Humanity is joined together under a single, popularly-elected world government. If you even want to find a gun anywhere on earth, you'd probably have to look in a museum. Technology is tamed to the needs of humankind, rather than despoiling the earth. Gay men and lesbians are not only just tolerated at the fringes of society, but are among its most powerful and respected members. Gay marriage is an institution as normal as any other marriage.
Women are more politically powerful than at any time in human history.
Abortion is freely available to any woman who wants it. The First Lady is Head of State. Like the cautionary tales of Orwell and Huxley, the philosophical novels of Ayn Rand, the realistic speculation of Heinlein, the satiric fiction of Anthony Burgess, The Rainbow Cadenza uses the device of futuristic fiction to ask fundamental questions about the personal, political, and religious values to which we dedicate our lives, and to shed light on the problems we face today. The Rainbow Cadenza has been controversial right from its very beginning and remains controversial today. The Rainbow Cadenza may well be the only book ever rejected because the sex wasn't gratuitous.