David Stern
Born in St. Louis in 1960, David Stern endured a devastating loss as a teenager when his father died after falling down an elevator shaft, setting in motion a turbulent journey that eventually brought him to Los Angeles. After experiencing periods of homelessness and addiction, David found sobriety, only to be diagnosed with HIV at a time when the diagnosis was widely considered a death sentence. He went on to build a decades long career in LGBTQ publishing, working with Edge, In, and Frontiers magazines. Along the way, he found lasting love with his husband, Alex, and faced new challenges following Alex’s Parkinson’s diagnosis. David eventually transformed the trauma, survival, and remarkable turns of his life into his memoir, Elevator Boy, a reflection on resilience, healing, and love.