gay lifestyle

Sonia Johnson says, "It's funny how heterosexuals have lives and the rest of us have 'lifestyles'" (Going Out of Our Minds). The fuzzy concept of a "lifestyle" has become code to convey "otherness" and "wrongness." Most lesbians and gay men have as much or more in common with heterosexuals than they do with each other; they have jobs and library cards and dental appointments, they put money in parking meters, sprain their ankles, go to ballgames, and pay income taxes. There is no monolithic "lifestyle." The Associated Press and New York Times style guides have instituted rules against the use of this term.