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Sociologists recognize the diversity of families in contemporary American society. Lesbian and gay 'families of choice' are a cultural category of family structures that has been largely understudied. I propose that studying 'families of choice' can expand and transform sociological discussions of family transitions and diversification and of family as a site of doing gender and sexuality. In addition, the study of lesbian and gay 'families of choice' highlights the role of sexuality in the study of gender and power. This paper asks how family is constructed in the gay and lesbian community through the performance of gender and sexuality. Data for this study consist of personal narratives and systematic accounts of chosen families as they appear in books and articles that were written primarily for gay and lesbian audiences. I consider these intercommunity written texts as forms of distribution of community knowledge. The main argument of this paper is that the stories that gay men and lesbians tell in the data are drawn from a historically located, structurally restrained cultural 'tool kit' and use gender and sexuality to construct family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International relations between the U.S. and Europe and their manner of representation and reinstitution through the media has drawn much attention in the turbulent period following the terrorists attacks of September 11 and the following military attack of Iraq. The American-led military operation in Iraq came into being in a concrete symbolic universe of war and diplomacy, sovereignty and coalition, friend and foe, power and universal values. The current paper asks about how American media, in particular the New York Times, represented international relationship between the U.S. and Europe in the period between the terrorist attacks on the U.S. on September 11, 2001, leading up to the current war in Iraq, and up until the U.S. official declaration on end of combat operations in Iraq in May 2003. The paper also asks how this representation has changed over time. Data includes 1390 New York Times articles published between September 11, 2001 (attack on the World Trade Center in New York) and May 12, 2003 (End of combat operations in Iraq as announced by the occupying forces). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]