My Life on Purpose

Jack Castiglione has been an LGBTQ rights advocate since the 1970s and had a major impact on stopping hate crimes. In 1986, he teamed up with the new Police Chief in Long Beach. CA and worked to stop gay bashing. Remarkably, the first step was to establish a hate crime reporting hotline in his home because the police were not taking these gay-bashing crimes seriously. And second, he helped train police officers on gay and lesbian sensitivity and to take crime reports from assaulted victims. Castiglione’s efforts were tremendously successful.

It’s a fascinating story in itself, how Castiglione’s tumultuous life developed into a gay rights hero as he survived so many near-death experiences. These events caused him to know that he had “been saved” for a special purpose in life: to end this type of targeted violence in his community. And he did not disappoint.

But his story does not end there. Castiglione went on to fight the Los Angeles Catholic Church to get it to stop its demeaning criticism of LGBTQ people. He also volunteered at St. Mary’s Hospital for six years to comfort those dying from AIDS.

Everyone’s life is important. However, few people have accomplished so much for the LGBTQ community in so many different ways. And, his books tell how other communities can work with their local police departments to help end violence.

Jack Castiglione’s second book, The Chartreuse Garden, tells the true story of several people he tried to help, but some met with tragic ends. You never heard of this man. Well, it’s about time you did.