PULLMAN, Wash. — Marc Adams, an award-winning gay author who wrote an autobiography about his abusive experience growing up as a pastor’s son, will speak at 7:30 p.m., Feb. 10 in Washington State University’s Compton Union Building junior ballroom. The talk is sponsored by the WSU Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Allies Program.
Adams, of Seattle, will discuss his life as the son of a fundamentalist Baptist minister in rural Pennsylvania. “He endured a childhood of physical, emotional and spiritual abuse,” said Melynda Huskey, GLBA director.
Adams won a Silver Pen Award and he was a Lambda Literary Award finalist for his autobiography, “The Preacher’s Son.”
In his WSU talk, Adams will share much of his life’s story, discuss his other books, “Light” and “Still Water,” and talk about his outreach to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered students — current and former — of conservative religious schools, colleges and universities. His work “…is the only such outreach of its kind in the world,” said Huskey. Following his address, Adams will answer questions from the audience.
Adams attended Virginia’s Liberty University, a private Christian fundamentalist liberal arts institution founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell, a nationally known evangelist and the university’s chancellor. He also worked three years for Liberty’s student recruitment/university relations department. In “Preacher’s Son,” he describes life at Liberty and his struggle to conform to its homophobic standards, Huskey said.
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