[2] Throughout her career, Dunlap has published much material surrounding LGBTQ+ activism and was a winner of the 2nd Lambda Literary Award under the humor category.

[6] While Dunlap's primary focused revolved around LGBTQ+ matters, she also dealt with controversies concerning AIDS, women's music festivals, workplace discrimination, and Reagan-era politics.

Switching to St. Martins Press allowed Dunlap to gain more exposure, as New Victoria Publishers was a smaller organization supporting only women.

[6][14] Dunlap and cartoonists similar to her significantly benefitted the visibility and power of the gay community of the time through their newspaper publications.

[13][9] Overcoming publication distribution issues and working within sometimes stringent parameters are just some obstacles Dunlap faced within her cartooning career.

[9] Some of Dunlap's main goals through her cartooning involve making lesbians equally visible as gay men, depicting LGBTQ+ relationships as they truly are, and tackling stigma.

[15]After retiring cartooning, Dunlap switched to other art projects, including Judaica, graphic design, copywriting and theater.

[16] In 1987, Dunlap cofounded a lesbian theater company called "Order Before Midnight" with friend Kate Bornstein, whom she met while pursuing graphic design in Philadelphia.

[4] The play is considered a landmark piece in Lesbian dramatic literature, and is renowned for its humor, three dimensional characters, and sensitivity towards potentially problematic portrayals.

The messages that Dunlap attempts to convey in her work are reflective of the experiences she was undergoing in a harsh political climate combined with the rise of AIDS.