LGBTQ+ Pioneers in Recovery

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0:00

Moderator Welcome to the Tuesday Night Recovery Speakers History Workshop. Thank you everyone for joining us tonight. My name is Tim, and tonight's presentation is Early LGBTQIA Pioneers, Big Book and Pamphlet Authors, and the Grapevine Founders, presented by Maile T. from San Francisco. And we meet here every Tuesday at the same time using the same Zoom ID, and next week is the last Tuesday of February, so we will have Penny back with a conversation with a long timer with Debbie D.

0:04

Mily This meeting is recorded and all past audio presentations are available at recoveryspeakers.com. We are not affiliated with any 12-step organization, though our focus is the history of AA and other 12-step fellowships. Recoveryspeakers.com is a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to preserving and sharing the audio history of AA and the 12-step movement today and for future generations. We send a daily email featuring a speaker talk from our archive, recordings of the history meeting, and information on upcoming presentations. To subscribe, use the link in the chat or you can send me an email at info at recoveryspeakers.com and I'll get you added to our list.

0:09

Mily And if you are able to support Recovery Speakers' work, contributions are appreciated. The donation link is in the chat or you can use the QR code that is up on the screen now. And I have a couple announcements here. If anyone is able to make it to the History Roundup that's in Myrtle Beach the last weekend of March, then you can see up on the screen we'll have Gail L., Mike F., Jackie B. presenting in Myrtle Beach, and it's a great history convention with a ton of archives, and I hope you all can make it.

0:14

Moderator And a flyer for March's Conversation with a Long-Timer. We will have Lee M., Jr. from Washington, D.C., and I'll be sharing all these in the chat if you want to save these flyers and share them with friends or just save them for yourself. And tonight we should have some time for Q&A after Miley's presentation, so if you have any questions, please write them down and be ready to ask your questions at the end. And I am going to close the chat now.

0:19

Moderator I will open that back up at the end, but you are still able to message me directly if there's anything you need, and I will open it back up after the presentation. And now I just need to unmute Miley, and I am so grateful for Miley to be here and to share this presentation with you all, and Miley, thank you, and you can take it away. All right. Thanks, Tim. It's always great to be here.

0:23

Moderator I so appreciate recovery speakers. Tim suggested that maybe I spend a couple minutes talking about the conference that I was at this weekend. I was at the International Women's Conference, and it was in Des Moines, Iowa, and if you're not familiar or if you know any women that are not familiar with the IWC, it's, in my opinion, one of the best conferences out there. And one of the neat things they do is they move locations every year, so next February, it's always our President's Day weekend. Next February, it's going to be in Buffalo, New York, and then they just announced this weekend that in the 2028, it's going to be in Boston.

0:29

Moderator So it's just a terrific time, so if you can make it or if it's ever in your neck of the woods, I highly recommend it. It sells out fast, so I just encourage you to try to register a year ahead of time. So anyway, that's that. It was a great conference, and usually there's like several thousand women there, and it's just terrific. And I had the opportunity to share about Marty Mann.

0:33

Mily Some of you may have heard me talk here on Recovery Speakers. I have three talks. I have one about Marty Mann. That's the one I've been doing the longest, probably maybe six or seven years now. And it keeps getting bigger and bigger, and I keep learning new things.

0:36

Mily Every year, I learn so much. And then the next, that sort of inspired me to find out more about Florence R. And she is the only woman, only alcoholic woman, with a story in the first edition Big Book. And she was in every printing, so for 15 years, hers was the only story by an alcoholic woman. So she's very, very inspiring, and you can hear the recording.

0:40

Mily Just search on Recovery Speakers. I'm also happy if you have a group that's a fairly large group, I'm happy to come on Zoom or in person or whatever the case may be, but always happy to do Zoom as well if you have a group that would be interested in hearing any of these talks. Okay, I'm going to jump right in now to this talk. It always takes me a second. I'm going to share the screen, so bear with me.

0:44

Moderator And I'm going to do the slideshow and presenter view. All right, is that looking just perfect? Okay, good. Thanks, Tim. All righty, so tonight is, maybe let me say one more thing.

0:46

Mily If you'd like to reach me, my email is martyandmileyatgmail.com, and my name is spelled M-I-L-Y. So if I have bibliographies, I'm happy to share everything I know. And if you'd like a copy of the bibliography, or if you'd like to reach me for some reason, my email, and I'll spell it out, is martyandmileyatgmail.com. All right, okay, so this is titled Early LGBTQAA Pioneers, Big Book and Pamphlet Authors, Grapevine Founders. And you're going to be all, here you see all the people, their faces are circled, and this is exactly who I'm going to be talking about.

0:51

Mily I'm going to be talking about seven different people who are early AAs. Now, for those of you that know me, know that I take my research very seriously. I, you know, the internet is a blessing and a curse, as we all know. There's a lot of information out there that's not quite right, and so I just want you to know, I always like to tell everyone, my mom was a librarian, so that's probably how I got this way. So I've been to Syracuse University Libraries, that's where Marty Mann has her personal archives.

0:56

Moderator Brown University Library has the National Council on Alcoholism archives that Marty founded. It also has Dr. Bob's archives. I've been to Stepping Stones many times, and as I'm sure many of you know, it's a historic home of Bill and Lois Wilson. Tim and I were just chatting that they're having their picnic.

0:59

Mily I believe it's always the first Saturday of June, and that is so much fun. But you can check out steppingstones.org, and you can also research their archives. They've been very generous with me in sharing so much fantastic information. And also, I did develop a small collection related to Marty Mann, and I've donated it to Stepping Stones. So if you ever go there and you'd like to see any of these things, they're like books and photos and things I've collected over the years.

1:04

Moderator Everything I've collected is now at Stepping Stones. The General Service Office in New York City, that's our place, and we are all welcome to go there. They have an archive, but you can also take a tour, attend a meeting on Friday. So if you're ever in Manhattan, I hope that you'll go visit there. The AA Grapevine, I'm a super big fan.

1:08

Mily They have, for starters, they have digital archives, and you can literally read every single grapevine that's ever been printed by just getting a digital subscription. And you know, it's hard for any magazine to stay afloat nowadays, and the Grapevine's no exception. So if you value the Grapevine, you can either subscribe or give a gift subscription or give it to people that are in prison or treatment programs, which is something I do, and I think it's great. There's also a book called The History of Gay People and Alcoholics Anonymous by a woman named Audrey Borden. It's currently semi-available as an e-book, and I've heard talk that she may be working on revising it or updating it, possibly, but I don't know for sure.

1:14

Moderator And then there's Vogue magazine archives, the newspaper.com, Ancestry.com, Recovery Speakers. I got to say, I so appreciate the way they have protected our audio recordings, because I'm going to be playing you some recordings a little bit later, and they're often directly thanks to Recovery Speakers, and both Mike and Tim have been very generous with me. Every so often, Mike will send me a text. I remember the last really great text he sent me was from a driveway in South Dakota, and in fact, I think I'm going to be showing you that later, but it was a photo of something that he had acquired. So now I'm going to move on.

1:21

Mily I know many of you probably know more AA history than I do, but I'd like to start at the very beginning, in case there's any newcomers here tonight or people that are listening to this recording who maybe aren't that familiar with AA history. So I'd like to say that Bill and Lois Wilson lived in Brooklyn, New York, and Dr. Bob and Ann Smith lived in Akron, Ohio. And AA began in 1935 when Bill Wilson of Brooklyn carried a message of hope to Dr. Bob Smith in Akron.

1:25

Mily Okay, so that'll come into play a little bit later. These are the people I'm going to be talking about. First, there's Marty Mann. See, she was born in 1904. And her partner, Priscilla Peck, was born in 1908.

1:27

Mily Then there's Alan McGuinness, who is out here on the West Coast, born in 1912. LeClaire Bissell, who was sponsored by Marty Mann, born in 1928, a little younger. And then Francis Barry Leach. He was born in 1918. And I'm going to quote him right now and say that we were not just closeted.

1:30

Mily We were in a vault holding onto each other's hands desperately. We recognized each other, of course. And by the way, Bill knew us all, too. It never bothered Bill. All right?

1:32

Mily So he's talking, all of these people are LGBTQ, and that's what Barry's talking about there. Now, there's two people that are unknown, and one is from Akron, Ohio, and the other's from New York City. Now, the one in New York is actually, that is a photo of a friend of mine. He is a drag queen. He identifies as a man.

1:35

Mily And he, as many of you are going to remember, there's a great story in our literature that talks about a black man in a blonde wig and makeup coming to the clubhouse and asking for help. So we do not have a photo of that person. So I asked my friend, his name is Louis, and I asked him if I could use a photo. That was actually part of a selfie. I cut myself out.

1:39

Mily But, you know, here in San Francisco and Louis, I said, oh, my gosh, I actually have a photo of someone who fits that description perfectly. So I really thank Louis for letting me, because there aren't that many black images in AA history, so I really wanted to make a point to have this image at least, even though we know, obviously, it's not the person in question. So, again, these two people that are unknown are directly related to Tradition III, and we'll be talking about that at the end. So you might wonder, did all these people know each other? Yes, yes, indeed.

1:45

Mily Not every single person, but they were definitely interconnected. And you see that, like, Marty and Bill were sort of at the center of all things. The fellow in Akron only knew Dr. Bob, and then Alan in Los Angeles. I don't believe he met any of these people personally, but you'll see how his work developed into a pamphlet.

1:48

Mily And then we see, you know, Marty, Priscilla, and Barry very well connected in New York City, as well as for LeClaire. Now, it was not all, not all was, what's the word I want to use? It was not all good news in AA. So here's a letter from Hank Parkhurst that he sent to Clarence Snyder. Now, as we know, for those of you that are interested in AA history, know that Hank had it pretty rough at the end.

1:52

Mily He got kind of cranky, and he was mad about a lot of things. He was mad at Bill. He was frustrated with AA situations. But here he's complaining about LGBTQ people, and he says, the lunatic fringe is doing more than you, who are at least tentatively an insider, cannot realize. In New York, there's a group made up practically entirely of lesbians and fairies.

1:55

Mily Now, for those of you that are listening to this by audio, we see that this letter was written in 1947, again, from Hank Parkhurst to Clarence Snyder. Now, I think this is a case of good news, bad news. I mean, the good news is that now we know. In New York, there was a group made up practically entirely of lesbians and fairies, and I think that's very good news. The bad news, of course, is that Hank didn't really mean that in a nice kind of way.

2:00

Moderator Hank was suffering as a result of his alcoholism, and of course, at first I found this letter very disappointing, but I think it really is more a matter of the way he was suffering as a result of his drinking and, in a way, his lashing out. But it's important to keep this in mind, because, again, when you're going to see how progressive AA was, specifically how Bill was, and just what these people were facing, you just keep in mind the overall sentiment. Now, in light of that, the American Psychiatric Association defined homosexuality in the following ways, and these are actual definitions for homosexuality. Sexual perversion, mental disorder, pathological, sociopathic, ego-dystonic. All right, so those were the words up until 1973, which really was not that long ago.

2:07

Moderator And so when you see Hank talking in the 1940s, we see that was the norm. But AA, and so when you see, but when AA wrote their traditions and said, no, everyone is welcome here, they were really going against the tide as far as, at least in the United States. So, again, this is a fantastic newspaper. It says the Chicago Gay Crusader, and that was a gay paper, and the headline says, psychiatrists drop sick label, 20 million gay people cured. So you could see what a great sense of humor they had, right, that overnight 20 million gay people were cured.

2:12

Mily And it says, the little subheading says, in what may be the biggest gay news event of 1973, the American Psychiatric Association's Board of Trustees voted December 15th, without dissent, to remove homosexuality and mental disorders. All right. So I do love our sense of humor here. So I'm going to start out with Priscilla and Marty. This is a beautiful picture, the two of them.

2:15

Mily And we're going to tell you about Marty. So Marty, who is Mrs. Marty Mann? Well, Marty was an alcoholic who lost her home, her partner, her career, and spent nearly two years in mental asylums. She was a woman who was married to a man for three months of her life.

2:18

Mily She was a big book author whose story first appeared in the second edition. She was a co-founder of the A.A. Grapevine magazine. She was a student at Yale School of Alcohol Studies. She was the founder of National Council on Alcoholism.

2:20

Mily She was the author of three mainstream books about alcoholism. And definitely, she was a superstar lesbian. She died in 1980. So her partner of 40 years was Priscilla Peck. Well, Priscilla was a co-founder of the A.A.

2:22

Mily Grapevine. She was an art editor of Vogue magazine for 25 years. She was an alcoholic who did not lose her home or career. She was a sober woman who achieved lifelong sobriety through Alcoholics Anonymous. She was definitely a fashionista in 1908 and died in Connecticut in 1982.

2:24

Mily So you're going to pay attention and just remember about the connection between Vogue magazine and the A.A. Grapevine. So now I'm going to play an audio recording of Marty describing her first A.A. meeting that was at Bill and Lois' home at 182 Clinton Street in Brooklyn. Now, there's several very interesting things about this.

2:27

Mily The first is that Marty's very first A.A. meeting was April 11, 1939. And honestly, I was giving this talk for two or three or four years and just feeling like there's something about that date. And finally, honestly, after all those years, it just popped in my head to be like probably in the middle of the night and I was like, oh my goodness, the A.A. Big Book was published on April 10th of 1939.

2:31

Mily So Marty's very first meeting was at Bill and Lois' home the day after the Big Book was printed. Can you even imagine how exciting that must have been? They must have just been out of their minds. Not only was the Big Book here, but in walks Marty. So here is the audio recording.

2:34

Mily And again, thanks to Recovery Speakers. Here we go. We went on the subway and met a couple of other people on the subway that we're going to over to Brooklyn. And they told me afterwards I was the most wild-eyed looking dame they'd ever seen. Well, I was.

2:37

Mily I was scared witless. I'd had a very nice dinner with three people. I could manage that. But I didn't know how many people were going to be where we were going. Or again, what they were going to be like.

2:39

Mily And we got to this house in Brooklyn and we went in and it looked to me like there were dozens and dozens and dozens of people there. There weren't really that many. There weren't that many of us then. But I went upstairs to leave my coat and I didn't come down. I don't know how long I thought I'd get away with it.

2:42

Mily But you know, a very nice woman came upstairs and she put her arms around me and she said, We're all waiting for you downstairs. We want you. My name is Lois. And so I've always kind of felt ever since that Lois was as much a part of me as she was a part of me. my sponsor, as Bill.

2:45

Mily So we learn a lot of great things in that audio recording. One, we learn that Bill Wilson was Marty Mann's sponsor, right? I mean, that's about as insider as you can get when Bill Wilson is your sponsor. And we also learn that she considered Lois to be just as much her sponsor. The other thing I wanted to mention was that, the other thing that's interesting about this date is that, so Marty arrives in April of 1939.

2:50

Mily Well guess how many AA meetings there were in 1939, in April? There were two, one in Akron and one in Brooklyn. I mean, so how lucky was it? I mean, the other thing is that Marty was coming from an asylum. She had to take the train down from a mental asylum.

2:52

Mily And her doctor was Dr. Thiebaud, but you have to come hear my talk about Marty. It's a very long and amazing story. But in May, that's when Cleveland started their AA meetings. But to really imagine joining AA when there's only two meetings in the whole world.

2:55

Mily Now, so Marty and Priscilla, again, were romantic partners for 40 years. This is a beautiful photo of them at Cherry Grove Fire Island. I finally got to go there last year. The Cherry Grove in the 1930s and 40s was visited by famous artists such as Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, Patricia Highsmith, Paul and Jane Bowles, Carson McCullers, Janet Flanner and W. H.

2:58

Mily Auden. So Marty and Priscilla owned a cottage and two adjacent properties on Cherry Grove, and they had them for 11 years. Now I'm happy to be able to quote one of the great sources for my information about Marty is a woman named Lori D., who lives in Santa Fe. And I'm very happy to tell you that Lori D. is here tonight.

3:01

Mily And she just this last weekend celebrated 59 years of sobriety. And Lori did know Marty Mann back in the 1960s. And it has been a great joy of my life to become friends with Lori. And I was able to do like a historical oral history with Lori. And so anyway, Lori, thank you for coming tonight.

3:04

Mily I love you. So here's a quote from Lori. Lori said, both women were well known in Cherry Grove as lesbians and as recovered alcoholics. Call Marty became a standard SOS among some of America's most famous art, literary and theater names. So that that last quote was actually from the biography.

3:07

Mily What my friend Lori said was, quote, Marty had a coterie of very famous gay people around her in New York. They went to Fire Island, but they lived very closeted lives. It was not public knowledge. We knew she was gay. And there were probably some straight friends that were sworn to silence.

3:10

Mily Marty helped to start the first Cherry Grove AA group, which continues to meet in the firehouse. So I was really pleased. I went there. I went to the 6 p.m. meeting.

3:11

Mily People were so gracious. And I always tell everyone, you'll be very proud of me. I did not. I did not dominate the meeting talking about Marty Mann. I just sat in my chair and and I was so appreciative.

3:13

Mily But I was able to. Anyway, it was great. If you're ever in Cherry Grove, go to the 6 p.m. meeting. It was just fantastic.

3:15

Mily So again, this is I found their property up at Syracuse University. I found the real estate papers and I was able to discover exactly which addresses they owned. So that was very special to be able to walk by there. Now Marty and Priscilla also went to Stepping Stones where Bill and Lois lived. And they've shared with me the guest book that they have.

3:18

Mily And you see Marty Mann signed in in 1941. You see Priscilla Peck signed in in 1944. And of course, they're at the exact same address. Lois mentions in her diary that Marty and Priscilla came by for a visit. And that photo on the right, that's Marty sitting on the screen porch there at Stepping Stones, you know, in the back when you visit.

3:21

Mily So that's very special to whenever I go there, I think, oh, my goodness, Marty Mann sat right there on that screen porch. It is very special to visit Stepping Stones. So in 1944, at the age of 40, Marty founds a National Committee for the Education on Alcoholism. And when you think about that, think about things like the American Cancer Society, the American Diabetic Association. The idea for Marty was to create a national organization that would educate the public and reduce stigma.

3:25

Mily It was not connected to AA. These are two totally different things. But Marty actually had tuberculosis when she was young. So that was part of it. She was just very inspired.

3:27

Mily She was very, she wanted more than anything to how do we reduce the stigma associated with alcoholism. When I was at Syracuse, I was able to look at this really fantastic, it's called a Zephyr Autodex. And it's like an address book where you, I'm sure your grandparents maybe had one where he goes up and down. And that was extremely exciting. And the photo on the left, that shows Priscilla working at Vogue in 1946.

3:31

Mily And the little, what I was able to find Priscilla's phone numbers, and it says the copy room at Vogue and the night number at Vogue. And Marty's biography says, Priscilla Starr was about to rise in spectacular tandem to Marty's. Right. Now, again, Marty and Priscilla worked with four others to create the Grapevine magazine. That was in 1944.

3:34

Mily And the Grapevine became the primary way AA communicated with members across the United States as well as overseas during World War II. That cover there, that's from, is it, I want to say March, yeah, March of 2025. I wrote an article about Marty Mann. So if you'd like to read it, it's there in the Sober and Out issue of 2025 March at the Grapevine. So Priscilla actually was the one that drew the grapes.

3:38

Mily And when you see copies of the original Grapevine for the first couple of years, they looked like this, big broad sheets. And Priscilla did the grapes and she also did the font. She drew that where it says Grapevine. And I think they'd be amazed at how it is nowadays, you know. I mean, but how special how they started that.

3:41

Mily So Bill Wilson, this is actually the photo that Mike texted me from that, I believe it was South Dakota driveway, very exciting. And he sent me a photo and it's an inscribed first edition big book. And it's inscribed by Bill Wilson to Priscilla Peck. And I am extremely happy that he put her last name so we knew for sure it's our Priscilla. And it's 1944 and it says, Priscilla Peck, my treasured friend of AA, whose labor of love for us all will never be forgotten, Bill, Christmas 1944.

3:46

Mily And I'm sure what he's referring to is that she brought her experience of working at Vogue Magazine to our little AA Grapevine. I mean, like I said, she was the art editor for 25 years. So she knew magazines, you know, probably better than most. But it makes me sad too, though, because he says, whose labor of love for us all will never be forgotten. Because honestly, Priscilla Peck has been entirely forgotten, you know, I'd never really heard of her until that wonderful, there's a fantastic biography, by the way, about Marty Mann.

3:51

Mily I did not write it. It's written by Sally and David Brown. It's called Mrs. Marty Mann, the First Lady of AA. And they talked about Priscilla Peck, thank God.

3:53

Mily So that photo of Priscilla on the left, that's one I found on eBay. That was a very exciting day for me. And I was able to buy a whole stack of photos related to Priscilla and Marty. And again, those now live at Stepping Stones. Now the following year, Bill inscribed a book to Marty for Christmas.

3:56

Mily And he said, Marty, dear, though I love you for many things, I'm thinking now what you put into grapevine and what that is to mean to so many. Merry Christmas, Bill, December 1945, right? So really the love of a sponsor right there. Now this is a fantastic book review. And it was done by Felicia Gee.

3:59

Mily She is the big book author of Stars Don't Fall. She was a straight woman who was sponsored by Marty. She was good friends with both Marty and Priscilla. And she actually mentions Marty and Priscilla's name in her big book story, like in the same sentence. It's a very rare thing.

4:01

Mily Not too many people have their names in the big book. But it is in Stars Don't Fall. And you can read that story in the AA book, Experience, Strength, and Hope, for stories that have been taken out of the current big book. But anyway, this is a book. It has nothing to do with AA or alcoholism, to my knowledge.

4:05

Mily But it was reviewed by Felicia. And one of the characters was a lesbian. And this is what was written in the grapevine in 1946. Felicia wrote, quote, Ms. Sinclair has done a very sympathetic and interesting job on the sister.

4:07

Mily At last, you have a homosexual who is neither a villain nor a figure of fun, but a person who learns for herself that, quote, there is room in the world for me, unquote. All right. So now go back to remember what the American Psychiatric Association, how they were defining homosexuality up until the 1970s. Right. And this was printed in our grapevine magazine in 1946.

4:10

Mily That is so amazing and so in the spirit of Tradition 3, really. So that is the author, Jo Sinclair. Jo, that's not her real name. That's a pseudonym. And I just love that they had book reviews.

4:12

Moderator I think they're trying to come up with ideas what alcoholics could do with all our new free time. Now this is a Marty's books that she wrote. She wrote The Primer on Alcoholism. She did dedicate the book to Priscilla Peck, who made me write it all down. Also able to find a picture of the book that she inscribed to Bill and Lois Wilson.

4:15

Mily Thanks to Stepping Stones. That's where that lives. And it says, for Bill and Lois Wilson, without whose affection, understanding and knowledge, not one word of this book would have been written. For I would not be here. Marty, September of 1950.

4:17

Mily And then she updated the book is called The New Primer on Alcoholism in 1958. And she inscribed that book to Bill and Lois, my beloved family. Marty. Right. So you can see the closeness.

4:19

Mily Right. She says, my beloved family. Now, Marty's story did come in the big book and it's the second edition. And her story is called Women Suffer Too. It was published by AA World Service, printed in the second, third and fourth edition.

4:21

Mily As I always like to say, may it always be so, may it always be in the fifth edition and ongoing. I really hope so. But anyway, the subheading of her story says, despite great opportunities, alcohol nearly ended her life. Early members, she spread the word among women in our pioneering period. Now, my friend, Lori D., again, who's here tonight with us, said, quote, Marty said it was her mission to carry the message about alcoholism.

4:25

Mily And it was our generation's job to carry the message about homosexuality. So she's referring to the 1960s. Lori got sober in 1967. So when she says our generation, that's what she's talking about. She says, quote, I don't think she had internalized homophobia.

4:28

Mily Marty was fine with who she was. She was realistic and realistically fearful. The silence wasn't because she had shame about being a lesbian. The silence was because she knew there was danger, both professionally and in those days physically. One of the ways they could have rendered her and her message impotent was to gay bash.

4:31

Mily So here's a love letter that is at Syracuse University, and it was written to Marty from Priscilla. It says, darling, I love you up, down, in, out, now, then, forever. No sea, sky, land, bog, flotsam, jetsam, or whatnot can harm or separate us. All, all, all love, P. Love and kisses to Bunny, the hero, and Taffy.

4:34

Moderator And I have it on very good authority that Taffy and Bunny were Welsh Corgis. So Marty Mann did have her obituary in the New York Times, which was a real honor for women. Very few women had their obituaries back then in a place like the Times. But Priscilla's not mentioned. She's not mentioned in the obituary, even though they were together for 40 years.

4:37

Moderator However, you know who was mentioned, and if you've heard my talk, that husband of three months, John Blakemore, who she married for three months. They eloped, ran away, and then she got a very quick divorce. His name is in the New York Times obituary. Now Priscilla did outlive Marty by two years. Marty's brother, who is just a lovely guy, she had three siblings.

4:41

Mily They all remained close their whole lives. But Marty's brother watched over Priscilla and tried to have their ashes buried together. But the cemetery would not allow it because they weren't considered family. So this is very interesting, too, because, I mean, it's tragic, but it's also the brother, the brother who was family, said, we want Priscilla's ashes to be with Marty. And the cemetery said no, even after 40 years, not considered family.

4:44

Mily So I did get to go to Marty Mann's grave, which was just a real honor for me. I did that. I spoke at the Chicago Roundup last year, and it was really very special to go there to honor her. Now we're going to move on to who is Barry Leach. Barry Leach was an early AA, active since 1945.

4:48

Mily He was an anonymous AA author of Living Sober. Actually AA hired him to write the book Living Sober. He is the lone author. He wrote the pamphlet Do You Think You're Different? And he also co-wrote and helped Lois to write the memoir Lois Remembers.

4:50

Mily In sobriety, he went on to become a psychologist. He got his PhD. He was a clinician at Smithers Alcoholism Treatment and Training Center at Roosevelt Hospital in New York City. He was a truly, truly fabulous gay man. He was born in Texas in 1918, and he died in New York City in 1985.

4:53

Mily Now I'm going to play an audio recording of him speaking at a LGBTQ convention. It was 1985, and it was the Twin Cities Roundup. Okay, so keep in mind, he's speaking to a group of gay people or LGBTQ people at a LGBTQ conference. All right. Here we go.

4:55

Mily If up until now, you think this has been a good roundup, I agree with you. Up until now, it has been. If it starts going downhill from here on, consider the caliber of the committee that put it together. Hillheads and sodomites and lesbians, that's who we are. I just love being at this kind of a meeting, and there haven't been this kind of a meeting all these years, where I get to see all my homeboy sisters and my sissy brothers.

5:00

Moderator Barry was amazing. He had a terrific personality, and he was a great speaker. Tim, I so appreciate you sending out his recording today for the daily. If you sign up for Recovery Speakers, you'll get a daily recording, AA recording. This is the one that he sent out today, was by Barry Leach.

5:02

Moderator So thanks, Tim, for doing that. Now here's a letter from Marty Mann to Barry Leach. Clearly they're good friends. And he says, Dear Barry, how sweet you were to write. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting your aunts and Joanne Long in Fort Worth.

5:05

Mily It made me feel a close connection with home. They certainly are proud of you. And then she goes on to say about, yes, let's definitely have brunch, but not too early on a Sunday morning, and this and that. I'll call you. You call me.

5:07

Mily Can't wait to see you, et cetera. Now this is the book that Barry wrote, Living Sober. I know it's been popular all along. And in 1972, Barry Leach was the anonymous author, again, of this conference-approved book. And this is one of the things that Barry says.

5:10

Mily He says, If you read between the lines, you'll find several things that hold meanings for us that aren't obvious to other people. I think they took out one line as a little bit too campy, something about cruising along looking for love in all the wrong places. And again, he was speaking at the Twin Cities Roundup. Now in 1977, he worked with 13 AAs in a pamphlet that says, Do You Think You're Different? 1977.

5:13

Mily And it says, The personal stories of 13 AAs tell how the program has worked for a wide variety of people who once said, quote, AA may be fine for you, but I'm different. Black, Jewish, gay, agnostic, teenage, pushing 80, or whatever. So you might wonder, where did Barry find such a diverse community to find contributors? Again, he was the organizer, editor, author. Where did he find these people?

5:17

Mily He found them all in his Greenwich Village AA group in New York City. I believe all of them were at that group. If not, then certainly the vast majority came from that group. You're going to be hearing more about the Greenwich Village group a little bit later. And Barry, again, did anonymously co-author Lois Remembers.

5:20

Mily That's a picture of the two of them at Stepping Stones. And again, you know, it's just so magical to think, like, that photo of Marty out there on the deck, and here's Barry sitting on the couch with Lois, and it's like, they were so in the center of everything. So this is a letter I found at Stepping Stones, and it says, My darling Lois, today the mailman brought me your Christmas present of love, those seven beautiful Mother of Pearl shirt studs. They are so grand and especially dear since they came from you. And you know, Barry was so special to Lois.

5:25

Mily They would travel together. They were very, very close. You know, Lois did outlive Bill Wilson by 17 years, and Barry really kept an eye on her and he would accompany her to Al-Anon conventions and things like that, AA things as well. And they were very close, and I think she really counted on him in many ways. Now this is a photo on the left of Barry.

5:29

Mily Barry Leach and Spencer. They were partners for 25 years. Their apartment was at 100 Bank Street in New York City in Greenwich Village. And that's me. I have to go everywhere these people went, so that's me standing in front of 100 Bank Street.

5:31

Mily But it was very interesting because I'm thinking I knew Marty and Priscilla owned an apartment in New York, and certainly so did Barry and Spencer. So I was curious about this. I thought, I wonder if they were neighbors. Well, yes, they were. So we see in the blue circle on the left, 100 Bank Street, that's where Barry and Spencer were.

5:34

Mily The red circle, that's where Marty and Priscilla were. Very close. They were at 10 West 9th Street. And you're going to notice in the purple circle, for those of you that are up on your American history, you may be familiar with the Stonewall Uprising. That happened June 28th of 1969.

5:37

Mily And that's where we've got our modern day LGBTQ pride. The following year, there was an uprising. Some people called it a riot. It was Christopher Street. And so the first pride parade, Christopher Street Liberation Day March, was held exactly one year to the date on June 28th, 1970.

5:39

Moderator And that's why across the world, you'll see pride parades often in June, not always, but often in June. Ours here in San Francisco is always the last Sunday of June. And so now I'm not saying that Barry and Spencer and Marty and Priscilla were at Stonewall. We have no knowledge of that, but there's no way they didn't know about it. And sometimes too, when people think about, people think about, oh, they were closeted.

5:44

Moderator Well, yes and no. They were closeted in one way, but I think sometimes you think like, oh, they were literally hiding in a closet or they were living in shame. But that's not the case because you see they are living in one of the gayest neighborhoods in the world. So that's not very closeted. You know what I'm saying?

5:47

Mily And they were right there, right in the epicenter of everything in New York City. So now we also see that Spencer and Barry both signed in to the guestbook at Stepping Stones. That's a beautiful picture of the Stepping Stones living room there. And again, you see them living at the exact same address at 100 Bank Street. Now, sadly, Spencer did die of HIV AIDS.

5:50

Mily He died in 1982 and he was, as many of you will consider, one of the very earliest people to die, January 31st, 1982. And this is an incredible find. Thanks very much to the archivists and staff at Stepping Stones. What they found here is a check and it's basically like a receipt, gratefully acknowledging to Lois Wilson, a gift of $100 to the New York University Medical Center. And it says the Department of Microbiology, Carposi Sarcoma Research Fund.

5:54

Mily HIV AIDS, right? That's what that means. Carposi Sarcoma. And in memory of Spencer Beach. So clearly Lois knew exactly what was going on.

5:55

Moderator Bill had died quite a while before this, but Lois was entirely aware that Spencer had died of HIV AIDS. And of course, we weren't even saying the words AIDS or HIV at that time. If my memory corrects me, I believe we were calling it something like HTLV-3 or something. But anyway, so Lois did send money, which I find very moving. Now, this is a letter in September of 1982 from Barry Leach to Lois Wilson.

5:59

Moderator And you can see Barry just had such a great sense of humor. Now, keep in mind, Lois is 91 years old at the time that Barry is writing her this letter. And he addresses the letter, it says, Madam, he says, I have the honor to, it says, dot, dot, dot. It says, oh no, Lois, my love, I have been delegated, question, authorized, asked, told, ordered, group conscienced to invite you formally to be one of the speakers at the 42nd, they claim, anniversary meeting of the second oldest AA group in Manhattan, they think. It will be 830 p.m.

6:04

Mily Friday, October 22nd. That just makes me laugh because I'm sure every city has groups that say they were the first, second or third. But anyway, so that's so funny. And it says the group steering committee is almost delirious with delight. Hope they all stay sober.

6:07

Mily They expect over 500 people, which is normal for this anniversary. This, of course, is the group Greenwich Village. And he goes on to say, P.S. about the anniversary is it is possible a bunch of young rebels, God bless them, will kick the present steering committee out. And instead of an anniversary meeting, just have a disco dance and a boat ride.

6:10

Mily I doubt if either of us will die of disappointment if this is what happens. You know, that just shows you a the AA has not changed that much over the years. Even back then, the young people are thinking maybe we should have a dance, a disco dance and a boat ride. So now Barry did die in 1985. And I did a lot of work trying to find out his cause of death.

6:14

Mily And I've heard different things, different people reported different things. But if you look at the Greenwich Village group history that's on their website, it says, quote, In the early 1980s, the HIV AIDS pandemic began to ravage the gay community and beyond, claiming the lives of many members of the Greenwich Village group. When the disease claimed the life of group member Barry L. in 1985, Bill W.'s wife, Lois, then 94 years old, came to the basement at St. Luke's in a wheelchair to attend Barry's memorial and honor her old friend.

6:19

Mily So we see his obituary here. We see that he's buried in Texas. And at the Greenwich Cemetery, Weatherford Park County, Texas. I'm trying to read a lot of things on the slide because I know people will be listening to this audio recording and I want them to have the information. So who is Alan Reed McGinnis?

6:22

Mily By the way, we're going to be hearing a little more about Barry Leach when we get to Tradition Three. Alan Reed McGinnis, he was an author, a playwright, a poet and an actor in his youth. He joined AA in 1950. He was an anonymous author of A Member's Eye View. He was a successful advertising executive and a very creative gay man.

6:25

Mily He was born in Oklahoma in 1912 and he died in Los Angeles in 1972. I'm trying to turn on my heater. Oh, that's better. I'm in my garage, by the way, in case you think I'm someplace glamorous. I'm not.

6:27

Mily I'm in my garage and it's kind of cold, but I just got my heater on. Okay, back to Alan McGinnis. So here are some photos from Oklahoma. I mean, they're images of the newspaper. In 1931, the headline says, City Boy Wins Honor in Tulsa U Contest.

6:30

Mily 1934, Alan McGinnis Wins Place with Poetry. And in 1937, he was in The New Republic and it says, Books in Brief, Best Short Stories of 1937. And Alan had one of his stories in that book. So that's pretty neat. Then the Tulsa Tribune, this is a great image.

6:32

Mily It says, if you want an actor, okay, well, let me back up. It says, and here's the Tulsa list of eligible bachelors of the year. And this was printed on December 31st, 1939. And it says, if you want an actor, try Alan McGinnis, who also turns his hand at writing. He's definitely the intellectual type.

6:35

Mily So that's kind of funny. Now, here in 1945, we see his card from World War II, his military card, that he's, you know, signing up to be in the service. And like many, many, many LGBTQ people, when people went off to war, many people discovered, maybe they already knew it beforehand, but many people in the service realized that they were gay, gay or lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer. And so it was very common, and I'm just going to say gay now because many, but I think it's probably true of lesbians as well, whatever, that they did not return to their hometowns because they realized that they wanted something different. And that's one of the reasons why San Francisco, for so long, has had so many LGBTQ people, is that this was a port, as was Los Angeles, as was many other cities.

6:43

Mily So they would come back from war, maybe being with their partner, who maybe they fell in love in the service, or just saying, no, I want to be in a big city. I don't want to go back to my small hometown. So again, this is classic what he's doing here. He goes to Los Angeles. And then later, for those of you in the LA area may be familiar with BBDO, and it says, Alan McGinnis has been named creative director of the Los Angeles office of Batten, Barton, Durstein, and Osborne, which is apparently a very prestigious firm.

6:48

Mily Now, and this is how we are connected to Alan, and that is, he started giving talks in 1968 at the UCLA extension course, and he called it a member's eye view of Alcoholics Anonymous. So basically, he volunteered to come and speak at this class, maybe once a quarter or something. And he would talk about his experience of being an AA, and it's signed by Alan MCG. Now, some of you will say, well, he also wrote a book. And I would say, yes and no.

6:52

Mily What he did, someone wrote a book, but it was after he had died. And so basically, he did these workshops in 1968. He died in 1972. And then in 1986, someone, I don't know who, published this book. I mean, it was his writing, and some people find it to be very helpful, but I just don't want people to think that he broke his own anonymity by putting his full name on this book.

6:56

Mily He was long since passed. And again, yeah, so that's, you may be familiar with that. And it's basically, from what I understand, a printing of the talk he would give. But what's related to Alcoholics Anonymous is that someone heard his talk and went, wow, that is a great talk. That should be a great pamphlet.

6:59

Moderator And so that's what happened. In 1970, it became a pamphlet for, you know, AA Conference Approved, or however the pamphlets are made. And it says, A Member's Eye View of Alcoholics Anonymous. Now, I want to share a few of my favorite quotes from this pamphlet. This, I think, is my all-time favorite.

7:02

Mily It says, and he's talking, he says, about a newcomer coming to AA. And it says, an alcoholic suddenly heard a different drummer. Instead of the constant and menacing rat-a-tat-tat of, quote, this is what you should do, he heard an instantly recognizable voice saying, this is what I did, unquote. Isn't that great? So, instead of the constant and menacing rat-a-tat-tat of, this is what you should do, he heard an instantly recognizable voice saying, this is what I did.

7:06

Mily I love that. Then another great quote from that pamphlet is, says, quote, what is really important is that AA has more than demonstrated that the house it builds can accommodate the rebel as well as the conformist, the radical as well as the conservative, the agnostic as well as the believer, unquote. That is pure gold right there. I also happen to know this is a favorite pamphlet of my friend Mary M., who's here tonight. And the last quote I want to share says, quote, more than 16 years ago, four men, my boss, my physician, my pastor, and the one friend I had left, which I've highlighted in lavender, says, working singly and together, maneuvered me into AA.

7:12

Mily Right. So, I'm curious about, I want to know who that one friend he had left was. So, I've learned that in 1950, Alan was living with Ben Girard. All right. And there's nothing that gets me more excited than a U.S.

7:15

Mily census. Okay. And the 1950 census has the address, this is very interesting for a few reasons, but it has them living together, Ben Girard and Alan McGinnis. Okay. That in and of itself is, you know, whatever, not a giveaway.

7:17

Mily But there's a few funny things. One is, okay, under the relationship section of the census, these were your choices. Enter relationship of person to head of household. Okay. You could choose the head of the household, the wife, the daughter, the grandson, the mother-in-law, the lodger, the lodger's wife, the maid, the hired hand, or the patient.

7:20

Mily All a lot of interesting choices. But what Ben Girard chose was the word partner. Right. So, I always try to play devil's advocate with myself because I always think someone's going to ask me about it. And so, I thought, well, maybe that meant they were business partners.

7:22

Mily No, they were not business partners. I looked again on the census. Alan was an advertising copywriter, advertising agency, it says here. And Ben was an office manager of a wholesale grocer. Right.

7:24

Mily And then also, they're listed as never married. They're 38 years old. Alan's 38. Ben is 34. And they're both never married, which is a little unusual in 1950 at that age.

7:25

Mily A little suspicious, I would say. The other thing is that I was amused by in 1950 census, the address says Beverly Hills. So, I really try because I love to be able to put a picture of a home in my presentations. I wanted to show you what their house was and I went crazy for so long trying to find a picture of this house. Well, one of the things I learned was that in 1984, that exact same address was incorporated as West Hollywood, which is known to be a very gay area of Los Angeles.

7:30

Mily So, even before it was incorporated, they were living in West Hollywood. That's like Marty and Barry and everybody living in Greenwich Village. Right. Very gay area. So, again, now in his obituary, Alan McGuinness, it basically says he's acknowledging the relatives, etc.

7:33

Mily and says beloved friend of Ben Girard. Sadly, Alan died of cancer at the age of 60 in 1972. Now, the next person I want to tell you about is LeClaire Bissell. First, I'm going to have a sip of water though. Okay.

7:35

Mily Who is LeClaire Bissell? Well, she was sober since 1953, joined at the age of 25. Marty Mann was her AA sponsor. Before medical school, she received her master's degree from Columbia University and was a librarian at the New York Public Library. I believe also Barry's partner Spencer also worked at the New York Public Library.

7:38

Mily It's like six degrees of separation among all these people, but more like two degrees. Graduated from Columbia Medical School in 1963. So, when she had 10 years of sobriety, she became a doctor. She attended the Yale School of Alcohol Studies, which is the same as Marty Mann, which I think is no coincidence, as Marty was her sponsor. She was a clinician and administrator at Smithers Alcoholism Treatment and Training Center at Roosevelt Hospital in New York City.

7:42

Mily And guess what? Yes, of course, she supervised Barry Leach, right? Remember, he was there too. She was president of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, a member of the President Carter Mental Health Commission's Task Force on Alcoholism, and most certainly, she was a badass lesbian. She was born in Virginia in 1928 and died Florida 2008.

7:44

Mily So, it's just so interesting because, you know, one of my favorite sort of classic AA stories is about these clubhouses where, you know, in the early, early days, where a lot of these men, number one, they didn't have jobs, they didn't have anything hardly. And what they would do is they would share one like blazer, one coat, and would go to job interviews, then they would bring that same coat back, or jacket, I should say, back to the clubhouse, put it in the closet, and then the next guy would come. And they, like, you know, 20 guys would use the exact same coat in order to go job hunting, right? Well, this is what they're doing here. This is sort of the gay version of that, where, you know, LeClaire Bissell hires Barry Leach to work at Smithers.

7:52

Mily Marty Mann says, hey, you should go to the Yale School of Alcohol Studies, right? All these people are interconnected, and I feel like helping each other in certain ways. This is a great, great photo that comes from Marty, the biography of Marty Mann. Up to the left, we see that's Marty's mother holding one of those corgis, and then that's Priscilla in the back, and then in the middle there, in the couch, is that's LeClaire Bissell. She has one year of sobriety in this photo.

7:56

Mily She's 26 years old, and then that's Marty, her sponsor, sitting next to her. They're at the apartment in Greenwich Village, and it just really means a lot to me that Marty's mother, Lil Mann, is at her apartment, 100% understanding what's happening here. She understands Marty and Priscilla are in a relationship, and I love that she was a part of her life. Now, these are some articles I found about LeClaire. She's out there in the world, again, not representing AA, but representing these different medical societies.

8:01

Mily I'm going to just tell you a couple quotes. My favorite quote says, professional women drink and take drugs for the same reason anybody else does. It says that she's doing research, it says, who has studied 70 nuns, 100 women doctors, and 71 women attorneys recovering from alcohol and drug problems. So, that's what LeClaire is doing out there in the world, doing research about alcoholism and professional women. We also see that LeClaire also visited Stepping Stones, and she also signed into the guest book.

8:06

Mily It's interesting because we see at the top of that page that the occasion was Stepping Stones Foundation's first meeting, because Lois was the one that set up the Stepping Stones Foundation. Bill had passed, and she knew. She said, I know they're going to want to come visit, and so she's the one that turned Stepping Stones into a museum. There are a lot of historic homes that did not go straight to museums. In fact, that's really quite rare.

8:10

Mily The beautiful thing about Stepping Stones is every single thing in there was there the day that Lois died, everything in there. So anyway, one thing I wanted to point out here is you see LeClaire Bissell signed the guest book. Well, look who's right above her, Nell Wing, the AA's very first archivist was also at this meeting, and they signed in right next to each other. So LeClaire did win this award in 97, the Elizabeth Blackwell Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Cause of Women in the Field of Medicine. These are some other books that LeClaire wrote.

8:15

Mily She was quite prolific. She wrote things like Ethics for Addiction Professionals, Alcoholism and the Professions, Perspectives on Alcoholism, Chemical Dependency and Nursing, and let's not forget fan favorite, The Cat Who Drank Too Much, and a lighthearted book. Now, this is really neat. I was really thrilled when I found this. This is Betty Ford's A Glad Awakening.

8:18

Mily This is her biography, and she signed it and said, to LeClaire Bissell, with my admiration and respect for all your many contributions to the field of alcoholism, Betty Ford, January 23rd of 1988. Now, LeClaire lived with her partner of many, many years in Sanibel Island, Florida. LeClaire died with 55 years of sobriety, and Nancy Palmer died with 48 years of sobriety. Now, this is, I had to include Nancy's obituary because I found it so great. It said, she survived by, da-da-da, these relatives, da-da-da, and her life partner of 48 years, LeClaire Bissell, also of Sanibel, and five elderly female chihuahuas.

8:23

Mily And I like to think that's sort of a quintessential lesbian obituary right there, five elderly female chihuahuas. Now, this is a write-up that was done when LeClaire died in 2008, and she's 80 years old, and she's being celebrated. Now, I want to talk to you about Tradition 3. So, as we know, it says, quote, the only requirement for AA membership is a desire to stop drinking. These are the two people I'm featuring, the two different stories.

8:27

Moderator Now, it's very, very easy for people to get these two Tradition 3 stories mixed up. But by the time we're done, and don't worry, we're going to be done within 10 minutes, you are all going to be experts on Tradition 3. But again, they're constantly being conflated, and so, yeah, so here we go. The first one is in 1936. It's in Akron, Ohio, and it involves Dr.

8:31

Moderator Bob. Now, one of the reasons people get confused about it is that the best recording about this story is Bill Wilson talking about it. So people sometimes think it's about Bill Wilson. It's not, it's about Dr. Bob in Akron, Ohio.

8:33

Mily All right, so I think this is a super cute map here, and we see the little cars driving from New York to Akron. Okay, so this is featuring the fellow who in the literature says, I am a sex deviant. Now, I'm going to play an audio recording of Bill Wilson talking about the story that involves Dr. Bob and this fellow in Akron. Okay, here's the recording.

8:37

Mily Okay. Here are two of the Akron group. A poor devil came to Dr. Bob in a grievous state. He could qualify as an alcoholic, all right.

8:38

Mily And then he said, Dr. Bob, I've got a real problem to tell you. I don't know if I could join AA because I'm a sex deviant. And remember, sex deviant, those are the actual, that was sort of, those are the words people used, even in self-identification, all right. Because you remember the American Psychiatric Association that hadn't changed yet.

8:41

Mily Again, this is 1968. And remember, they hadn't changed their definition until the 70s. So here we go. Okay, next. And that had to go out to the group conscience, you know.

8:43

Moderator Up to then, it was supposed that any society could say who was going to join us. And pretty soon, the group conscience began to seize and boil and then boil over. And under no circumstances could we have such a power and such a disgrace among us, so to put it. And now, right then, our destiny hung on a razor edge over this single case. And that caused us in that time and for quite a time, with respecting this single case, to ponder what is the more important?

8:48

Mily The reputation that we shall have? What people should think? Or is it our character? And who are we, considering our record? Alcoholism is quite as unlovely.

8:49

Mily Who are we to deny a man his opportunity? Any man or woman. He says, or a woman there, okay. And finally, the day of resolution came. And a bunch were sitting in Dr.

8:51

Moderator Bob's living room, arguing what to do. Clarifying, dear old Bob looked around and blandly said, isn't it time, folks, to ask ourselves, what would the master do in a situation like this? And that was the beginning of the age of this, that any man who has a drinking problem is a member of AA if he says so, not whether we say so. And there you have it, Bill Wilson says, and that was the beginning of the AA tradition, that any man who has a drinking problem is a member of AA if he says so, not whether we say so. So, that recording of Bill Wilson is from 1968.

8:57

Mily And he was speaking at the opening night of the General Service Convention. So, that's a very, he wasn't just speaking at some neighborhood place. No, he was speaking at the General Service Convention when he told that story about the fellow. And he says, in year two, okay. Now, we're moving to the next tradition story, which takes place in 1945, New York City, right.

9:00

Mily And this involves Barry Leach and Bill Wilson. So, cute map, you see the little cars going across. I'm very proud of this slide. Okay, now I'm going to show you a slide from the Daily News. And it's important for a few reasons, but January 1st, 1946, and it's cute.

9:03

Mily It's an article about New Year's Eve parties. And it says, AA revel is bone dry. Says, one big dry all night party was that of Alcoholics Anonymous. The organization held a dance at its clubhouse, 405 West 41st Street. There was nothing to drink but coffee and Coke, but the former drinkers did a lot of eating.

9:06

Mily Supper was from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., and breakfast from 3 a.m. to 8 a.m. 750 persons danced to swing music, and boy, do they feel better than you and I this morning. Now, there's a lot of great things about this story.

9:08

Mily I love the thought of them doing swing dance, and 750 people, oh, I would give anything to have seen that. But the reason I'm pointing out this article right now is that it's the address of the clubhouse that really jumps out at me, and it's 45 West 41st Street. And so, you know, one thing I've learned over the years of giving these talks is that a map in 1945 is not the same as the map in 2026. So, this is, we see, this is a 1945 map. We see that address, which no longer exists in any way.

9:13

Moderator And, but what's two blocks away? Times Square. I always like to say, location, location, location. What an amazing place for them to have a clubhouse, an AA clubhouse, two blocks from Times Square. And I think that's highly relevant to this story, because this story, and I'm gonna read it, is of Barry Leach.

9:16

Mily It tells a story, because he was working in that clubhouse, volunteering, I should say, in the clubhouse, working the front desk, and this is what Barry says. Barry says, quote, this man who was black walked in, and he said, quote, the policeman on the corner told me that maybe you could help me. He was not only black, but he had long blonde hair like Veronica Lake. He was a real artist with makeup. He was beautifully made up, and strapped to his back, he had his entire worldly belongings.

9:21

Mily I just came out of prison, he said. I'm a dope fiend, a phrase then in use, and I'm also an alcoholic, and I need help desperately. Barry says, I called Bill. Said, Bill, Bill, here's the problem. This man is here.

9:23

Mily And he said, I told him exactly what the man looked like and what he told us. I got someone to take the poor guy out and get him a cup of coffee to start with. What should we do? He needs all kinds of help, unquote. Bill was quiet a minute, and then he said, quote, well, now, did you say he's a drunk?

9:26

Mily Oh, yes, I said, we can all tell that. Right off the bat, we could tell that. And Bill said, I think that is the only question we have any right to ask. It is up to us now to help him. Right?

9:28

Mily That's the only question we have any right to ask. It is up to us now to help him. All right. So now, to summarize, since you're now all experts on this, 1936, it's year two of AA, it's Ohio, it's Dr. Bob saying, what would the master do?

9:31

Mily 1945, we have our African-American person, and I just use the same language that he uses in the story, a black man with a blonde wig. I don't know how he would identify today. But again, he says, oh, yes, we can all tell that. And again, he says, it's up to us now to help him. I also want to remind people that the 12 suggested points for AA tradition were published one by one in the AA grapevine.

9:35

Mily That's how we learned about the traditions in 1947, 48. In 1950 is when the 12 traditions were adopted at the first international convention in Cleveland. And in 1953, that's when the art book, The 12 Steps and 12 Traditions came out. So I'm going to wrap this up. Of course, all roads lead back to Marty Mann.

9:38

Mily And I want to play an audio recording. This is Marty Mann speaking at the 1980 convention in New Orleans. She would die three weeks later. And it says, Marty rose from the wheelchair and walked slowly to the podium as a prolonged ovation shook the rafters. All right, here you go.

9:40

Mily Great, great, great, great, great grandmother. There's so many women. That's what you are, all of it. You're my children and I'm so, so proud of you. Right, so she says, I can't tell you what it feels like to be a great, great, great grandmother to so many women because that's what you are, all of you.

9:44

Mily You're my children and I am so proud of you. You know, and the thing is about these seven early LGBTQs, to my knowledge, none of them did have children, you know, and we are quite literally their descendants, you know? And so here are photos of them later in life, you know, and I just want to thank you for joining me and honoring our beloved lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and all around queer AA family, you know, and each one that carried the message to us, you know, and the message is still alive right here today. I want to remind you again that I did write about Marty for the grapevine. I'm going to be talking about Marty again, March 10th.

9:50

Moderator If you can email me anytime and I'll send you these flyers. I'm going to be going to Labor Day in Dallas and speaking there and that's, again, we have flyers for that. And then in Vermont at the Wilson House, I'm going to be doing a weekend, Halloween weekend, October 30th to November 1st. Everyone is welcome and I'll be talking about all my different talks. So again, feel free to email me at martynmiley at gmail.com and I'm happy to share all of my info.

9:55

Moderator All right, thanks a lot. There you go. Thank you so much, Miley. Great job. And we have some time for questions.

9:56

Moderator If anyone has questions, you can just use the raise hand function and I will ask you to unmute to ask your questions. And I did just share Miley's email address in the chat. So if you'd prefer to send her an email, that works. And I'm not seeing any hands raised, so I can go ahead and just allow everyone to unmute and thank Miley. All right, you're very welcome.

The following is an AI-generated transcript. Minor errors may occur. The audio is the authoritative source.

LGBTQ+ Pioneers in Recovery

LGBTQ+ Pioneers in Recovery

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