Love weighs the costs of the contemporary move to the mainstream in lesbian and gay culture. While widening tolerance for same-sex marriage and gay-themed media brings clear benefits, assimilation entails losses hard to identify or mourn, since many aspects of historical gay culture are so closely a...

Love weighs the costs of the contemporary move to the mainstream in lesbian and gay culture. While widening tolerance for same-sex marriage and gay-themed media brings clear benefits, assimilation entails losses hard to identify or mourn, since many aspects of historical gay culture are so closely associated with the pain and shame of the closet.