susanne is absolutely right when she says that the gay community is not exclusive. ideally, it's composed of all flavors of queers and their allies -- friends, family, and the open-minded members of the general hetero public. shambles, as a demonstrated non-homophobe and thoughtful debator, i invite you to consider yourself an ally and member of the gay community. that is, if you'll have us. :)

i would also like to point out that the gay community is composed of real people who have their own real prejudices to deal with. there are man-hating lesbians, woman-hating gaymen, bi-hating homo's, homo- and hetero-hating bi's, jew-hating afro-americans, indian-hating whites... and there are queers who hate straight people. and there are androgenous queers who hate the butch-femme dichotomy, and vice versa. there are queers who are afraid to include the transgendered in the gay community, because they might "look bad".

so even though the gay community is always available as a temporary retreat from the homophobic masses, there is no gay utopia. there are plenty of people who believe that if they surround themselves entirely with people who are just like them, all their problems will be solved... but i believe they're dangerously misguided. the gay community is a resource, not a cloister, and those who treat it as such are in for a nasty surprise.