A Family by any other Name ... or StarbucksTM comes to England

The article examines the recent House of Lords decision in Fitzpatrick v. Sterling Housing Association from two perspectives. The first adopts a perspective of rights and discrimination and speculates as to how a court may in future decide such a case in the light of Britain's obligations under the Human Rights Act 1998. The second offers a review of some of the literature which questions the effectiveness of such a rights-based approach for achieving justice for lesbian women and gay men, and, from a feminist perspective, expresses caution about instantiating in law a traditional idea of 'family' and the privilege attached to that ideal.