Ryan Michael Painter’s father was Utah’s first documented death from an AIDS-related illness. We’ll talk with Ryan about his memoir, The Unexpected Son and about the man he lost when he was just seven years old.
Robert Michael Painter grew up in a conservative state, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. And he did what he thought he was supposed to do: Attend his church meetings. Marry young. Even father a child. But as a closeted gay man, he was also living a lie that he couldn’t maintain. This Friday at 11 a.m., Ryan shares with us the details of his father’s life, his early death and about his own upbringing — the “miracle child, growing up during an unfathomable plague.”
Ryan Michael Painter's book is The Unexpected Son. [Bookshop|Indiebound|Amazon| theunexpectedson.com]
Michael Painter is also the subject of our latest RadioWest Film, Remembering Michael.
