top of page
Bobby Sneakers Dave Cullen corgi dog
Gay Soldiers book by Dave Cullen cover mockup: "Don't Fall In Love" HarperCollins

The tumultuous story of two gay soldiers fighting for love against all odds and forging a friendship to take on the torturous years of Don't Ask Don't Tell.

 

The "compromise" was designed to loosen their shackles, but Don't Fall in Love draws back the curtain on how it made life so much worse--forcing brutal compromises and pitting their life's calling against happiness with the men they loved.

​​

Born on the eve of Stonewall, their lives tell the story of the liberation of our military and the entire LGBT equality movement, through their eyes.

​​

MORE

from HarperCollins
June 2, 2026

GLAAD Media Award

GLAAD Media Award gay soldiers book Dave Cullen Don't Ask Don't Tell Don't Fall in Love

Best Online Story

of the Year

My infantry days

  • Instagram Social Icon
  • Twitter Social Icon
  • Facebook Social Icon
  • goodreads profile Dave Cullen
  • YouTube Social  Icon
Latest
Be Notified

Be Notified

My Latest

Columbine book 25th memorial edition by Dave Cullen, April 20, 2024
Columbine Teacher's Guide, Dave Cullen--Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold, school shooting
"The Columbine-killers' Fan Club"--new Columbine preface in The Atlantic, 2024
The Atlantic logo

New Edition
2024

Gay Soldiers book

Email 'NOTIFY' in the subject line: dave@davecullen.com

​​

You'll get emails when Don't Fall In Love is available for pre-sale and publication.

I never share addresses, and won't spam you.

Bio

My Story

Dave Cullen has written definitive works on mass murders for two decades, first with Columbine, then Parkland: Birth of a Movement, both New York Times bestsellers. The former gay infantry grunt is completing a book on two gay soldiers 25 years in the making. It depicts the arc of the gay rights struggle through the lens of two extraordinary lives — which he has been immersed in since 2000.

 

Columbine is the consensus definitive account of the horror that inspired two decades of killers. Parkland focuses exclusively on the March for Our Lives students' response, refusing to name the killer. Dave was with them from the beginning, with unparalleled access behind the scenes.

Columbine made two lists of the best 25 and 30 books of the quarter century, over a dozen Best True Crime Books of All Time, and won several major awards, including the Edgar, Goodreads Choice Award, and Barnes & Noble Discover Award. It made 2 dozen Best of 2009 lists, and been translated into nine languages.

 

Dave has written for New York Times, Atlantic, Vanity Fair, London Times, BuzzFeed, Politico, Guardian, Washington Post, New Republic, etc., and has appeared on most of the major networks in the US, and across Europe, Asia, Australia and South America.

Dave lives in Chicago and is uncle to 11 cool humans and 1 adorable corgi, Bobby Sneakers.

Resources
Parkland memes Emma González. David Hogg, Lauren Hogg, Cameron Kasky, DylanBaierlein #NeverAgain

#NeverAgain:

Inside Parkland's Secret Memes Lab

 

March 2018

Stories

 TV 

Dave has been a frequent analyst about Columbine, Parkland, school shootings, gays and soldiers on Today, NBC Nightly News, PBS Newshour, Nightline, Morning Edition, CBS This Morning, CBS Sunday Morning, CBSN, Anderson Cooper 360, Rachel Maddow, All In With Chris Hayes, Katie, Talk of the Nation, Hannity, and numerous documentaries including CNN, NatGeo, Showtime and The Nineties.

Anderson Cooper AC360 Dave Cullen Columbine CNN
TV
My Books: Parkland, Columbine, gay soldiers

The Mass Shooter Era

Origin Story
Columbine book 25th memorial edition by Dave Cullen, April 20, 2024

"More important now than ever."

 — Esquire

Parkland

"One of the most uplifting books you will read all year."

 — Washington Post

My coming gay soldiers book Don't Fall in Love (June 2, 2026) also covers Stonewall; pioneers of the "homophile movement" Frank Kameny, Harry Hay, the Mattachine Society, Daughters of Bilitis (DOB); major movers in repeal OutServe-SLDN, the Palm Center, HRC (Human Rights Campaign), GLAAD, The Rand Corporation and Working Group reports; scholars Aaron Belkin,  Nathaniel Frank, and Eric Cervini; "A Brief History of Sodomy;" insights from James Baldwin and Richard Goldstein; key political players Senator Sam Nunn, James Dobson, Bill Clinton, Susan Collins, General Colin Powell, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, Pentagon Press Secretary Admiral John Kirby, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, etc. 

bottom of page