Home of the Brave – it’s time for the world to come together as one –

One of the most important paintings in my own collection is titled “Home of the Brave” by the young San Francisco artist Monty Guy. It depicts a battle-scarred American Indian wearing traditional war paint on his face along with a black-eye. Blood splatters his face and body. Across his chest the words Land of the Free are tattooed. When I came across the painting at an art opening a couple of years ago, it took my breath away. My husband Enrique and I stood transfixed as we both realized we were standing in front of a masterpiece. That night I had a hard time sleeping and the following morning I woke knowing that I had to buy the painting. I immediately emailed the gallerist and purchased it. I wasn’t sure why the painting resonated with me so strongly. I just knew I couldn’t live without it. That sounds absurd, I know, but, it’s true. Home of the Brave now lives on a wall in our bedroom and is the first thing I see every morning. Sometimes, when the sun is coming up and the lighting is just-right, the young Indian Brave is encircled by an aura. It’s haunting.

On one of those mornings, just coming out of meditation, as I gazed at the painting, the idea for a book about my family tree came to me. I thought about my ancestors who arrived in the New World, the loss of nearly half of their loved ones during that first New England winter, their first encounters with the American Indian, the horrific treatment the Europeans inflicted upon the natives, and the following generations that built our great nation. I knew I had to tell the story of immigration from a new perspective.

As a gay man, I’ve lived through my own sort of holocaust, watching friends and loved ones die of AIDS. I’ve also benefitted from the march of progress in civil rights and the legalization of same-sex marriage. I’m living an American dream, as we all are, that my ancestors surely never imagined. Home of the Brave takes on some of our age’s most heated topics, including gender, immigration and racial discrimination. I can’t wait to share it with you.