Losing my virginity was very boring.

We had the fun of being outlaws. But there's a whole generation now coming up with new gender identities. For this generation of kids who don't think that being gay is anything special, they might be more interesting than any of us.

It's nice to have something you think separates you from the mainstream and gives you perspective on that, but it can become very limiting at the same time if it's something you use to artificially define yourself.

Your life could be taken from you at any moment. Between AIDS and the violence against gay people that was so prevalent back then, you really didn't feel like you were living in the United States of America, in a first world country. You had a sense that life was a precious commodity you had to fight to keep.

I'm a novelist. I think fiction is important or I wouldn't be doing it, but most of it's bad.

Your past comes with you no matter where you go.

I always hoped that I would settle down with someone. Marriage, I could really give two shits about, as an institution, but it makes things easier.