Texas Gay Conferences
Texas Gay Task Force
1974 - 1990

Before Anita Bryant lit the spark in 1977 that jump started the gay movement around the country, activism did exist and
one example in Texas was a series of conferences. The Texas Gay Conference was formed in late 1973 and was held
annually through 1982, rotating in different cities around the state to organize political activism. Conferences featured
national speakers and workshops on a variety of subjects.

I am pleased to present many of the conference programs and associated clippings. For the 1979 conference I have a
page of photos. A lot of Texas gay and lesbian history can be found in the programs, which are courtesy of the Botts Collection.
Click on "PDF" to view or download the programs.

Out of TGC I came the formation of TGTF (Texas Gay Task Force, later the TGLTF). This apparently had no connection to the
National Gay Task Force (NGTF), which was formed in 1973, and still exists (as the National LGBTQ Task Force).
The TGLTF disolved in 1990 and records are stored at Texas Women's University.

Insight

Had a special issue on TGC#8

Volume 1-2, 8/81, PDF

There are 12 more
issues of this
publication
on This Page

Founder

Photos are rare and these are circa 1974, but above left is Ken Cyr, the organization's founder.
Above right he is with his partner (at the time) Charles Gillis, also very active in the the conferences.
They moved to Houston where Ken began using his middle name Adrian, and Charles owned
Wilde 'N Stein Bookstore. Cyr died in 1993 and Gillis lives in Austin.

Clippings

1974

1975

1976

1977

1978

1979

1980

above, Adrian Cyr's name badge for TGC 7

1981

TGC History from the Program for TGC VIII, 1981

1982

The 1982 Texas Gay Conference was the last of that format,
and one more event was held the next year. My source for the
programs and correspondence has been the Botts Collection,
and the 1982 file was the last one in their collection.

1983

1984

above is the largest scan I could find

The listing below, November 1984, is the same one found all during that
year and continuing to March 1985, just a listing, no activity.

 1985

This ad below ran in the classifieds section of TWT until January 18, 1985,
apparently marking the end of the organization

What Happened Next?

While the efforts of the TGC and TGTF were winding down
by the end of 1984, other approaches begun in 1978 were continuing.

In 1978 representatives from TGTF and the Lesbian / Gay Democrats of Texas (LGDT)
formed a lobbying effort called Human Rights Advocates. The main goal was to hire a
lobbyist (Bettie Naylor) to work with the legislature sessions to protect our interests.
In 1982 these groups escalated their efforts and established the Lesbian Gay Rights
Advocates (LGRA), which in 1987 became the Lesbian Gay Rights Lobby (LGRL).
It morphed again in 2006 into Equality Texas.

below, from the Equality Texas website

Histories above and below are incorrect, LGRA became LGRL in December 1986, not 1989
see clipping below...