Originally published in 1971, Merle Miller On Being Different is a pioneering and thought-provoking book about being gay in America. Just two years after the Stonewall riots, Miller wrote an essay for the New York Times Magazine entitled 'What It Means To Be a Homosexual, ' in response to a homophobic article published in Harper Magazine. Miller's writing, described as 'the most widely read and discussed essay of the decade, ' along with an afterword chronicling his inspiration and reader's responses, became On Being Different -- one of the earliest memoirs to affirm the importance of coming out.

Foreword / Dan Savage -- Acknowledgments / Carole Hanley -- A note on the text. -- On being different: What it means to be a homosexual, January 1971 -- Afterword, May 1971. -- [New] afterword / Charles Kaiser -- Appendices: A: Miller's reply to a friend who was critical of the article -- B: Miller's letter to his former wife, Elinor -- Ralph Martin's obituary for Miller -- Fragments from Frank Kameny's foreword to On being different -- Notes.