When David Tuller went to Russia in 1991 with the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, he arrived with the idea that he would be helping "liberate" lesbian and gay Russians, helping them explore without shame or fear their repressed sense of sexual identity. Within a few days Tuller realized that the Russians he met knew exactly who they were - and that they could teach him a few things about who he was, too.

Through a series of extended visits over the next five years, he delved into the often hidden, yet richly varied, emotional and sexual lives of Russian lesbians and gay men. Cracks in the Iron Closet is part travelogue, part social history and journalistic inquiry, and part offbeat love story.

Tuller's experiences also shed light on issues that have roiled the American lesbian and gay movement in recent years: How does culture influence the expression of sexual identity? Is bisexuality a fraudulent pose or a genuine orientation? What "causes" homosexuality anyway?

Cracks in the Iron Closet provides the first glimpse into the culture of Russian lesbians and gays as they speak frankly to Tuller about their lives, their loves, and the influence of the state while challenging his assumptions about what it means to be gay.