Poland Gets Its First Coming-Out Book

The new cover (right) is more “out” than the 1991 original

A Polish translation of my book Hide and Speak will be published as Poland’s first coming out guide for gay men and lesbians.

Hide and Speak: A Coming Out Guide is being translated into Polish for publication by Helion Press, a major commercial publisher in Poland. I signed the contract with Helion shortly before U.S. National Coming Out Day, Oct. 11.

I’m delighted to introduce the power of coming out to Poland’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (glbt) people. The ideas in my book are so new in Poland that the expression ‘coming out’ doesn't even have its equivalent in Polish yet. Helion Press tells me that there are only a few books in Polish about homosexuality, and all of them treat it as a disease or a problem.

The Polish edition will be published within the next 18 months by Helion, one of the largest publishers of business and computer books in Poland. Helion is expanding its business to include psychology titles.

Hide and Speak offers a powerful program of self-acceptance and appropriate disclosure.
for queer people -- and anyone else with a story to tell. Each chapter includes real-life examples and tested, highly effective exercises that I used in coming-out workshops nationwide. The book tells positive ways to come out to yourself, create a circle of supporters and deal with family, job and school.

Originally published in 1991, Hide and Speak was recently updated and released by AndroGyne Press, a new queer studies press based in Berkeley, CA.

Coming out has become easier in America, so the new cover is more “out there” than the older, more discreet version. But Hide and Speak is still much needed even in the U.S.

Hide and Speak has also been translated into Chinese. The Polish edition means that the book is available in three languages.

By writing Hide and Speak, I hope that readers will learn how to live proud, free and balanced, no matter what happens. May it happen in English, Polish, Chinese and many other languages!