Sylvie Tissot is Professor of Political Science at University of Paris 8.

“As anti-gay and anti-trans sentiment surges, the illusion of a rainbow coloured world of queer inclusion is rendered ever more apparent and the need for critical and complex analysis becomes ever more pressing. Sylvie Tissot has given us just such an analysis. In this compelling comparative study of two ‘gayfriendly’ oases, she unpacks the often contradictory affects of both queers and straights as they imagine sexual identities in supposedly ‘tolerant’ urban spaces and, in so doing, offers a critical commentary on the limits of tolerance and the possibilities of radical inclusion in a world still governed by normative heterosexuality. A smart and nuanced addition to the burgeoning literature on queer spaces and the promises (and limits) of straight allyship.”Suzanna Danuta Walters, author of The Tolerance Trap: How God, Genes, and Good Intentions Sabotaged Gay Equality

• AcknowledgementsIntroductionChapter 1. Becoming GayfriendlyReticence, recognition, indifference: three different generations‘It simply didn’t exist’ ‘It would be un-cool to be un-gayfriendly’‘A non-issue’The learning processes   Atypical heterosexualsThe ordeal of coming out Chapter 2. Gay Respectability The right to love each other American-style and sexual freedom in FranceThe Power of the LawSexual LiberalismGay marriage, heterosexual reliefRepublican universalism and the difference between the sexes Good neighbours, good husbands and wives, good parentsAppropriating an area in the name of diversityProgressive synagogues and churches in Park Slope A cause for gentrifiersFrom lesbian enclave to gayfriendly districtFamily integration, class integration Gayfriendliness within the familyYou shall be gayfriendly, my childIntegration and surveillance of same-sex familiesYou will (perhaps) be gay, my childThe guide for gayfriendly parentsFrom tomboy to invisible lesbian  Chapter 3. Heterosexuals as alliesFeminine CompassionThe division of moral labourMale uneaseThe ‘Cruisers’ of the Parisian night scene The ‘fag hag’ and her ‘gay best friend’Disillusions, safe haven and substituteThe Prism of femininityGayfriendliness and lesbophobia Women rebelling against marriage (Re)-building your life when living aloneSexual experiments Chapter 4. The frontiers of gayfriendlinessA race and class normHomophobia as bad tasteTalking about space, not raceThe Southern United States as a deterrent Visibilities and invisibilitiesKeeping the streets clean   My gay friendsThe home of heterosexuality Conclusion BibliographyNotes