FOR MY 18TH BIRTHDAY, I received the first three volumes of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City from a boyfriend. It was definitely the highlight of a rocky 12 months. The books opened up Maupin’s fantastical San Francisco, a rainbow world of drama, heartache and satisfying personal development, as told through the eyes and ears of charming local gay hero Michael Tolliver and his chums.
In 1989, the Tales of the City tomes were peerless gateways into living a full gay life. They made it look like a happy place. This was a radical idea, given that Maupin began writing them in the early 1970s. The stories were not just comfort blankets. They came equipped with actual tools, such as Michael’s beautiful coming out letter to his curtain-twitching, religious, right-wing mother. They turned Maupin into a generational hero overnight. He remains one.
Almost 30 years later and the author is promoting his memoir, Logical Family. The titular idea is one associated with Michael in Tales, one he became the figurehead for. In his new home, Michael finds happiness not by gaining the acceptance of his birth family but by fashioning a new one. They are cultured, drug-literate, tasteful, sexy and drawn from right across the LGBT+ spectrum of life and beyond. At the time, reading about the possibility of new friends passing on the wisdom your biological family couldn’t felt so refreshing.