What do we mean by 'the gay community'? What is the state of 'gay and lesbian politics' in contemporary Britain? Have 'communitarian' ideas provided a framework for change? And what is the view from outside the capital? Recent years have seen both significant legal and social reform benefiting lesbian and gay people under a government whose communitarian political credo has stressed the importance of 'community' and 'rights and responsibilities'. What effect has this had? What is the influence of identity, space and location, politics, and community itself? On the basis of qualitative research with gay men and lesbians working for change in Liverpool and Manchester, the author examines whether gay and lesbian equality and the idea of 'the gay community' can be understood and furthered within a framework of communitarian ideas.