[R]esearch on the determinants of sexual orientation-or even gay-associated biological traits such as finger length, fingerprint patterns, inner ear clicks, etc.-have attracted tremendous press. …

In Backdrop: The Politics and Personalities Behind Sexual Orientation Research, Gayle Pitman, a Professor of Psychology and Women’s Studies at Sacramento City College, [explores] how these researchers’ personal backgrounds have influenced their work.

… British readers will soon have a chance to read an extraordinary piece of autobiographical fiction by the undeniably long-forgotten author G. F. (George Frederick) Green. In the Making had such a negligible impact on its first publication in 1952, moreover, that in any true sense, its republication sixty years later allows us to discover, rather than rediscover, a major writing talent.

Scholars are divided over whether it’s appropriate to use the term “lesbian” to refer to 18th-century relationships between two women, since the word was not used at the time. But despite the absence of the word, people were aware that such relationships and such women existed.