For tonight’s inaugural Queer Love Book Club, Rasheed Newson joined from his home in Pasadena, California. And we’re living for his shade of green nail polish!

He’s the author of the national bestseller My Government Means to Kill Me, and his debut novel was a Lambda Literary finalist for Gay Fiction and was named one of the “The 100 Notable Books of 2022” by The New York Times. His forthcoming novel, There’s Only One Sin in Hollywood, is slated for publication by Flatiron in 2026. And we got the deets first, which will be a delicious romp through 1950s Hollywood.

As many may already be aware, Rasheed is also a television drama writer, producer, and showrunner. Along with his screenplay writing partner, T.J. Brady, he co-developed and is an executive producer of Bel-Air. The drama series has won three NAACP Image Awards and has been nominated several times for Best Drama Series. Additionally, Rasheed has worked on The Chi, Animal Kingdom, and Narcos, among other drama series. Rasheed was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. He’s a graduate of Georgetown University. He currently lives with his husband and their two children in Pasadena.

My Government Means to Kill Me starts in 1985 New York City when our protagonist, Trey Singleton, is 18, and it progresses over a couple of years. Trey is telling this story in a series of “Lessons,” looking back from a future 50 years later. The novel is packed full of information about that time in NYC.

Trey’s parents are wealthy former Black Panthers who have “cashed in,” in Rasheed’s own words, and are now work as lobbyists for Eli Lilly and have powerful connections in D.C. They aren’t approving of his gayness, so he rejects his privilege and trust fund, leaves their mansion in Indianapolis to seek a new life in the big city. He eventually finds himself at the forefront of the Gay Rights movement in the late ‘80s and is even part of the founding of ACT UP.

In a review of the book by The Harvard Review, the critic wrote: “My Government Means to Kill Me marries the radical sentimentality of Leslie Feinberg’s Stone Butch Blues with the jarring odyssey of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man.”

I thought that was great—to yoke those two together—so I asked Rasheed what he thought of these comparisons. That jump started our conversation, which lasted approximately an hour, and here are a few highlights.

Some of my favorite scenes in the book are set at the Mt. Morris Baths in Harlem… Rasheed provides lusty, delicious descriptions of his many sexual encounters. Since I know from experience that many readers can be critical of such joyous descriptions of sex—especially with the specter of HIV/AIDS.

My first question: How did you manage to write about sex in such a positive way—so often it feels like it either needs to be “traumatic” or it gets labeled as erotica—so were you worried people would find Trey’s sexual recreation problematic?

We also discussed his inclusion of legendary Civil Rights leader and political organizer Bayard Rustin being at the baths. This (naked) wise man educates Trey over the course of the novel and becomes a surrogate father figure who encourages him to find a purpose and pursue it.

I’m so happy that more people are discovering his legacy, and hopefully you’ve seen Colman Domingo portray him in Rustin, which is currently on Netflix. Find the book of his life in letters, titled I Must Resist, if you’re interested in knowing more.

Afterward, we discussed the relationship Trey has with his roommate Gregory—which is wild—after they meet by chance. Trey is attracted to him: Gregory is a hottie Haitian hustler. Although they never have sex, they have a very intimate bond. It’s a lovely display of the elasticity of queer relationships and friends—Trey says he feels fortunate that Gregory has chosen him as a friend and roommate. He prays that they’ll f**k and he says he “loves him madly.” Since he seemed “sexy, street-smart and glamorous. Everything I wanted to be one day.” They cuddle and fight and seem bound to one another until it all blows apart.

I played the audio of Jelani Aladdin, the narrator of the book, reading from Chapter 6, titled “Lesson # 6: Romantic Notions Are Delusions.” It begins on page 76 of the paperback version for anyone who wants to read along.

Then, finally, we addressed Chapter 9, titled “Lesson # 9: Touch at Least One Dead Body,” where we are introduced to Angie’s home hospice care for many men dying from complications due to HIV/AIDS. Trey feels a kinship and bond to these complete strangers and eventually makes his biggest sacrifice for this woman.

That struck me in particular because many people say gay men and lesbians don’t have a lot in common and, yet we see women sacrificing so much as caretakers. Later on, Trey, thinks “Lesbians had no place in my life,” until he meets Angie—who schools him.

He’s scared of Angie—thinks she could throw him down a flight of stairs—but she also is full of a type of love for her fellow man that she’s something else entirely. This type resembles agape love, a selfless, unconditional, and sacrificial love, often considered the highest form of love in Christianity. It’s something many LGBTQ+ people tapped into during the AIDS pandemic and continue to tap into. Rasheed explained why it was essential to explore this amid all the messy stuff that Trey was living through at the time.

We took some excellent questions from those who were following the conversation live, including how to write effective sex scenes. That’s when Rasheed explained that sex is political and important and shouldn’t be negated.

A huge thanks to Rasheed for being so generous with his time and talent and sharing so many insights with us, three years after My Government Means to Kill Me was initially published in hardback. Be on the lookout for There’s Only One Sin in Hollywood, due out in 2026, which goes deep into queer 1950s Hollywood, and includes Anthony Perkins, Tab Hunter, Diahann Carroll and many more notables of the era. We’ll sure to be reading and telling you all about it as soon as pre-orders are available!

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