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Outlines history of human rights abuses suffered by homosexuals, and examines impact of international gay and lesbian activism on international institutions, international law, and nongovernmental organizations.

An analysis of gay male reviewers' responses to major commercial publishers' expanded offerings of fiction by and about gay people during the 1970s reveals how reviewers constructed a machinery of gay-identified criticism, negotiated new definitions of gay identity, and forged a community of gay intellectuals and authors intent on using their own mainstream success to make evident to all the creativity and value of contemporary gay life. By decade's end, this gay literary elite had developed ideas about gay cultural politics and the proper relationship between activism and commercial cultural production that differed distinctly from those of gay political organizations and other gay activists. These developments sketch a richer and more complicated story of the evolution of gay identity and gay politics—particularly the politics of visibility—after Stonewall.

The present article seeks to bring together ideas from legal, medical, social science, artistic, and activist perspectives, through dialogue among the four authors. Sarah Creighton is a gynecologist working with women who have atypical genital development or intersex conditions. Julie Greenberg is a professor of law whose work on gender and sexual identity has been influential both within the United States and internationally. Del LaGrace Volcano is a visual artist whose work engages with gender variance. Katrina Roen is an academic who approaches her research on both transgender and intersex from a social science perspective, informed by queer and feminist theorizing. Although the prior work of the four authors clearly indicates a shared commitment to change the situation of intersex people, the mechanisms for such changes are far from clear. Any changes will, however, surely be facilitated by ongoing communication and collaboration across the various perspectives and disciplines represented here.