Between Gay and Straight: Understanding Friendship Across Sexual Orientation

A lively first-person account of her experiences, her husband’s and their gay, lesbian and straight friends. — Richard Ousky ― The Graphic, Lake City, Mn

[This] compelling story… started out as a class project―studying a community of gay men living in Tampa―and ended up a narrative of personal experience, friendship and growth. — Samantha Puckett ― St. Petersburg Times

The study itself is challenging in that it does not merely involve choosing an object and then “studying” it, but takes friendship as its guiding framework….it does discuss a particular community and a particular woman’s responses to it. The is not an attempt at generalizing in the way that readers might expect of more typical research. The book does not deal with political issues, but stays with the personal and interpersonal, wherein lies its strengths. — Sarah Redshaw, Centre for Cultural Research, Univ of Western Sydney ― Forum: Qualitative Social Research, Vol 3.4 (November 2002)

Tillmann-Healy has written an easy-to-read narrative study that all began when [her husband] Doug started playing softball with a queer friend from work. Clear, compelling and vunerable, this book offers a real-life look at the tests, triumphs and ramifications of friendships between homos and heteros. — Aaron Hartzler ― Instinct