This paper seeks to review the history of discussions about lesbian and gay male sexuality in family therapy theory and practice. It examines whether homophobic and heterosexist attitudes are present in family therapy thinking. Possible connections are explored between attitudes towards lesbian and gay issues and the professional backgrounds of family therapists, wider debates on homosexuality within society, and conceptualizations of the family life cycle. The question of why relatively little has been written on the issues raised by lesbians, bisexuals and gay men in therapy is discussed. The implications of this oversight on practice are addressed and suggestions made for future work.In recent years there has been an adjustment within family therapy theory and practice to incorporate a diversity of family forms within the concept of family. However, family therapy in general has been slow to consider sexuality as an influence on family life, and in particular to address the issues raised by families led by a lesbian or gay parent or a lesbian or gay couple. Much more work has been done on considering factors such as divorce, gender and ethnicity, both that of our clients and of ourselves as therapists (see, among others, Carter and McGoldrick, 1989;Goldner, 1985Goldner, , 1988Lau, 1984;McGoldrick et al., 1982;Walters et al., 1988) but much less attention has been paid to sexuality, the topic of this paper. It should be made clear at this point that we are not discussing sexual activity within relationships, a territory reviewed by family therapists such as Skynner (1976), but what is often described as sexual orientation.It is, of course, entirely appropriate that ethnicity and gender should be a focus of attention in order to fully engage with the cultural perspectives that influence the family, but attention also
