The author of ‘A Man and his Pride’ shares his coming out story, and dissects the difference between coming out and finding your pride.
“I could just see myself as one of these men who was closeted in their forties and married.
Author Luke Rutledge, who has just released his debut novel A Man and his Pride, can’t put his finger on why he stayed in the closet until he was 23 years old. But he knew he had to come out. “That thought just kind of terrified me above, above anything else. So that’s when I finally came out,” Luke shares on the first episode of a new season of OUTcast.
The Australian author, who is based in Brisbane, discusses the inspiration behind his debut novel – described author John Boyne as “the literary equivalent of spending a night in a club, dancing all your blues away, and waking the next morning with a smile on your face and a stranger in your bed – as well as telling us what it was like to live in Australia during the 2017 marriage equality plebiscite, why World Pride Sydney is such a great thing for representation in Australia, and what gives him hope as an LGBTQ+ person today.
A Man and his Pride is out now, published by Penguin.
OUTcast Podcast 