The Edward Carpenter Community (ECC) exists to provide opportunities to express our identity as gay men.

We are committed:

• To personal growth.
• To achieve greater trust and intimacy among ourselves and all gay men.
• To create and maintain a supportive network of gay men.
• To live in a way that is not exploitative of our fellow creatures, our environment or its resources.
• To strengthen our membership by welcoming more men from groups which have traditionally been oppressed in our society; to continue to encourage and support disabled, black, older and younger men to become involved in our events; to do what we can to reduce the impact of sexism and other forms of oppression.
• To overcome the effects of our own oppression as gay men.
• To share skills and work co-operatively rather than competitively
• To look at non-exploitative social and economic structures as alternatives to the current economic and social system.
• To act as a resource for each other, interested gay people and individuals and groups who share our concerns and objectives

We intend:

• To encourage an atmosphere of trust, support and sharing in each other's lives.
• To encourage creativity (music, dance, drama, art, fun etc) in our lives.
• To make personal commitment to the community.
• To promote activity concerned with therapy and health issues which concern gay men and to acknowledge the major role of self-healing (emotional and physical) in our lives; to encourage a healthy lifestyle and vegetarian/vegan diet.
• To acquire places for housing gay men; to make provision for communal living places large enough to provide everyone with privacy and individual space.
• In communal living spaces there shall be regular meetings, a disputes procedure, with commitment to sorting out personal problems as they arise, a commitment to welcome visitors and to provide a relaxed atmosphere for them.
• To encourage the setting up of a rural centre and living space. To introduce people to new ideas and ways of living.