Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights by Kenji Yoshino, a review from The New Republic Online by Martha C. Nussbaum.
"In 1998, a Missouri court granted custody to a lesbian mother, after finding that 'the children were unaware of Mother's sexual preference, and Mother never engaged in any sexual or affectionate behavior in the presence of the children.' Many courts have gone the other way, after determining that same-sex parents engaged not in overt sexual conduct that would be inappropriate for any parent to display before any child, but in displays of affection, such as hugging or holding hands, which clearly revealed the parent's sexual orientation. Courts in these cases are not demanding that same-sex parents stop being gay, or even that they pretend not to be gay. Instead, they are making a demand that Kenji Yoshino (following Erving Goffman) calls a demand for 'covering': a demand not to express their identity in public and visible ways." Read the entire New Republic review.