Once-Removed ... recounts the author's conflicted journey as a scruple-ridden gay youth through Catholic schools in San Jose, California; his desperate search for a cure through psychotherapy, subsequent marriage, divorce, single-parenting two sons, and a thirty-three year career in classrooms from Washington to California ... In 1980 his first lover weaned him away from alcohol dependency by showing him his inherent worth as a gay man. Maintaining sobriety meant coming out as a gay man, father, and teacher.