bit: We Are Lost And Found by Helene Dunbar tells an important story that took place in the 80s.
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