An Insider’s History of Gay Fandom — The beginning

We eventually made t-shirts.
I got the first one.

As I write this—February 16, 2015—the Gaylaxian Science Fiction Society, the first organized group for LGBT (and friendly) science fiction fans turns twenty-nine. Okay, I could have waited a year and done this on the thirtieth anniversary, but I’ve had a couple recent reminders about the beginning of the Gaylaxians, and thought I’d get some of them set down.

There are certain things for which I cannot lay claim, and even for the things for which I can lay claim, I was not alone. A lot of this was being in the right place at the right time and maybe somebody else would have done. Certainly, between 1986 and 1991, there was a great flourishing of gay fandom, all before the Internet.[1]

The first item to which I can lay no claim is the gay fandom party, or even the open gay fandom party. I later found that there had been gay fandom parties at cons I had attended, but there was no way for anyone to let young John Dumas know that there was a party he’d want to attend. Word did get to me of a gay fandom party at Disclave in about 1982. I’m as equally unsure whether or not it was open as to what year it happened.

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