Bibliographie complète

Families are a challenge to the lesbian and gay movement in the United States, since homosexuality is largely construed as antithetical to "the family". By creating a wide variety of alternative families gays and lesbians however articulate an identity claim which may not be framed exclusively either in terms of assimilationism, or of differentialism. For this reason these alternative families present American society with a transformative potential which is in a position to exert its influence beyond the bounds of the gay and lesbian community. Far from being a hindrance in terms of efficiency, the very fact that these families constitute a private locus of gay and lesbian experience furthermore contributes to the lesbian and gay movement's expressive dimension, which is of crucial strategic importance in contemporary American society.