I Have Something to Tell You (For Young Adults): A Memoir

Chasten writes about the nightmares he had after watching news coverage of the murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student who was beaten and left to die in Wyoming. Chasten is pushed into a locker while being called a freak, and shoved to the ground by a group of boys. He also sees another boy beaten for being presumed gay. He writes about growing up in a family that hunted, but he makes it clear that he and his brothers were taught how to safely use a gun and describes shooting being "anxiety inducing" for him. There's a section in the story where Chasten raises steers (for a 4-H Club project) that would be sold for slaughter.

At school, Chasten is taunted by kids who call him a "f--got," "f-g," and "mama's boy." During the campaign, a protester shouts a profanity, which Chasten records in the book as "F*&%."

Chasten talks about "the hormones of middle school that made the world of this closeted and confused gay kid come alive" and how he turned inward and tried to find ways to stop having feelings for cute guys. While in Germany, he kisses a boy for the first time and likes it. His host family in Germany takes him to a nude beach on a lake, and everyone but Chasten takes their clothes off and jumps in.

Characters are White, gay, straight, devoutly Christian, and socially liberal. Chasten's hometown is filled with politically conservative families, and men and boys are expected to like hunting and fishing. Everyone is straight or deep in the closet. In Germany, he lives with host families who are nothing like anyone he knows in Michigan -- especially the family that enjoys skinnydipping. Differing experiences with "coming out" are represented: Chasten comes out before college; his husband, Pete, comes out in his 30s. Pete stayed in the closet in order to serve in the military, which at that time did not allow openly gay members.