[4] He based it in part on his experience living in Lavender Hill, a queer commune in Ithaca, New York, that Mitchell and Asta were founding members of.

[3][9] In 2023, as part of the Manchester International Festival, a musical adaptation by composer Philip Venables and director Ted Huffman was performed.

[4][5] Reviewing the 2019 reissue for Slate, critic John Russell comments on the story's contemporary relevance, noting that "the descriptions of Ramrod's disintegration and the men's hostility toward the faggots and their friends are echoed in Trump's America."

"[6] Reviewing the reissue for The Nation, Sam Huber expresses similar skepticism: "when I catch myself trying to force into coherence this book's scattered proposals for another world, I entertain the possibility that I'm reading it wrong [...] It's too weird and protean to serve as a guidebook for ongoing queer struggles or to propel us reliably into a revolution to come.

"[4] He nonetheless praises the novel's irreverence and continued relevance, stating that its similarities to contemporary politics are "like stumbling into a new room where many of the same actors and problems are reflected but with the fun restored.