Just some initial thoughts, not terribly well-organized since it's been a long, frustrating day.

There was never one "LGB Community," even taking the long view of historical developments. The early neo-Classical groups and Whitman-inspired groups were mainly for men. Gay communities and lesbian communities had different, but parallel, histories, and ethnographers were studying this before Queer Theory arrived and shoved that research to the side. Gay and lesbian groups began collaborating in the 1950s and 60s and came together in activism in the 1970s and 1980s.

We were united like many groups are united by our shared opposition to anti-gay laws and social practices.

In some places, in the 1980s and 1990s, lesbian and gay men did actually socialize. In the American South, where I grew up, lesbians and gay men went to the same clubs (because there were not that many options?). In other places, these groups remained relatively more segregated.

But now, in the U.S., we've won most of our battles against sodomy laws, military service, and bans on marriage. To what extent were our communities shaped by those external pressures? What do we do now? In the age of smart phone apps, gay bookstores and gay bars have closed. If I think about it, do I want to be part of a gay community, or do I want to be part of a world of people who share other interests I have regardless of whether we're gay or straight? Is being gay really that interesting in and of itself? I've often asked myself that question. It's a problem faced by people who write "gay novels" or "gay movies." How do you make it interesting? My sense is that being a lesbian or a gay man really isn't that interesting in and of itself.

And, yes, class has always played a part. I'm from the upper middle class, and I was always invited to parties at homes of other gay men of my background, though we are segregated much more notably by class than by race.