Published in the 1960s under the name D. Royal, I, Homosexual belongs to the confessional wing of gay pulp literature—a subgenre that blended memoir, case study, and sensational marketing to slip queer lives into print during an era of censorship and criminalization. Framed as first-person testimony, books like this promised “truth” and intimacy while navigating the legal and cultural limits of the time.
Gay pulp of this period often adopted the language of psychology, morality, or social warning to justify its existence on bookstore racks. But readers understood the subtext. These narratives named feelings, encounters, and identities that were otherwise absent from mainstream culture, offering recognition in a world that demanded silence. Even when constrained by shame or cautionary framing, they functioned as mirrors—imperfect, but essential.
