In January 1999 I arrived in Houston, Texas. I had
participated in The Men?s Gathering of Dallas, which
was founded in 1993, and was challenged to start a
group in Houston. Well, I did just that and in March 27,
1999 The Men?s Gathering of Houston held its first
dialogue meeting with 6 members present. A few
weeks later, on Saturday, April 10, 1999 we met with 9
members in attendance. The group has continued to
grow and today, we continue to meet on a bi-weekly
basis, every other Saturday evening from 6:30 PM to
9:30 PM. Today, we have 30 to 40 men present at
each dialogue. We also reach out to others across the
USA and the world with our Yahoo Club and Group,
which has a total of over 6,000 members.
The Men?s Gathering of Houston is a self-supporting
group that has no formal membership. We do have a
committee made up of 9 members to guide the activities
of the group and for the last 3 years I?ve facilitated
most of the dialogue meetings.
The purpose of The Men?s Gathering of Houston and
of our dialogue meetings are as follows:
PURPOSE OF THE MEN ?S GATHERING
The purpose of The Men's Gathering of Houston is to
come together as African American Gay, Bisexual, and
Same Gender Loving Men to dialogue about issues that
are important in helping us to form healthy
relationships with ourselves and others, and join in
Walking The Journey Of Self-Understanding To Live A
More Empowered, Awakened And Authentic Life.
PURPOSE OF THE MEN?S GATHERING DIALOGUE
MEETINGS
Dialogue allows us to move beyond polite and empty
words, and beyond the fears and pain that keeps us
disconnected. Dialogue moves us from being
uninformed to informed, from informed to concerned,
from concerned to active. The Men?s Gathering
Dialogue Meetings gives us an opportunity to listen,
learn and grow by recognizing and letting go of mental,
emotional and spiritual obstacles and self-imposed
limitations, that have prevented us from being fully
empowered.
The Men?s Gathering of Houston works in the areas of
advocacy, health, education and consciousness raising
to provide ?opportunities for the free exchange and
uncensored exchange of information, ideas and
expression among Black men, or men of African
descent. Our organization is targeted primarily to
African-American men, but we are not separatist; we
separate to heal.
The Men?s Gathering of Houston is planting the seeds
required to form a Community that includes Black Gay
Men. Through our efforts, the larger community will
have opportunities to become more inclusive. We
gather to empower, and then extend ourselves to
others. We support each other in not being victims.
Society is not fair and that?s OK. It is important for
each of us to change instead of waiting for society to
change and that?s called Personal Responsibility which
is vital to Personal Empowerment. Through dialogue
we become teachers and learners as we share the pains
and joys of being black and gay. Our goal is to be
Black, Proud and Empowered.
Paul Guillory, Founder