While the gay movement "is one of democracy's success stories," in recent years it has been the "movement" of homosexual conservatives (homocons) that has drawn attention. This right-wing movement, reflected in much of the larger society "as part of the backlash" against liberal or progressive ideas, argues Richard Goldstein in Homocons, pits elite right-wing gay writers, even some self-styled liberals, against the main section of the queer community. Queer in Goldstein's view means working class or poor, or far outside of society's designation of "normal sexuality": this includes drag queens, transgenders, lesbians and other "sexual outlaws." "If you're gay, it's okay," say the homocons. But "if you're queer, disappear." The purpose of the homocon strata is to attack the "unassimilable" in order to normalize homsexuals that seem compatible with straight society.
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