Our Story

This event started as a split-moment idea during a therapy session and has launched into something that has inspired others across the globe

Our Purpose

Gays Eating Garlic Bread in the Park is an event that helps bring together those in the lgbtq+ community, their friends and their family to form new connections, form local communities, share resources and knowledge, make friends, or just enjoy a day outside surrounded by those similar to yourself. We organize this event for the community once a year and provide space and activities to be a part of.

What Now?

Funding

The organizers and their volunteers use their own money and what donation money there is to hold an event that can welcome as many people as possible. We will continue to do so as long as the funds are there.

We are currently in the process of filing to be IRS tax-exempt as a 501( c )(4) corporation. We hope this will help us in receiving donations and getting city approval to organize as a First Amendment Event as this event is aimed towards social welfare and is organized as a social, cultural, and political event. While most First Amendment events are organized with a political agenda, they do not have to be. However, I believe that intentional community organization of oppressed minorities is a political act.

This all began in a therapy appointment. I was talking about how stressful it was to make friends. I didn’t want to go to an already-established group. It felt daunting. And using friend-finding apps felt slow. How many friend dates would I need to go on? I just wanted to hold an event where gay people in my neighborhood could come to me. So my therapist asked “What would your event be called?”

I got to work. I called the parks department, got my permit and started making posters. Then a map showing the radius around my house that I could walk to in 10 minutes (because who wants to travel far to see friends?)

I was hopeful that as many as 30 people would show up…

Well thanks to a Twitter and a TikTok post from two people who saw my posters, so did millions of others.

I remember my appointment with my therapist the day before the event. She had no idea my event had received so much attention. I was sitting in a rental car in a parking lot outside an events rental place.

“So are you nervous about your event?”

“Well about that…” So many people loved the idea and came by. At the peak of the event, numbers were over 200 attendees. A few people loved the idea so much they created their own “Gays Eating Garlic Bread in the Park” in their own cities.