Are Gay Men Losing the Ability to Socialize?

Decades ago when the AIDS crisis was devastating San Francisco’s gay community, a group of friends gathered in a local living room to watch the Academy Awards. Frivolity was on TV, but death lurked outside the home, so they decided to pass the hat to raise money to try to do whatever they could to fight the plague.

From that small social gathering came the Academy of Friends, a non-profit group that throws an Oscar Night gala each year that has raised more than $8.5 million in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

That a social gathering turned into a social group with a greater social purpose is such a San Francisco story – the Academy is just one example of this happening in the LGBT community. Causes like same-sex marriage, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and the battle to end discrimination have all received funding from social groups.

But with the rise of online social networks, many social groups are in decline. How that trend is impacting the gay community is the subject of Scott James' latest column in Bay Citzen.