New book talks growing up gay

CRISIS:40 Stories Revealing the Personal, Social, and Religious Pain and Trauma of Growing Up Gay In America details the lives of 40 openly public personalities. Minneapolis born and raised -- and Oprah Winfrey associate -- Nate Berkus talks about his experience being young and gay in Minneapolis.

"My deep-rooted fear was that because I was different I’d lose the love of the people close to me—that my family and friends would be disgusted by who I am. That fear stayed with me for years," Berkus says in the book. "From ages thirteen to seventeen, growing up in the suburbs of Minneapolis in the 1980s, I was in crisis mode. I couldn’t think about anything other than being gay and how to deal with it."

More Minnesota flavor in the book includes Jim Hormel, the openly gay ambassador to Luxembourg and grandson of Spam magnate George Hormel. He grew up in Austin, Minn.