Savage also combined humor with a discussion of social issues in Skipping Towards Gomorrah: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Pursuit of Happiness in America (2002), his answer to "virtuecrats" like William J. Bennett (a notorious gambler), Robert Bork (the rejected U.S. Supreme Court nominee and author of Slouching toward Gomorrah, alluded to in Savage's title), and Patrick Buchanan (the failed Presidential candidate), who, he wrote, have "convinced themselves that the pursuit of happiness by less virtuous Americans is both a personal and a political attack." The book won the Lambda Literary Award for Humor.

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"To explore the lives of virtuous sinners" Savage traveled to such American "Gomorrahs" as Dubuque, Iowa; Plano, Texas; and Buffalo Grove, Illinois, meeting gamblers, gluttons, and swingers, among others.

In the chapter on pride, Savage took on the San Francisco gay pride parade, charging that such events have become over-commercialized excuses for partying with abandon and do not, as supporters claim, give hope to glbtq youth nor honor the struggles of earlier generations of gay men and lesbians whose courageous stands paved the way and accomplished so much in the ongoing quest for equality.

Savage concluded, "While I can't stand the mush-brained pride rhetoric, the rainbow merchandise, and while I abhor the harm this rhetoric does to gay people and the confusion it sows among straights, what I can celebrate is the simple having of fun." Such comments have at times put Savage at odds with what he calls "the gay establishment."

Despite his acid critique, Savage did serve as a judge as the 2004 pride festival in Toronto, which he praised as "a more accurate reflection of gay life now." He also spoke at an associated event on gay parenting called "The Kids Are Alright."

Savage, who since 2001 has been the editor as well as a columnist for The Stranger, also writes commentaries for newspapers including the New York Times. In addition, he lectures and contributes to programs on National Public Radio, such as Weekend Edition and This American Life.

Although there are frequently social and legal barriers to overcome, adoption is an important way in which lesbian and gay male couples create families.

Combining elements of incongruity, theatricality, and exaggeration, camp is a form of humor that helps homosexuals cope with a hostile environment.

Many glbtq people reject a fixed definition of family imposed by society, and instead claim the right to define their own families as they choose.

Like other minority groups, gay men and lesbians have had to develop both a particular sense of humor among themselves in order to make their marginal social status endurable and also a defensive awareness toward the rest of the world in order to disarm their adversaries with laughter.

The gay and lesbian press is of prime importance in sustaining a frequently embattled minority and has been crucial in the development of a national mass movement for gay rights.

Both parades and marches have served to render the glbtq community visible; whereas marches typically attempt to effect political change, parades and pride events affirm identity and community.

Even though glbtq people have been parents throughout history, recent political movements and advances in fertility technology have given rise to a much more visible and self-identified gay and lesbian parents.

A product of the gay liberation movement spawned by the Stonewall rebellion, queer radio programming remains a significant source of entertainment and information for glbtq communities.

Lesbian and gay couples have been fighting for the freedom to marry since the dawn of the modern glbtq struggle for equality; despite some success abroad, progress toward same-sex marriage in the United States has been slow.

Sexology, the study of sex or of the interactions between the sexes, first emerged as a field of intellectual inquiry in the second half of the nineteenth century; its practitioners were the first to identify homosexuality as such and to speculate about its prevalence and etiology.

The largest glbtq legal advocacy group in the United States, the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund has been fighting for the civil rights of queer Americans and people with HIV/AIDS for over three decades.

The Republican Party of the United States has not been supportive of glbtq issues, despite the efforts of the Log Cabin Republicans.

Although sometimes reviled by heterosexuals and homosexuals alike, the sissy has historically helped define gay culture, and has questioned the dominant constructions of sex and gender.