As Jodie Picoult's Writes a new Novel Her Son Comes Out
By Josh T. Reynolds for USA TODAY
Picoult, whose book will debut at No. 1 on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list this week, tells USA TODAY's Jocelyn McClurg why she's so passionate about the subject.
"I actually started writing about this because it was so upsetting to me personally that gay rights is even an issue in this country," Picoult said at an event for her book in New York Monday night. "I travel enough to know that it just isn't an issue anywhere else. And they wonder why Americans are so hung up on it. I have so many gay friends and I've known so many gay people over the years. I have gay relatives."
And one of those relatives is her own son, Kyle, who's 19.
Picoult says she had started researching and writing the novel when Kyle, 17 at the time, came out to Picoult and her husband.
"I knew Kyle was gay. I knew when he was 3 that he was gay. But I felt great that he felt comfortable enough with us to come to that conclusion while still in high school and to share it with us."
She describes her son, one of three kids, as a straight-A student at Yale who has many interests: "His being gay is the least interesting thing about him."
And he's "delighted" with mom telling the world he's gay. "He feels like, 'I'm the one who inspired the book,' he feels like he's the poster child for Sing You Home. He's very happy."
Picoult says that once her son came out, Sing You Home(which is dedicated to Kyle and Picoult's friend Ellen Wilber) became even more important for her to write.
"It suddenly became more than just a philosophical study. It became the mission of a mother. Because when Kyle is ready to get married and have kids, I don't want him to have to jump through hoops."
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