Gay Spirit Visions

In 1989, a small group of Faeries decised to refocus the energy of their gatherings into more structured spiritual conferences. THe new organization, Gay Spirit Visions, founded a new retreat at “The Mountain,” a Unitarian Universalist retreat center just outsde of Highlands, N.C., and has been holding conferences since 1990.

“I think many of the guys that attended the first GSV [conference] were like me. They wanted a community, they wanted to go somewhere, but they didn’t want to sleep on the ground, eat Faerie gruel, shit in the woods, so to speak. And we wanted more of a conversation.”
Franklin Abbott, December 14, 2015

“It was the love of the group, and the supportiveness of the group to every single person there, to just be whoever they were. And the fact that you’re in this huge crowd of gay men which you never really are. So it was a very affirming experience. It really reached into your core, so when I came back, I cried for three days. I was crying because the conference was over.”
Jim Jones, August 1, 2017

“To be up there with a large group of gay men – guess there was 100, 150, and walking around with this whole group of gay men, and it wasn’t in a bar, and it wasn’t at Pride, and everybody was nice to each other, and sweet and hugging, and non-judgemental, unlike regular gay culture. That was overwhelming. I think I spent a large part of my first weekend just walking around and crying and hugging staff members, and saying thank you to them.

Listening to James Broughton in the Lodge: the poetry was amazing; the drum circle was amazing.”
David Cable, April 8, 2018