Matthew Todd

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Matthew Todd is a multi-award-winning writer and one of the UK’s leading gay voices. He was Editor-in-chief of the UKs best-selling gay magazine, Attitude, for 8 years where he interviewed countless celebrities including Madonna, Lady Gaga, Daniel Radcliffe and Prince William, who made history by sitting for the cover of Matthew’s last issue, becoming the first member of the Royal family to speak out against homo, bi and transphobic bullying.

His ground breaking work on LGBT mental health culminated with his acclaimed, best-selling book, the first British title about the issue, Straight Jacket: Overcoming Society’s Legacy of Gay Shame (2016, Black Swan), which has been described as ‘an essential read for every gay person on the planet’ by Sir Elton John, ‘utterly brilliant’ by Owen Jones in the Guardian, ‘essential’ by Hugh Montgomery in The Independent, ‘one of the most powerful books I have ever read’ by Lord Cashman, ‘a hugely important book’ by Paris Lees, ‘Brilliant… essential’ by Gay Community News, ‘Superb’ by Oliver Thring, The Times and as ‘game changing’ and ‘life saving’ by readers. It was shortlisted for the Polari Prize and was voted Boyz Best LGBT Book of the Year 2017.

He appears regularly in the media on programmes such as Lorraine (ITV1), Sky News and BBC News, has presented two films for BBC Newsnight, writes for The Guardian and gives talks around the UK on LGBT and mental health issues.

As a performer and actor, he has appeared on ITV’s Take The Mic, in the BBC Radio 4 play How Success Ruined Me, in Matthew Baldwins short film The Act and was a finalist in the Mardi Gras Comedy Competition and the Big, Big, Big New Act of the Year. Matthew’s play, Blowing Whistles, has been performed in the West End, the US and Australia.

His second book, Pride – The story of the LGBTQ Equality Movement (Welbeck), is out now in the UK, France, Spain, Italy, Taiwan and is published by Weldon Owen in the USA. His work can be found in This Is Not A Drill (Penguin Random House), Letters To The Earth (Harper Collins) and The Queer Bible (published by Harper Collins, 2021).

He is the recipient of the Stonewall Journalist of the Year, three British Society of Magazine Editors Editor of the Year Awards, an Attitude Pride award and the Freedom of the City of London for services to the LGBT community.

Non-Fiction

Publication Details	Notes
STRAIGHT JACKET 2016 UK: Bantam Press	Written by Matthew Todd, editor-in-chief of Attitude, the UK's biggest-selling gay magazine, STRAIGHT JACKET is a revolutionary self-help book for gay men. Following the massive response from readers to his original article, Matthew used it as the basis for his keynote address at the Terrence Higgins Trust annual conference, where it met with a standing ovation. Groundbreaking in its approach, STRAIGHT JACKET looks beneath the shiny facade of contemporary gay culture and confronts the harsh truths and realities facing many gay men today. Frank and uncompromising, it looks at... * why gay people suffer from disproportionately high rates of depression, addictions, suicidal thoughts and behaviour, and how many experience great difficulty in sustaining meaningful relationships * how growing up in the closet can overwhelm the gay child with a deep shame that constrains the development of self-esteem, and explains how problems emerge in adulthood in diverse ways * how gay men overcompensate for gay shame by pursuing unobtainable perfection - aspiring to have perfect bodies, boyfriends, lives - and how gay culture, which celebrates drug abuse, body fascism and sex addiction, is built on this collective shame which serves to compound these problems Offering practical solutions to difficult problems and advice on how gay men can find happiness, self-fulfillment and secure relationships, STRAIGHT JACKET is a call-to-arms for the gay and wider community to acknowledge the damage done to gay people by societal shame across the world. It also recognizes the vital importance of putting into place systems that offer help and support to the many hundreds of thousands who need it.

Publication Details

Notes

STRAIGHT JACKET

2016

UK: Bantam Press

Written by Matthew Todd, editor-in-chief of Attitude, the UK's biggest-selling gay magazine, STRAIGHT JACKET is a revolutionary self-help book for gay men. Following the massive response from readers to his original article, Matthew used it as the basis for his keynote address at the Terrence Higgins Trust annual conference, where it met with a standing ovation.

Groundbreaking in its approach, STRAIGHT JACKET looks beneath the shiny facade of contemporary gay culture and confronts the harsh truths and realities facing many gay men today. Frank and uncompromising, it looks at...

* why gay people suffer from disproportionately high rates of depression, addictions, suicidal thoughts and behaviour, and how many experience great difficulty in sustaining meaningful relationships

* how growing up in the closet can overwhelm the gay child with a deep shame that constrains the development of self-esteem, and explains how problems emerge in adulthood in diverse ways

* how gay men overcompensate for gay shame by pursuing unobtainable perfection - aspiring to have perfect bodies, boyfriends, lives - and how gay culture, which celebrates drug abuse, body fascism and sex addiction, is built on this collective shame which serves to compound these problems

Offering practical solutions to difficult problems and advice on how gay men can find happiness, self-fulfillment and secure relationships, STRAIGHT JACKET is a call-to-arms for the gay and wider community to acknowledge the damage done to gay people by societal shame across the world. It also recognizes the vital importance of putting into place systems that offer help and support to the many hundreds of thousands who need it.