i. Foreword by Christos Tsiolkas.
ii. Pre-party Prologue. Warming Up

Chapters

1.   Keitho and Davo (abridged extract)
2.   Justice Kirby and the art of the gay apologia
3.   Howard's nightmare: IVF and the lesbian baby boom
4.   The perils of Pauline
5.   Mardi Gras: now and then
6.   Written on the body
7.   Ian Roberts: there's no-one queerer
8.   I love you. What's your name again?
9.   David Menadue: A life less ordinary
10. We're here, we're queer ... er, maybe ...
11. When two worlds collide
12. When the Pell tolls

Epilogue

Media gay-zing (extract)
Mike Shuttleworth in The Sunday Age (which nominated GAY as paperback pick of the week): "Steve Dow delivers an engaging set of profiles and essays about what it is to be gay in Australia today. Articulate, compassionate, witty and crafted, Dow's writing is timely and not merely topical and this collection is well-paced and varied. The piece Keitho and Davo is a moving, quietly angry elegy for Keith Hibbins, bashed to death in Fitzroy Gardens, and for his grieving partner. Matters that are difficult to discuss within the gay community, like body fascism, and drug use as the path to acceptance are also aired."

Debra Adelaide in The Sydney Morning Herald: "Dow roams widely but never abandons the main track. An essay on body image, diet and weight consciousness segues into a discussion of the desexualising of gay, disabled people, providing some vivid character sketches along the way. Various other topics: a plea via The Age to Justice Michael Kirby ("who has packed the entire contents of his closet and boarded the gay-vy train") to abandon biological essentialism; a short piece on courageous priest Michael Kelly (also an attack on bete noir Archbishop George Pell); John Howard and the IVF debate; the Mardi Gras, of course. An honest, witty and powerful espousal of human rights."

William Gourlay in The Qantas Magazine: "The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is now one of the biggest events on Sydney's calendar. Steve Dow, who first participated in the event as a marching boy in 1999, wonders if the Mardi Gras really makes a difference, or if Australians just love a parade. Dow considers many such questions in this examination of contemporary gay and lesbian life ... With moments of pathos, humor and lyricism, this is a thought-provoking book for all readers."

Michelle Hespe in SX: "GAY captures the contemporary essence of gay issues, and when it comes to facing the big questions, Dow has no problem with putting himself in the hot seat. He casts his well-articulated ideas into society like bait in lure of change ... If dinner parties required a syllabus, Steve Dow's collection of stories and essays would be considered essential reading."

Andrew Shaw in MCV: "His stories matter to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. They are on record ... GAY is one of those books you'll keep flipping through to revisit favourite chapters. Through its pages we relive Leesa Meldrum's bid for IVF technology, swallow eccies in dance bar cubicles and go on a clone-quest for six per cent body fat. Gay chronicles the ongoing struggle of the GLBT community for equality; a battle Dow, amongst others, is waging for us in the mainstream press. If journalism is history's first draft, Dow's book will soon be in the satches of amateur historians everywhere, as well as anyone interested in the way gay issues are represented outside the ghetto."

Zoe Velonis in B.NEWS: "Gay is compulsively readable -- something I didn't realise a collection of essays could be after my experience with writing realms of boring, post-modern crap for uni that we called essays. It's very engaging, too: Keitho and Davo, about the now infamous Keith Hibbins killing and its aftermath, had me in tears."

Max McLean in Outbiz: "Gay certainly parties: it tells stories, cracks jokes, gets opinionated, meets new people, gets on a high horse or two and swings between bubbly sociable chats and those intense one-on-ones. Gay covers such matters as lesbians and IVF, gay bashing and the law, intersex children and medical intervention, being gay and disabled - as well as profiles and opinion pieces on such people as Ian Roberts and Justice Michael Kirby ... Agree or disagree with Dow on any of its material, Gay is a highly readable and valuable book."