Fresh Air A Girl Grows Up In The Epicenter Of Gay Liberation
Oct 17, 2025
Alicia Abbott, a memoirist known for her book *Fairyland*, shares her unique childhood experiences growing up with a gay single father in 1970s San Francisco. She discusses how the gay liberation movement shaped her early life and her father's coming out after her mother's tragic death. Abbott reflects on feeling caught between two worlds and her complicated emotions regarding her father's identity. Film critic John Powers reviews *Blue Moon*, highlighting its portrayal of the legendary lyricist Lorenz Hart and discussing the film's intimate structure.
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Born Into A Transforming Family
- Alicia Abbott describes being born after her parents' brief marriage and her mother's death in a car accident.
- Her father then chose to raise her alone and moved them to San Francisco, creating an exclusively gay-headed household.
Early Gay-Parenting Was Mostly Post-Marriage
- Abbott notes children born to gay parents in the early post-Stonewall decades mostly came from heterosexual unions where one parent later came out.
- Her case differed because her mother died, so she lived in an openly gay-headed household from early childhood.
Drag As Childhood Play
- As a small child in San Francisco, Abbott saw roommates and friends dress in drag and treated it as playful dress-up.
- She didn't find it strange until later, when she compared her life to conventional families.
