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Contact with individual lesbians and gay men leads to more positive evaluations of the group and more support for pro-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) public policies. Increasingly, gay rights activists are making "gay families" central to their communications to the public about gay issues and policies. This prompts a new question in the area of contact theory: does contact with same-sex couples have a different impact on attitudes about gays/lesbians and gay-related public policies than contact with gay/lesbian individuals? On general attitudes, the two versions of contact perform similarly, but in specific policies, divergence shows itself. Contact with couples is a stronger force in shaping support for expansion of same-sex partnership recognition. However, while contact with individual gay men and lesbians is a significant indicator, contact with couples is not on other issues raising questions about the effectiveness of the focus on "gay families" for the broader goals of the contemporary LGBT movement.