GayDayton™

Dec. 01 11:00 AM Belly Dancing with Josh Center
Dec. 01 2:00 PM World AIDS Day Open House Center
Dec. 02 1:30 PM HIV Testing with Equitas Center
Dec. 02 7:00 PM LGBTQ AA Meeting Center
Dec. 05 7:00 PM Yoga with Matt Center
Dec. 07 2 & 6 PM DGMC Concert Westminster Church
Dec. 08 11:00 AM Belly Dancing with Josh Center
Dec. 09 1:30 PM HIV Testing with Equitas Center
Dec. 09 7:00 PM LGBTQ AA Meeting Center
Dec. 10 6:30 PM PFLAG Monthly Meeting Center
Dec. 11 7:00 PM Pozitive Attitudes Zoom
Dec. 12 7:00 PM Yoga with Matt Center
Dec. 15 11:00 AM Belly Dancing with Josh Center
Dec. 15 3:00 PM Miami Valley Prime Timers Potluck Center
Dec. 16 1:30 PM HIV Testing with Equitas Center
Dec. 16 7:00 PM LGBTQ AA Meeting Center
Dec. 17 7:00 PM Gatlyn Dame Group Center
Dec. 19 7:00 PM Yoga with Matt Center
Dec. 22 11:00 AM Belly Dancing with Josh Center
Dec. 23 1:30 PM HIV Testing with Equitas Center
Dec. 23 7:00 PM LGBTQ AA Meeting Center
Dec. 30 1:30 PM HIV Testing with Equitas Center
Dec. 30 7:00 PM LGBTQ AA Meeting Center

All I can say about life is, ‘Oh God, enjoy it!’
Bob Newhart

"The Spirit of Winter"

When December comes, the snow will fall
Against the fresh green pines.
A hat over here, a scarf over there,
Where Christmas glistens and shines.
As doe and dove explore the world,
The snowflakes dance in flight.
Carols will echo, of boys and girls,
Singing all into the night.
Evergreens sparkle, and winter is here,
Deep in December's embrace.
As family, and joy, and love for all,
Will get us through the days.
For when you think a soul that’s passed
Has not been thinking of you,
Trust, and feel, their presence within,
For that kind of love - is true.
So if you have a place to go,
Or not a place to be,
Just know that somewhere up above,
Their spirits are happy and free.

Transgender Day of Remembrance
November 20 - 7:00 PM - Sinclair CC

We are very please to announce our Keynote speaker for Transgender Day of Remembrance 2024 is singer/song-writer, dancer, model, actor and activist, Laith Ashley.

Transgender Day of Remembrance is an annual event here in Dayton to honor those transgender and non-conforming individuals who lost their lives in 2024 due to violence. All to often these individuals are estranged from their families so it is altogether fitting that we honor them and celebrate the life lived.

On November 20th at 7:00 pm at Sinclair Community College’s conference center we will read their names, and light a candle for these individuals. Additionally, Khris Goins, founder of Black Trans Men of Ohio will speak along with Judas, a 21 y.o. person, and Chrissy Ray, a trans female and of course our keynote speaker, Laith Ashley.

Laith launched his career with a campaign for Barneys New York, back in February 2014. In 2017 he was the first transgender man to be featured in a Diesel campaign, and in February 2020, became one of the faces of the Abercrombie FIERCE campaign. Laith has been on the cover of countless magazines and has had featured stories published in countless others all around the world. Laith was on the cast of reality TV series “Strut”, with executive producer by Whoopi Goldberg in 2016, and raised the heart rates of viewers in his appearances on season one of hit series, “Pose”, on FX, and Taylor Swift’s love interest in the music video for Lavender Haze.

Laith graduated Fairfield University in 2012 with a degree in Psychology. Before beginning his career in the entertainment industry, Laith was a counselor for homeless youth in New York City and spearheaded trans sensitivity training in medical facilities and homeless shelters. He now uses his platform to help inform others about the trans experience, and the experience of other marginalized groups, as well as advocating for social justice, in hopes for a more open, loving and accepting world. Tickets for this FREE event are available on our website.

Click here to order a free test kit.

As the holiday season of 1938 came to Chicago, Bob May wasn’t feeling much comfort or joy. A 34-year-old ad writer for Montgomery Ward, May was exhausted and nearly broke. His wife, Evelyn, was bedridden, on the losing end of a two-year battle with cancer. This left Bob to look after their four-year old-daughter, Barbara.

One night, Barbara asked her father, “Why isn’t my mommy like everybody else’s mommy?” As he struggled to answer his daughter’s question, Bob remembered the pain of his own childhood. A small, sickly boy, he was constantly picked on and called names. But he wanted to give his daughter hope, and show her that being different was nothing to be ashamed of. More than that, he wanted her to know that he loved her and would always take care of her. So he began to spin a tale about a reindeer with a bright red nose who found a special place on Santa’s team. Barbara loved the story so much that she made her father tell it every night before bedtime. As he did, it grew more elaborate. Because he couldn’t afford to buy his daughter a gift for Christmas, Bob decided to turn the story into a homemade picture book.

In early December, Bob’s wife died. Though he was heartbroken, he kept working on the book for his daughter. A few days before Christmas, he reluctantly attended a company party at Montgomery Ward. His co-workers encouraged him to share the story he’d written. After he read it, there was a standing ovation. Everyone wanted copies of their own. Montgomery Ward bought the rights to the book from their debt-ridden employee. Over the next six years, at Christmas, they gave away six million copies of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer to shoppers. Every major publishing house in the country was making offers to obtain the book. In an incredible display of good will, the head of the department store returned all rights to Bob May. Four years later, Rudolph had made him into a millionaire.

Now remarried with a growing family, May felt blessed by his good fortune. But there was more to come. His brother-in-law, a successful songwriter named Johnny Marks, set the uplifting story to music. The song was pitched to artists from Bing Crosby on down. They all passed. Finally, Marks approached Gene Autry. The cowboy star had scored a holiday hit with “Here Comes Santa Claus” a few years before. Like the others, Autry wasn’t impressed with the song about the misfit reindeer. Marks begged him to give it a second listen. Autry played it for his wife, Ina. She was so touched by the line “They wouldn’t let poor Rudolph play in any reindeer games” that she insisted her husband record the tune. Within a few years, it had become the second best-selling Christmas song ever, right behind “White Christmas.” Since then, Rudolph has come to life in TV specials, cartoons, movies, toys, games, coloring books, greeting cards and even a Ringling Bros. circus act. The little red-nosed reindeer dreamed up by Bob May and immortalized in song by Johnny Marks has come to symbolize Christmas as much as Santa Claus, evergreen trees and presents. As the last line of the song says, “He’ll go down in history.”

Christmas Story: For the Man Who Hated Christmas
By Nancy W. Gavin


It's just a small, white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree. No name, no identification, no inscription. It has peeked through the branches of our tree for the past ten years. It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas. Oh, not the true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it – overspending and the frantic running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma – the gifts given in desperation because you couldn't think of anything else. Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the usual shirts, sweaters, ties and so forth. I reached for something special just for Mike. The inspiration came in an unusual way.

Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was on the wrestling team at the school he attended. Shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church. These youngsters, dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings seemed to be the only thing holding them together, presented a sharp contrast to our boys in their spiffy blue and gold uniforms and sparkling new wrestling shoes. As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a wrestler's ears. It was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not afford. Well, we ended up walloping them. We took every weight class. Mike, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, "I wish just one of them could have won," he said. "They have a lot of potential, but losing like this could take the heart right out of them." Mike loved kids – all kids. He so enjoyed coaching little league football, baseball and lacrosse. That's when the idea for his present came.

That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought an assortment of wrestling headgear and shoes, and sent them anonymously to the inner-city church. On Christmas Eve, I placed a small, white envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I had done, and that this was his gift from me. Mike's smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year. And that same bright smile lit up succeeding years. For each Christmas, I followed the tradition – one year sending a group of mentally handicapped youngsters to a hockey game, another year a check to a pair of elderly brothers whose home had burned to the ground the week before Christmas, and on and on. The white envelope became the highlight of our Christmas. It was always the last thing opened on Christmas morning, and our children – ignoring their new toys – would stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad lifted the envelope from the tree to reveal its contents. As the children grew, the toys gave way to more practical presents, but the small, white envelope never lost its allure.

The story doesn't end there. You see, we lost Mike last year due to dreaded cancer. When Christmas rolled around, I was still so wrapped in grief that I barely got the tree up. But Christmas Eve found me placing an envelope on the tree. And the next morning, I found it was magically joined by three more. Unbeknownst to the others, each of our three children had for the first time placed a white envelope on the tree for their dad. The tradition has grown and someday will expand even further with our grandchildren standing to take down that special envelope. Mike’s spirit, like the Christmas spirit will always be with us.