In this volume, Calhoun argues that lesbians and gays aren't just socially and politically disadvantaged. The closet displaces lesbians and gays from visible citizenship, and both law and cultural norms deny lesbians and gay men a private sphere of romance, marriage, and the family.

Feminism, the Family, and the Politics of the Closet is about placing sexual orientation politics within feminist theorizing. It is also about defining the central political issues confronting lesbian and gay men. The book brings the study of lesbians from the margins of feminist theory to the centre by critiquing the analytic frameworks employed within feminist theory that renders invisible lesbians' difference from heterosexual women. This book also outlines the basic features of lesbian and gay subordination by exploring the differences between heterosexual dominance and gender and race relations. Throughout, Calhoun aims to re-centre lesbian and gay politics away from concern with sexual regulations and toward concern with the displacement of gays and lesbians from the public sphere of visible citizenship and from the private sphere of romance, marriage, and family.

In this book, Cheshire Calhoun, one of the pre-eminent ethical theorists of our day, turns her careful, creative and analytical mind to a set of questions concerning lesbian and gay rights. Calhoun boldly challenges several central and widely-accepted theoretical and practical claims, most significantly, the applicability of feminist theory to theorizing lesbians and gay men and their social and legal positions and struggles.