The Air Force court-martialed Hough, accusing her of setting her own car on fire. The military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, in place from 1994 to 2011, kept her from citing the homophobic death threats in her defense. Her book of essays, “Leaving Isn’t The Hardest Thing,” details this and other horrors, with scathing critiques on U.S. society tempered somewhat with sardonic humor.
On this edition of Out in the Bay, Hough reads from her essays and talks about "life in the margins," where too many people in the US dwell. After her military service, Hough was homeless for a while; was incarcerated briefly; and worked as a bouncer, a barista, a bartender and a “cable guy" before becoming a professional writer.
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Learn more about Lauren Hough and her work on her website, https://laurenhoughauthor.com/.
This episode of Out in the Bay was produced by Kendra Klang and edited by Lusen Mendel.
