Showing results by narrator "Topher Payne" in All Categories

What causes a child to grow up gay or straight? In this book, neuroscientist Simon LeVay summarizes a wealth of scientific evidence that points to one inescapable conclusion: Sexual orientation results primarily from an interaction between genes, sex hormones, and the cells of the developing body and brain. LeVay helped create this field in 1991 with a much-publicized study in Science, where he reported on a difference in the brain structure between gay and straight men. Since then, an entire scientific discipline has sprung up around the quest for a biological explanation of sexual orientation. In this book, LeVay provides a clear explanation of where the science stands today, taking the reader on a whirlwind tour of laboratories that specialize in genetics, endocrinology, neuroscience, cognitive psychology, evolutionary psychology, and family demographics. He describes, for instance, how researchers have manipulated the sex hormone levels of animals during development, causing them to mate preferentially with animals of their own gender. LeVay also reports on the prevalence of homosexual behavior among wild animals, ranging from Graylag geese to the Bonobo chimpanzee.

Boys is an anthology of essays showcasing the voices, stories, and lives of gay, queer, and trans men from around the world. Through these essays, listeners are allowed an intimate glimpse into moments like the time one of the boys accidentally came out as gay on MySpace, another was kidnapped by his mother who wanted to "pray the gay away", to the first time a boy went to a leather bar after transitioning to male and before he became a famous porn artist and performer. Boys shows listeners that at the end of the day, there isn't one type of boy in the world, but lots of boys with all their own stories.

Beth Carroll, a wealthy old lady cared for by her gay houseboy David and by Phidias, the overseer of the estate and her lover for 50 years, has died before signing her will which will protect her magnificent property from being sold to developers, Phidias enlists David's aid, and David calls in his old lover Rick and the latter's famous friend, the Dietrich-esque chanteuse Madeleine Cosquer, who in turn brings in her agent, Aldo, a hip L.A. queen. Together they develop an impossible plan to fulfill Mrs. Carroll's last wish.

When most people say they have “crazy” families, they mean that their family is wacky and weird - but they love them for it. They are just like a David Sedaris story. With family, there’s a boundary of social acceptably dysfunctional, the difference between huggable and restraining order. We are way, way over that line. This is not a David Sedaris story.

Splendora, a steamy little East Texas town, is the setting for this rollicking tale of Timothy John Coldridge and Miss Jessie Gatewood, two people who couldn't be any closer. But Timothy John and Miss Jessie are hiding a secret - one that, if discovered, will rock Splendora to its very core.