GaL-AA "Spotlight On Sobriety" 08/10/2025
- Steve N.
- Aug 6, 2025
- 6 min read
Updated: Aug 18, 2025
In this week's publication:
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Kathy B Story
My name is Kathy B, and I am a gay alcoholic. My story began 75 years ago when I was born into an upper-middle-class family in Atlanta, GA. My father was an airline pilot, and my mother was a stay-at-home housewife. Both drank alcohol, to the point of overindulging at times, but neither were self-proclaimed alcoholics. I also suffered, and still do, from Attention Deficit Disorder, which affected my ability to focus. This still plagues me today. As a result, I was never a good student and lagged behind my two overachieving siblings, and because I did not get the same caliber of attention as they did, I acted out negatively to get the attention I felt I deserved. This included venturing into the living room to drink up the remaining cocktails when my parents entertained while they and the guests were in the dining room having dinner. This started my love of alcohol and its effects. This also fueled a fantasy world in which I spent most of my growing-up years. I never felt that I was a part of anything and had few friends.
The first memory I have of my attraction to females was that of a crush on my second-grade teacher whom I thought was the most beautiful woman ever. When she married, mid-term, to a man, I was devastated...I could not understand this feeling at only 8 years of age. I had my first gay encounter with a childhood girlfriend at 10 and have been interested exclusively in females ever since.
My drinking progressed through high school and soon became daily, until, at age 40, I hit my bottom. I went through treatment and started to attend AA meetings which is where I met Peggy D., also a recovering alcoholic. She moved in with me where we started my first relationship in sobriety. 6 years into our relationship, Peggy had a massive heart attack at age 52 that required open-heart surgery to bypass 5 blocked arteries. She suffered complications and was administered a last-resort medication to save her life. The side effects of this medication resulted in the amputation of both legs below the knee.
She had been abandoned by her family, so I had only my family and me for support. What I soon discovered about her was her motivation to overcome these changes to her body. She quickly became the poster child for the Glancy Rehabilitation Center in Duluth, GA, being the first double-amputee they ever worked with. While observing her navigation through these physical challenges, I learned a great deal about determination and resilience. Her mantra was "never give up.” She learned to use her prosthetics and our lives returned to an almost normal—albeit
slower—pace. During this period, we had the best support from our AA groups, both in Gwinnett County and Atlanta. I was, and still am, so grateful for the day I hit my bottom with alcoholism, ended up in Alcoholics Anonymous, and met Peggy. Peggy passed away in 2013 but the lessons I learned from her are still very much alive in my memory, at the top of my gratitude list, and are a major tool in my work with sponsees. I recently celebrated 35 years of sobriety in AA having served various groups as treasurer and General Service Representative...Life is Good!!! Thanks for letting me share.
Kathy B.
Lawrenceville, GA
SAVE THE DATE - Annual Meeting & Elections 11/01/2025
GaL-AA’s ANNUAL MEETING & ELECTIONS
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2025 @ 12:30PM EST
Via ZOOM
GaL-AA’s Annual Meeting and Elections will be held on Saturday, November 1, 2025 at 12:30 PM EST, via Zoom.
This has been an exciting and successful year for GaL-AA! During the Annual Meeting, each member of GaL-AA’s Executive Committee will report on the accomplishments of the past year and share what we are working on moving forward. Members will also be able to vote to elect members to the Executive Committee. There will also be an opportunity for members to submit questions that will be answered at the end of the meeting.
To attend and vote on important issues affecting GaL-AA, you must be a member with an email on file and have a Zoom account. If you do not have a Zoom account, please sign up for a free account. More information on this part of the process will be provided as plans are developed. Click here for Zoom App information, available in your app store.
If you are seeing this notice on one of our social media platforms and do not have a working email address registered with GaL-AA and/or are not yet a member, use the QR code below or link to join GaL-AA and be a part of our exciting future. Join by clicking here.
This promises to be an interesting, informative, and exciting meeting. We hope you will join us!
Keep your eyes on our weekly SPOTLIGHT ON SOBRIETY for future developments and opportunities for service.
Yours in Fellowship,
GaL-AA Executive Committee
Going To Any Length
I have to admit that it was my own positive prejudice to assume that the GaL-AA dance on Saturday evening in Vancouver would naturally be louder and have more bling than the one sponsored by the General Service Conference committee. I was right! Environment, lighting, music—the whole vibe in the queer ballroom was draining the Canadian power grid dry along the Pacific coast.
Correct as I was about the dance party, my expectations for the LGBTQ+ “Topic” meetings in Vancouver were way off. Alongside the 35,000-person meetings in the football/soccer arena, there were smaller meetings all weekend long in the conference center. “Topics” included lawyers, pilots, LGBTQ+, dating, “Sober more than a decade—now what?”, etc.
So, we naturally showed up at the LGBTQ+ meeting in Ballroom B on the first day. Every one of the 1,300 chairs was filled. Crowds of folks who wanted to attend were left in the lobby, unable to join. When day two rolled around, I was one of those left in the lobby.
What happened next was magic.
The queer folk left in the lobby quickly divided into pods of about 50 and convened impromptu Gay AA meetings while the in-room meetings began. By my count, there were three of these mini-lobby meetings. A small pride flag was passed around the circle of seated people on the lobby floor, and when you held the flag, you were welcomed to share.
Although these meetings were smaller than the hundreds-strong official ones with prepared speakers, the open discussion format felt just like a gay AA meeting back home in Atlanta.
On the third day, we got seats in the ballroom meeting—but as I sat in that ballroom chair, I wondered if I was missing the chance to share and connect with others on a more human level in the lobby meeting.
Regardless of whether I was in a ballroom chair or on the lobby floor, I left Vancouver with the overwhelming feeling that GaL-AA was alive and well—in a truly international way.
Jim F.
Atlanta, GA
🌈 Join the GaL-AA Newsletter Team! 📰
Do you love great stories, clean layouts, and uplifting messages of recovery? GaL-AA’s Newsletter Committee is looking for 1–2 enthusiastic volunteers to help shape the content our community looks forward to each week!
We’re seeking GaL-AA member volunteers with basic tech skills who are familiar with the Google Business Platform (Docs, Drive, Gmail, etc.) and who have a good eye for editing or a flair for content ideas. Whether you’re polishing an article or suggesting a new story angle, you’ll be part of the team that helps carry the message through engaging, inclusive content.
✨ Most of the work can be done on your own schedule, from home, with a monthly committee meeting via Zoom to connect and collaborate.
Interested or want to learn more? Reach out to Steve N. at web.support@gal-aa.org — we’d love to have you on board!
2025 GaL-AA Member Survey
We Want to Hear from You!
Take the GaL-AA 2025 Member Survey Today (Last day 8/17)
Your voice matters! As part of our ongoing effort to better serve the LGBTQ+ recovery community, GaL-AA has created a short, easy-to-complete 2025 Member Survey. This is your opportunity to share feedback, ideas, and insights that will help shape our work in the years ahead.
We’ve made the survey simple to access, mobile-friendly, and kept the number of questions brief—each one crafted to provide valuable input for our planning and programming. Whether you're a long-time supporter or newly involved, your feedback will help us:
Improve communications and outreach
Plan meaningful events and resources
Expand our services between conventions
It only takes a few minutes, and your responses are completely confidential.
Thank you for being part of GaL-AA. Together, we’re building a stronger, more inclusive recovery community.
GaL-AA's "Spotlight On Sobriety" features personal stories and reflections submitted by members and friends of the fellowship. The views expressed are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent those of Alcoholics Anonymous or GaL-AA.
Your GaL-AA Team
