Book launch party for "A Great Gay Book" held at Philbrook Museum of Art

TULSA, Okla. — An event was held at the Philbrook Museum of Art to celebrate the launch of “A Great Gay Book: Stories of Growth, Belonging & Other Queer Possibilities.”

The book is a collection of essays, art, photographs, interviews and other LGBTQ stories from more than 100 different creatives. Some artists featured include writer Alexander Chee, writer Garth Greenwell, painter Kehinde Wiley, writer Bryan Washington and filmmaker John Waters.

“I used to publish a magazine, that I started in 2013, and it is a collection of some of the greatest hits from the archive as well as new content from queer voices creating 432 pages of LGBTQ vibrancy,” author Ryan Fitzgibbon said.

That magazine was “hello mr.,” which focused on giving a voice to emerging and established LGBTQ artists, writers and photographers.

Fitzgibbon said after closing the magazine, he moved to Tulsa from New York in 2020, trying to figure out what to do next.

In 2021, he was accepted into the Tulsa Artist Fellowship, which he said gave him time to reflect on the magazine.

“That was kind of the opportunity for me to really think about how I wanted to spend my time here and decided this was the moment to reflect on queer stories that we’ve told over the last decade and really bring them to Oklahoma and to the world as censorship and book bans are kind of sweeping the nation, especially this part of the country,” Fitzgibbon said. “I think it’s really important that we tell our stories and are here and visible and loud about it.”

Fitzgibbon said he’s grateful for everyone’s support tonight.

“I’m so grateful, I mean I have built a really incredible community that has uplifted and supported me in my time here through some difficult times as well, and my family flew out, which I’m really grateful for, and just being surrounded by everyone is just a dream, I’m really grateful for the support,” he said.

The launch event itself was put on by Magic City Books, Tulsa Artist Fellowship, and Abrams Books.

For more information about “A Great Gay Book,” click here .