Both of these major works discuss to some extent how queer straddles the public/private divide. "The Trouble With Normal" argues that the gay rights struggle for marriage equality is a struggle for normalcy, and privacy. This privacy, Warner argues, comes at the cost of those who do not marry, who choose to conduct themselves in public. "Publics and Counterpublics" considers the public sphere and its shortcomings, before considering how queer both exists in, and is subordinated by, publics. Warner calls the two books "mutually illustrative", with "The Trouble With Normal" critiquing the way gay rights movements have obscured queer counterpublics, one of the central concepts of "Public and Counterpublics".