BORN THIS WAY: REAL STORIES OF GROWING UP GAY Celebrates Launch at Renberg Theater Today, 10/9

Today, October 9th the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center's Renberg Theater in Hollywood will be hosting a book launch event for the new book Born This Way: Real Stories of Growing Up Gay by Los Angeles author Paul Vitagliano (DJ Paul V.).

Born This Way is a collection of over 100 short, sweet, and achingly truthful stories and childhood photographs of people from all over the world who have known they were gay since childhood. Based on the hugely popular blog of the same name, Born This Way speaks to the hardships of growing up gay and the ultimate triumph of self-acceptance and pride.

Hosting the event is author Paul Vitagliano (DJ Paul V.) and Miss Coco Peru. Celebrity contributors to the book will share their childhood photographs and stories from the book and discuss their experiences growing up gay. There will also be musical performances by Jackie Beat and John Quale (aka Prince Poppycock) with Kristian Hoffman.

Slated to appear are:

• Miss Coco Peru, actor, activist and drag performer
• Frank DeCaro, actor, author, and host of Sirius XM's "The Frank DeCaro Show"
• Patrick Bristow, comedian and actor from Ellen, Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm
• Jeffrey Schwarz, producer and filmmaker whose documentaries include HBO's Vito and the forthcoming I Am Divine
• Raja Gemini, drag performer, and Season 3 winner of RuPaul's Drag Race
• Jackie Beat, drag performer, singer, and writer for E!'s Fashion Police
• The Lane Twins, actors and filmmakers whose award-winning documentary Hollywood to Dollywood chronicles their coming-out story and meeting their idol, Dolly Parton
• Dennis Skeen, featured on the cover and the inspiration for the Born This Way project

Paul Vitagliano or DJ Paul V., is a Los Angeles club and radio DJ, event promoter, music reviewer, and blogger. His blog (Bornthiswayblog.com) has earned more than 3.8 million views since its debut in January 2011 and has been featured on NPR, ABC News, CNN, The Huffington Post, Salon, The Advocate, BuzzFeed and more.

Born This Way: Real Stories of Growing Up Gay book launch event will take place at The Renberg Theater, L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center's Village at Ed Gould Plaza, 1125 N. McCadden Place Hollywood, Calif. One block east of Highland, just north of Santa Monica Boulevard. Free parking is available. The event is set for Tuesday, October 9 from 8-10pm. Cost is $10 General Admission, but the first 50 guests to pay $20 receive a copy of the book and the opportunity to have it signed by all participants.

Part of the proceeds from the event will be donated to the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center's LGBT Homeless Youth Services Program

Quirk Books publishes innovative and buzzworthy books that entertain, amuse, and inform. Founded in 2002, we publish books that are objects of desire and delight--in the categories of pop culture, humor and gift, horror, sci-fi, and mystery, food and drink, parenting, pets, history, crafts, reference, and of course, "irreference."

The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center provides a broad array of services for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, welcoming nearly a quarter-million client visits from ethnically diverse youth and adults each year.

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