GLBT in A.A. Newsletter

Minneapolis/St. Paul April 15, 1999

Please copy this newsletter for your group.

Gopher State Roundup

Gopher State Roundup will be held May 28, 29, & 30, 1999 at the Radisson South Hotel. GLBT in A.A. will have the same room for a Hospitality Room as in past years. Registration for the weekend is $10 per person. The weekend is filled with 6 A.A. speakers, 2 Al-Anon speakers, call-up meetings, and A.A. films. There are many hospitality rooms to visit and lots of fellowship.

If you have never been to Gopher State before, check it out. Last year there were just over 6,000 in attendance! It would be a good sampling for the International Convention next year, which is expected to have an attendance around 50,000.

The Saturday evening Speaker Meeting is at 7:30 PM. Before the meeting there will be a pot-luck dinner in the hospitality room. Four turkeys are being prepared, so make your favorite side dish, salad, or dessert and join us.

Scavenger Hunt

April 17, 1999

5 PM

Starting at

Café Zev

$10 Donation Requested

No one will be turned away

Convention Awareness Event

Proceeds will go for the Hospitality Room

And IAC Dance at the International Convention

GLBT in A.A. Dance

"June is Busting Out All Over"

GLBT in A.A. will host a dance at 2218 1^st Ave. So. (the Founders Club) on June 5, 1999 at 9 PM. A $5 donation is asked for attendance, and the proceeds will go for funding the Meeting List, this Newsletter, the Web Site, the local IAC Representatives, and next year’s hospitality room at Gopher State Roundup.

If you were at the Halloween Dance, you can expect more of the same -–if you weren’t at the Halloween Dance, come and find out what you missed!

Pride Alumni Reunion

The Pride Alumni Reunion will be held June 11, 12, and 13, 1999 at the Minneapolis Regal Hotel at Nicollet and Grant in downtown Minneapolis. If you are not familiar with this annual event, it is much like a roundup. It will open Friday evening at Pride Institute with the weekly meeting. There will be workshops Saturday, along with a banquet Saturday night, and a meeting on Sunday morning. Subjects for the workshops will be Relapse, Alternative Spirituality, Women’s Issues in Recovery, HIV, 4^th and 5^th Steps, Recovery & Exercise (separate sessions for men and women), and Depression/Dual Diagnosis & Recovery.

Remember you can save by registering early. Questions can be answered by calling Pride Institute or members of the planning committee.

GLBT in A.A.
Hospitality Committee

The past month has been a busy one for the GLBT in A.A. Hospitality Committee. The committee is the local entity helping IAC plan the Hospitality Room and Dance at the International Convention of Alcoholics Anonymous to be held June 29 – July 2, 2000. IAC is the International Advisory Council for Homosexual Men and Women in Alcoholics Anonymous.

GSO will start assigning space for the hotel use in June. IAC has put in a request for the 14^th floor space in the Minneapolis Regal Hotel for our Hospitality Room.

The Committee has also submitted a proposal for the use of the first floor of the TC building at Minneapolis Community and Technical College for the IAC Dance on July 1, 2000. The college is located at the northeast corner of Loring Park. There is a large cafeteria space for a dance floor and several rooms around the perimeter of the cafeteria for seating space away from the dance. There is also a large terrace overlooking the park out side the cafeteria.

There will be three GLBT panel discussions from the GLBT community at the International Convention. Each panel will have three speakers and a facilitator picked by GSO. They make sure there is a sampling from around the country and at least two other countries on the panels.

Promotional buttons are also being designed and made, to be distributed around the country, for a one or two dollar donation.

The list of out of town volunteers is also growing. Besides getting volunteers from around the United States and Canada, we received our first truly international volunteer from Australia! For me, it has finally made the plans feel international!

Speaking of volunteers, remember we will need about 250 volunteers from the GLBT community.

Although many plans are falling in place, more plans need to be made. The next planning committee meeting will be May 2 at Noon. The meetings are held at 2218 1^st Ave. So. If you have any ideas, but are unable to attend, e-mail them to me at mplsmac@earthlink.net, or send them to GLBT in A.A., 3036 Dupont Ave. So., Mpls, MN 55408.

MinneSober

Remember MinneSober is coming up in October! Planning meetings are being held. Opportunities for service work include leading workshops and helping with registration. There are many other duties from cleanup to MC-ing meetings. If you are interested in doing service work, contact Dana G. or Greg G.

Tradition Nine

"A.A., as such, ought never be organized, but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve."

Working on the International Convention plans really brings this Tradition to the forefront. The local committee for the GLBT community, GLBT in A.A. Hospitality Committee, is made up of whoever wants to be a participant. IAC is also made up of board members, including the local Reps, who are responsible to those they represent.

There is a service structure to A.A., which includes the GSO, Area Representatives, General Service Representatives, to name portion, but the structure does not dictate what individual groups do. Although GSO is the headquarters for A.A., they are still the trusted servants of the members. If you have ever called or visited the office with questions, the answer will usually be quite nebulous. Not that they don’t know answer, but that they do not dictate. The Traditions are all tied together and each group is autonomous. Autonomy and organization would be difficult, if not impossible, to have at the same time.

Sometimes it can be maddening trying to get something done or have a decision made. Committees of volunteers can be quite an experience! It at times is quite a lesson in patience, but it works – well. This Tradition insures that every member of A.A. is as important as the next and in doing service work, we need to remember that we are responsible to those we are representing.

GLBT in A.A.

The IAC Area and City Representatives are making plans to get contacts in the area. We have not had representation to IAC before, so there is a lot of work to do in getting set up.

Our Area includes Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Minnesota. If you know of groups, or individuals, in the outlying area, please let us know at GLBT in A.A., or ask them to contact us. There are plans to develop communication with the GLBT members throughout our Area.

Look for more information at Gopher State Roundup and other functions in the near future!

The Web Site at www.GLBTAAMN.com is being updated. Keep watching for more information and links on the site.

GLBT in A.A. and the Hospitality Committee would like to thank all those who have made donations in time and money. Many groups have pledge part of the 7^th tradition to help us carry out our projects.

If you or your group would like to make a donation, please send it to GLBT in A.A., 3036 Dupont Ave. So., Mpls, MN 55408. Articles for the Newsletter or requests for announcements in the Newsletter, Web Site, or updates to the Meeting List can be sent to the same address.

Requests for the IACTIVITY, IAC’s Newsletter can be sent to IAC, P.O. Box 18212, Washington, D.C. 20036-8212. A $5 donation is requested for IACTIVITY.

Donations for the Hospitality Room and Dance at the International Convention can be sent to either GLBT in A.A. or IAC.