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The article proposes an understanding of the role of family life that reduces family values related to liberal discourse on fairness, feminist discourse on harm and welfare discourse on care. The author offers an alternative explanation of the growing recognition of lesbian and gay couples and families in the European Union. She cites three types of social conversations that has created a space for the inclusion of lesbians and gays. These are the discourse of fairness, the feminist discourse of protection and care and the welfare crisis discourse.

This paper considers a range of policies championed by New Labour which have made an impact on the lives of lesbian and gay citizens. It bares witness to the contested terrain of gender, sexuality and hetero-normativity and the impact of policies based upon stereotype and binary understandings of gender and sexual orientation. The level of cultural and political hostility toward lesbians and gay men prior to the election of New Labour and the overwhelming changes in policy since 1997 begs the question 'Why is New Labour 'lesbian and gay friendly'?' The account below considers each policy in turn exploring the larger context of political culture, economic focus that underpinned the whirlwind 'triumph' of social justice. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]