Gay naturism
Encyclopedia
Gay naturism or LGBT naturism (where naturism
is generally equated with nudism) concerns a lifestyle of gay
people in which nudity, especially in a communal context, is viewed as natural, positive and healthy. While naturist clubs and resorts in the United States date back to the 1930s, gay naturist organizations did not emerge until the early 1980s.
movement of the 1970s. These papers—e.g., L.A. Frontiers
, Seattle Gay News
and the Houston Voice—were important means of spreading the word about the first wave of gay naturist social clubs. Among the oldest and largest of the clubs that are still extant are Males au Naturel (MAN) in New York http://www.males.org, Los Angeles Nude Guys (LANG) http://www.clublang.com, San Francisco Kindred Nudists (SKiNS) http://www.skins.cc, and the Greater Atlanta Naturist Group (GANG) http://www.gangatl.org.
The first nationwide organization to promote gay naturism also originated in the early 80's. In 1980, Lee Baxandall
founded The Naturist Society
(TNS). In contrast to the more conservative American Sunbathing Association (ASA) (which in 1995 was renamed the American Association for Nude Recreation
, or AANR), TNS openly welcomed diverse groups of people and was a loose association of special interest groups (SIGs). According to Baxandall, from its inception TNS received almost daily inquires about a SIG for gay naturists. Baxandall approached Murray Kaufman (d. 2003), an openly gay New Yorker who had been hosting private nude socials for gay men in his home. Kaufman agreed to oversee a gay SIG for TNS, and Gay and Lesbian Naturists (GLN) was formed in 1983. GLN had its first gathering at the Summit Lodge in Rockbridge, Ohio in 1985. About 60 members, all of them men, attended.
In 1994, there was a schism in GNI due to a legal dispute over records and money with respect to the paid employee. Out of this split, the employee in question founded International Men Enjoying Naturism (IMEN). Its goals were similar to those of GNI, including being a registry of local clubs, providing referrals to local groups, helping new local gay naturist groups organize, and holding an annual gathering. He was later terminated in a similar fashion from IMEN over the same issues.
The number of local gay naturist clubs continued to grow in the 90's, particularly the latter part of the decade. GNI and IMEN provided organizational assistance to new clubs, and the advent of the Internet meant greater publicity opportunities for new and existing clubs. The website Spike's Naked Planet http://www.nakedplanet.org lists over 100 gay naturist clubs in the United States, about half a dozen in Canada and a scattering in other places across the world.
http://www.palmspringsgay.com and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida http://www.nakedconciergefortlauderdale.com have emerged as the leading vacation destinations for gay naturists. Both cities have a comparable number—about 25 in each—of small, all-gay resorts and guesthouses that allow either unrestricted nudity or at least poolside nudity. Key West, Florida
http://www.gaykeywestfl.com is recognized as an early leader in the development of clothing-optional all-gay guesthouses. Key West currently has ten clothing-optional guesthouses as well as gay bars with clothing-optional areas. The majority of men-only gay accommodations throughout the world allow some degree of naturism, especially poolside, if there is sufficient privacy. However, there are no gay naturist resorts on the scale of co-ed, family oriented naturist resorts such as Cypress Cove http://www.cypresscoveresort.com in Florida.
, but some official naturist beaches and other beaches where naturism is tolerated are popular among gay men (although they are not official gay beaches), like Belavista and 19 beach http://www.patroc.com/lisbon/ (near Lisbon
), and Barril naturist beach or Cacela Velha
beach http://events.uk.msn.com/travel/destination-of-month/easy-jet-faro/algarve-nature-beaches.aspx (both of them are near Tavira
).
Naturism
Naturism or nudism is a cultural and political movement practising, advocating and defending social nudity in private and in public. It may also refer to a lifestyle based on personal, family and/or social nudism....
is generally equated with nudism) concerns a lifestyle of gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
people in which nudity, especially in a communal context, is viewed as natural, positive and healthy. While naturist clubs and resorts in the United States date back to the 1930s, gay naturist organizations did not emerge until the early 1980s.
Early history
In the early 1980s, a number of unaffiliated local clubs for gay naturists began independently springing up in major metropolitan areas of the United States and Canada. By that time, many major cities were served by LGBT newspapers that were established during the gay liberationGay Liberation
Gay liberation is the name used to describe the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement of the late 1960s and early to mid 1970s in North America, Western Europe, and Australia and New Zealand...
movement of the 1970s. These papers—e.g., L.A. Frontiers
Frontiers
Frontiers is southern California's oldest and largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender magazine. It is distributed freely at gay bars, clubs and businesses throughout Southern California...
, Seattle Gay News
Seattle Gay News
The Seattle Gay News is a weekly newspaper aimed at the Seattle, and Puget Sound area LGBT community.SGN files are preserved in the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma, Washington.-Circulation:...
and the Houston Voice—were important means of spreading the word about the first wave of gay naturist social clubs. Among the oldest and largest of the clubs that are still extant are Males au Naturel (MAN) in New York http://www.males.org, Los Angeles Nude Guys (LANG) http://www.clublang.com, San Francisco Kindred Nudists (SKiNS) http://www.skins.cc, and the Greater Atlanta Naturist Group (GANG) http://www.gangatl.org.
The first nationwide organization to promote gay naturism also originated in the early 80's. In 1980, Lee Baxandall
Lee Baxandall
Lee R. Baxandall was an American writer, translator, editor, and activist, first known for his New Left engagement with cultural topics and then as a leader of the naturist movement.-Career:...
founded The Naturist Society
The Naturist Society
The Naturist Society is a national naturist organization based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, USA. It publishes a quarterly periodical called Nude & Natural which documents and coordinates naturist activities and provides information about issues related to naturism. The Naturist Society was established...
(TNS). In contrast to the more conservative American Sunbathing Association (ASA) (which in 1995 was renamed the American Association for Nude Recreation
American Association for Nude Recreation
The American Association for Nude Recreation is a nudist organization in the United States. Founded in 1931, the organization advocates nudity and nude recreation in appropriate settings. The AANR charters approximately 259 independent U.S. nudist resorts and parks...
, or AANR), TNS openly welcomed diverse groups of people and was a loose association of special interest groups (SIGs). According to Baxandall, from its inception TNS received almost daily inquires about a SIG for gay naturists. Baxandall approached Murray Kaufman (d. 2003), an openly gay New Yorker who had been hosting private nude socials for gay men in his home. Kaufman agreed to oversee a gay SIG for TNS, and Gay and Lesbian Naturists (GLN) was formed in 1983. GLN had its first gathering at the Summit Lodge in Rockbridge, Ohio in 1985. About 60 members, all of them men, attended.
Growth in the 1990s
Annual GLN gatherings grew steadily in the late 80's and early 90's. In 1992, the group reorganized, with two key changes: it became an independent entity (no longer a SIG of TNS); and it was renamed Gay Naturists International (GNI) http://www.gaynaturists.org. Although GLN had been founded with the intent of attracting both gay men and lesbians, it had been a de facto all-male organization as there had never been any significant lesbian participation in the group. The new GNI became gender specific in its mission. GNI also became an umbrella organization for networking local gay naturist clubs.In 1994, there was a schism in GNI due to a legal dispute over records and money with respect to the paid employee. Out of this split, the employee in question founded International Men Enjoying Naturism (IMEN). Its goals were similar to those of GNI, including being a registry of local clubs, providing referrals to local groups, helping new local gay naturist groups organize, and holding an annual gathering. He was later terminated in a similar fashion from IMEN over the same issues.
The number of local gay naturist clubs continued to grow in the 90's, particularly the latter part of the decade. GNI and IMEN provided organizational assistance to new clubs, and the advent of the Internet meant greater publicity opportunities for new and existing clubs. The website Spike's Naked Planet http://www.nakedplanet.org lists over 100 gay naturist clubs in the United States, about half a dozen in Canada and a scattering in other places across the world.
Annual gay naturist gatherings
The 1990s saw the beginning of annual gay naturist gatherings on a large scale. GNI held the its first gathering under its new name in 1992. The annual GNI Gathering, held each August in rural eastern Pennsylvania, remains the largest gay naturist gathering, attracting about 800 gay naturists. The second largest gathering, the CMEN Gathering, is sponsored by California Men Enjoying Naturism http://www.cmen.org and is held each September in Malibu, California. First held in 1999, CMEN now draws about 500 attendees. Three other gatherings attract a few hundred attendees each. The IMEN Gathering http://www.imengonude.org, held each July in rural eastern Maryland, began in 1995. The East Coast Gathering, sponsored by the Philadelphia Area Naked Guys http://www.phillynakedguys.org, is held each May in rural eastern Maryland. The Midwest Male Naturist Gathering http://www.mmng.org began in 1993 and is held in rural eastern Kansas each June. Key West's Bone Island Bare It All Weekend http://www.nakedkeywest.com is held each July and December, attracting between 300 and 500 men.Gay naturist vacation market
In the United States, Palm Springs, CaliforniaPalm Springs, California
Palm Springs is a desert city in Riverside County, California, within the Coachella Valley. It is located approximately 37 miles east of San Bernardino, 111 miles east of Los Angeles and 136 miles northeast of San Diego...
http://www.palmspringsgay.com and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida http://www.nakedconciergefortlauderdale.com have emerged as the leading vacation destinations for gay naturists. Both cities have a comparable number—about 25 in each—of small, all-gay resorts and guesthouses that allow either unrestricted nudity or at least poolside nudity. Key West, Florida
Key West, Florida
Key West is a city in Monroe County, Florida, United States. The city encompasses the island of Key West, the part of Stock Island north of U.S. 1 , Sigsbee Park , Fleming Key , and Sunset Key...
http://www.gaykeywestfl.com is recognized as an early leader in the development of clothing-optional all-gay guesthouses. Key West currently has ten clothing-optional guesthouses as well as gay bars with clothing-optional areas. The majority of men-only gay accommodations throughout the world allow some degree of naturism, especially poolside, if there is sufficient privacy. However, there are no gay naturist resorts on the scale of co-ed, family oriented naturist resorts such as Cypress Cove http://www.cypresscoveresort.com in Florida.
Gay naturism in the United Kingdom
A number of gay naturist organisations have existed in the United Kingdom. Currently Gymnos http://www.gymnos.org/ offers social get-togethers for members only in and around London, and offers regular nude swimming (closed down in March 2010) together with Gay London Swimmers (GLS) at a public swimming pool in Camberwell, South London.(closed down in 2009) Certain nudist beaches have areas which are informally used by gay men. A community website www.nakedmates.co.uk offers social networking for men looking to connect with other men also interested in male naturism.Gay naturism in Portugal
There is not a gay naturist organization in PortugalPortugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, but some official naturist beaches and other beaches where naturism is tolerated are popular among gay men (although they are not official gay beaches), like Belavista and 19 beach http://www.patroc.com/lisbon/ (near Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
), and Barril naturist beach or Cacela Velha
Cacela Velha
Cacela Velha is a village located in the civil parish of Vila Nova de Cacela, municipality of Vila Real de Santo António, Algarve, Portugal...
beach http://events.uk.msn.com/travel/destination-of-month/easy-jet-faro/algarve-nature-beaches.aspx (both of them are near Tavira
Tavira
Tavira is a Portuguese city, situated at 37°07' north, 7°39' west in the east of the Algarve on the south coast of Portugal. It is 30 km east of Faro and 160 km west of Seville in Spain. The Gilão River meets the Atlantic Ocean in Tavira....
).