In late summer of 1983, Jim Mc. was looking for a way to meet other gay men in Baltimore outside of gay bars or gay baths in a friendly social interaction.  Frustrated with a lack of options, he decided to try to do something to fill the gap.   He framed out the idea of a gay men's "rap"/social group and decided to host the first meeting at his apartment on the 4rd Monday of September, the 26th.   He placed an ad in two editions of the Baltimore Gay Paper asking men who were interested to call him including his home telephone number.  Jim was amazed by the number of calls that he received from men who were interested in an alternative way of meeting other gay men.

The first meeting was a huge success.  At 7:30 pm, Jim's living room was crammed full with about 30+ guys with most in the 30-40 year old range.  One guy sat under Jim's dining room table!  (Jim recalls that the man chose this spot deliberately feeling afraid since his family was very homophobic).  The discussion lasted about two hours and ended with a decision to meet the following Monday at Jim's apartment.  Amazingly, a group of us continue 20+ years later to get together on Monday nights! 

Since that first meeting, the group evolved a process of meeting regularly every Monday night at the homes of our members.   Normal meetings revolve a social/discussion/topic for about 1 1/2 hours followed by refreshments.  The "Host" member has the opportunity to introduce discussion topics, show a film or even have a guest speaker to engage the group.  Members chip in $2 to help defray the cost of the host providing refreshments. 

Interestingly, the group functions without any kind of leadership hierarchy.  There is no "president", there is no "board of directors".  One member usually volunteers to put together a schedule of which member will be hosting which meeting but even that process is done by putting together a "draft" and soliciting individual member feedback to the proposed schedule.

To keep things interesting, some variations were introduced to the usual "talk and refreshments" format: a "pot luck" meeting where each member brings a dish to share (amazingly, it always works out with enough varied food to make a good meal!)  and an "eat out" meeting going to  different Baltimore area restaurants.

Over time, the group also developed a tradition of having special group parties on Memorial Day and Labor Day Mondays and a holiday party usually on the Monday before Christmas.

A few times over all these years, we've even managed to agree on a group vacation and enjoyed some great vacations together in Mexico.

Our current membership ranges in age from mid-30's to mid-70's with about half of the members in the 50-60 y/o range.  

The Monday Night Group has helped nurture many great long time friendships and provided a network of support for its members.   Over time, we've seen that men who join us primarily looking for a relationship or sexual partner end up disappointed and disappearing quickly.