Linda D. Rhodes

Linda D. Rhodes was born in Melbourne at a time when homosexuality was deemed both immoral and illegal and was largely kept secret. Her gay cousin, though geographically close, was spoken of reluctantly and she never met him. Subsequently, a lifetime spent married to the notoriously homophobic mining industry meant that she rarely encountered sexual diversity – until a young acquaintance arrived to stay. Faced with his differences and her ignorance, she felt the need to understand and so began her research. The result is a book that tells a story of what it is like to be gay, which answers all the questions a parent might ask when a son comes out and which reveals that a gay life involves a great deal more than rainbows, mardi gras and AIDS.

After a twenty-year career in nursing, much of it in mining towns, Linda undertook an undergraduate degree in psychology. This was followed by a PhD in sociology. Her first book, Two for the Price of One, examined the lives of women whose husbands were professional mining men.