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Contact Us Table of Contents Search Site Google listing of all pages on this website Site Map Toby Johnson's Facebook page Toby Johnson's YouTube channel Toby Johnson on Wikipedia Toby Johnson Amazon Author Page  Secure site at https://tobyjohnson.com  Also on this website: As an Amazon Associate
I earn from qualifying purchases. Toby Johnson's books: Toby's books are available as ebooks from smashwords.com, the Apple iBookstore, etc. FINDING
YOUR OWN TRUE MYTH: What I Learned
from Joseph Campbell: The
Myth
of the
Great Secret
III GAY SPIRITUALITY: The Role of Gay Identity in the Transformation of Human Consciousness
GAY PERSPECTIVE: Things Our Homosexuality Tells Us about the Nature of God and the Universe
SECRET MATTER, a sci-fi novel with wonderful "aliens" with an Afterword by Mark Jordan
GETTING
LIFE IN PERSPECTIVE:
A
Fantastical Gay Romance set in two different time periods
THE FOURTH QUILL, a novel about attitudinal healing and the problem of evil  TWO SPIRITS: A Story of Life with the Navajo, a collaboration with Walter L. Williams  CHARMED LIVES: Spinning Straw into Gold: GaySpirit in Storytelling, a collaboration with Steve Berman and some 30 other writers
THE MYTH OF THE GREAT SECRET: An Appreciation of Joseph Campbell
IN SEARCH OF GOD IN THE SEXUAL UNDERWORLD: A Mystical Journey
Books on Gay Spirituality: White Crane Gay Spirituality Series
Articles and Excerpts:
Review of Samuel Avery's The Dimensional Structure of Consciousness Funny Coincidence: "Aliens Settle in San Francisco" About Liberty Books, the Lesbian/Gay Bookstore for Austin, 1986-1996 The Simple Answer to the Gay Marriage Debate A Bifurcation of Gay Spirituality Why gay people should NOT Marry The Scriptural Basis for Same Sex Marriage
Gay ConsciousnessQ&A about Jungian ideas in gay consciousness What Jesus said about Gay Rights Common Experiences Unique to Gay Men Is there a "uniquely gay perspective"? Interview on the Nature of Homosexuality What the Bible Says about Homosexuality Mesosexual Ideal for Straight Men Waves of Gay Liberation Activity Wouldn’t You Like to Be Uranian? The Reincarnation of Edward Carpenter Why Gay Spirituality: Spirituality as Artistic Medium Easton Mountain Retreat Center Andrew Harvey & Spiritual Activism The Mysticism of Andrew Harvey
Enlightenment
Joseph Campbell's description of Avalokiteshvara You're Not A WaveJoseph Campbell Talks about Aging What is Enlightenment? What is reincarnation? How many lifetimes in an ego? Emptiness & Religious Ideas Experiencing experiencing experiencing Going into the Light Meditations for a Funeral Meditation Practice The way to get to heaven Buddha's father was right What Anatman means Advice to Travelers to India & Nepal The Danda Nata & goddess Kalika Nate Berkus is a bodhisattva John Boswell was Immanuel Kant Cutting edge realization The Myth of the Wanderer Change: Source of Suffering & of Bliss World Navel What the Vows Really Mean Manifesting from the Subtle Realms The Three-layer Cake & the Multiverse The est Training and Personal Intention Effective Dreaming in Ursula LeGuin's The Lathe of Heaven Gay
Spirituality
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In summer of 1984 a rep (maybe named Werner) from the National Association of Business Councils (NABC) based in New York City came to San Antonio to help organize a San Antonio business association. He contacted Michael Stevens who was editor of The Calendar, the publication of San Antonio Gay Alliance, the organization Michael Stevens founded in 1980. The Calendar started out as a SAGA newsletter but then became an independent publication distributed in gay community bars and businesses. Michael called a group together to meet with the national organizer. We met in the late afternoon at Lollie Johnson’s bar at 3503 West Ave, called LJ’z. From that meeting the effort began to develop an organization aimed to strengthen the local gay community by identifying and connecting various businesses run by and for gay men and lesbians. It paralleled the Tavern Guild in the sense of being an association of business owners, but the Tavern Guild was simply bar owners, the business association would be for the rest of the community. In fact, these were the advertisers in The Calendar (mostly realtors). There was a “Business Council Meeting” on Thursday August 9. Then after Oct 16, there was an ABC meeting 3 weeks in a row on Tuesday nights at 7:30 at Jim Halloran’s home on Rosewood nr Fredericksburg. The meeting after Oct 23 were at ReMax. The original male and female co-chairs were Jim Halloran and Barbara Havard (Barbara’s office was at the ReMax office behind the old Central Park Mall at Rector and Blanco). Kip Dollar was Treasurer of the original interim board (Kip’s name is shown as the registrant for the assumed name certificate.) Vice-President was Hans Bloemen. The initial meetings were at Jim Halloran’s home on Rosewood. After a couple of those meetings, when it looked like there would be sufficient interest to forge ahead, Barbara Havard let us use the conference room in her ReMax office for general meetings. Meetings of the officers continued at Jim’s house on Rosewood, where we worked on bylaws later put to general vote. Among original members were Clark Niblock, Byron Trott, Russell McCauley, Dana DiCastro and Fred Idar, Barbara Havard and Julee French, Patrick Lombrano and Steve Parker, Michael Stevens and Patrick Kerr, Toby Johnson and Kip Dollar, Pat Westbrook, Rudy Gonzalez and John Mitchell, Cataria Reyes… Tues, Dec 4, there was an ABC meeting with Hap Veltman, an attorney and entrepreneur with prominence in both the gay and general communities. Hap was owner of the Bonham and previous owner the San Antonio Country. He was also a member of the Board of SAGA. An early ABC event was a fairly large hotel dinner at which Hap was the Guest of Honor. It was held at the Marriott RiverWalk – one of the members Dana DiCastro was Director of food and beverage there and a number of gay community events happened at the Marriott. (That might be the Dec 4 event.) This was the first public subscription event for the ABC, and was both a PR vehicle (displaying the existence of the group and its ability to pull off the event) and a public service (acknowledgment of Hap’s prominent role in the community). It was deemed a success that ticket sales covered costs with a modest profit. A second public event produced by ABC was a bus trip to Lyle’s Deck in South Padre Island in the Spring of 1985 (April 13th 1985). After planning had been completed but prior to the actual trip, Jim Halloran resigned as co-chair due to upcoming relocation for professional reasons. Hans Bloemen assumed the role of President. Following the beach excursion ABC activities were confined to periodic meetings of the membership and activities directed to enlarging participation. The emerging AIDS epidemic had a varied impact on the group. Initiatives such as the “Blood Sisters” campaign to encourage lesbians to donate blood to compensate for the prohibition of donation by gay men were not an official function of ABC but were largely overseen by ABC members and publicized using ABC communication channels. Likewise, the SAFE Week project originally begun by Jim Halloran to address public health issues (particularly STDs) in the gay population garnered much ABC support though it was not an official ABC project. ABC activities began to taper off, probably due to a number of causes. Certainly the growing AIDS epidemic fostered concern and created stressors within the gay and lesbian as well as the general community, especially in the early days when little was reliably known about the illness and assumptions about transmission later proven false gained attention in the media. One of the other early presidents was Harel McKinzie. For a period the group became nearly dormant, existing in name but with little public activity. As late as April 1987, ABC was meeting in hotels and restaurants on the first Tuesday of the month. The group was revived through the efforts of a new President, Russell Allen. (There may have been a meeting with Russell at the Gunter Hotel on Nov 1, 1985; I remember the board meeting with him at the Gunter, but am not sure this entry in my calendar book is acatually that event.) Russell had moved to San Antonio from Houston to work for the San Antonio symphony. He had been very active with the Executive and Professional Association of Houston (EPAH, an organization with objectives similar to those of the ABC but with a much larger membership base and better developed management structure.) Russell capitalized on his EPAH connections to help strengthen ABC operations. There was a second trip to Lyle’s Deck later. Russell Allen attended the second trip, I believe. There was also a group trip to Galveston; we went on a cruise ship (casino?) around Galveston Bay. And there was trip in 1985 to a party sponsored by EPAH at the home of a wealthy member near the Galleria. Russell brought the model of Houston EPAH to San Antonio; he was invited by the ABC board to give a new burst of enthusiasm to ABC. He became the second or third president and revamped the organization into the social club it then became and flourished. For information about the ABC: Alamo Business Council (ABC) P.O. Box 15481 San Antonio, TX. 78212 email: alamobusinesscouncil@gmail.com |
Toby Johnson, PhD is author of nine books: three non-fiction books that apply the wisdom of his teacher and "wise old man," Joseph Campbell to modern-day social and religious problems, four gay genre novels that dramatize spiritual issues at the heart of gay identity, and two books on gay men's spiritualities and the mystical experience of homosexuality and editor of a collection of "myths" of gay men's consciousness.
Johnson's book
GAY
SPIRITUALITY: The Role of Gay Identity in the Transformation of
Human Consciousness won a Lambda Literary Award in 2000.
His GAY
PERSPECTIVE: Things Our [Homo]sexuality Tells Us about the Nature
of God and the Universe was nominated for a Lammy in 2003. They
remain
in
print.
FINDING
YOUR OWN TRUE MYTH: What I Learned from Joseph Campbell: The Myth
of the Great Secret III tells the story of Johnson's learning the
real nature of religion and myth and discovering the spiritual
qualities of gay male consciousness.
Two
Spirits is available as an
audiobook narrated by Arthur Raymond. 