I have been very fortunate that my life has been enriched since my childhood with close relationships with gay and lesbian people. As an adult I've been privileged to know people who are transsexual and transgendered. My parent's circle of friends was always a wide and diverse one - people of all kinds were in our lives and this was normal for me. I observed a lot of racism as a child, but it never occurred to me that people were discriminated against for being homosexual. I thought racism was weird, too. After all, all these people I knew were diverse and I always thought of them as just other flavors of people to my childhood eye - why would you be mean to someone because of something like race or sexual preference? Aren't people just people and don't all those differences make life more interesting?

When I was 14 I entered the Arts Magnet High School in Dallas, Texas - that's the first place that I learned that people with different sexual preferences were discriminated against. I learned this not because of the school - the school was liberal and weird and colorful. Rather, I learned it from a friend I met there. He was a truly talented ballet dancer - a true thing of beauty while dancing. He was also a really interesting, gentle, and sweet guy. We were both 14 and in our first year there. Over time I learned that his parents had kicked him out of the house when he came out to them the summer before high school. He was living in a studio apartment near school and trying to support himself. That alone was impressive, but I couldn't fathom why it was happening to him. How could you not be proud of someone so talented who was such a good person? I've seen lots more ugly ever since and I still find it disturbing and impossible to understand.

In college I studied biosocial anthropology and learned a lot about genetics and behavior and about other cultures and got a good look into all the ways that gender identity is fluid. In many cultures different gender identities have specific roles within the group. Reading history taught me that none of this was new and I found the whole thing fascinating. Americans like for things to be black and white - you're this or you're that and no shades of gray lie between.

Backdrop was written as a textbook for Dr. Pitman's class on "The Psychology of Sexual Orientation" taught at Sacramento City College, but it doesn't read like one. Perhaps the best thing about the book is its approach. I was taught in college and graduate school that all research is biased (yes, even the scientific stuff) - the choices people make in research topics, the things that they can and can't seen, the ways they explain what they see to themselves and others - all of these things are influenced by who the people are. Personal history, culture, religion, the times - all of these factors (and many more) influence research. Bias is okay, but it's important to know your own and to understand that of others.

Dr. Pitman's approach to writing an introductory text was to write not just about the research, but also the researchers and the context within which this research was conducted. It's the perfect approach for a book like this, teaching so much on so many different levels. Backdrop is a fascinating read and a well-written comprehensive introduction to sexual orientation research. Whether you're in school or not this book is worth the read. Highly recommended. ( )

Backdrop serves as a great a overview of sexual orientation focused research. I found the book to be very educational, interesting. Throughout the book it focused on sexual orientation and gender, including the nature v. nurture debate, the "gay gene".

It is clear how limited sexual orientation research is-both in scope and in funding. The majority of the research that has been completed is not inclusive of the gay community. It also shows how limited the funding opportunities are to conduct scientifically based research studies.

I was expecting this book to be very dry. But found the research to be thought provoking. ( )