Outside the Lavender Closet

What is it that makes us straight or gay? Is it environment or genetics? Choice, chance or maybe even persuasion?The answer to this age-old question is one that fledgling writer Margaret Allen sets out to discover as she endeavors to complete her first book. Taking on a subject she believes she knows well, she begins a very human odyssey, examining the lives of gay women, all of whom come from diverse backgrounds and mindsets. Among those whom we meet are - the florist, whose parents try to "cure" her of her homosexuality; the twins who, separated at birth, live their lives at opposite ends of the economic spectrum;the radiant redhead and her three failed marriages; the poet who spent most of her young adult years as a nun;the Kentucky woman who, as a new bride, makes a rather shocking discovery; and the non-verbal, wheelchair-bound woman, who is a political activist with an extraordinary ability to communicate. As we share in their deeply personal narratives, Margaret's book ultimately raises the question: "Are relationships between two women really all that different than heterosexual ones?" Outside the Lavender Closet brings to life a collection of contemporary stories inspired by actual women and true events.