Dallas Voice isn’t the only organization that’s been around 3 decades
The Over 30 Club doesn’t have a clubhouse. You can’t join just because you were born more than 30 years ago, though it does have membership requirements. And while you don’t pay into its treasury, every member has paid well more than its share of dues.
Here at Dallas Voice, we’re proud of our longevity, which we’re commemmorating throughout this issue. But we are the first to admit: We aren’t the oldest business, group or organization in Dallas to be out front for gay rights, life and culture. Many preceded us (or came about at the same time), and those founders, owners, service providers and companies did a lot in shaping the look and tone of gay Dallas. We couldn’t have gotten there without them, and many more that aren’t around anymore.
Not surprisingly, many of the businesses are centered around the Oak Lawn/Cedar Springs area, which was the center of gay life for many years and one of the few places in the early days gay folks could feel safe to be out and proud.
To honor those achievements, we highlight nine other members of The Over 30 Club in the following pages (and we note at the bottom of many other institutions that have been around as long, or longer, than us that we didn’t have space to write up. We hope we didn’t miss any.) To all of them, we offer a hearty congratulations and and even more heartfelt “Thank you.”
Members of the Over 30 Club
Health: Brady Allen, M.D.
Social: Club Dallas
Dining: The Black-eyed Pea
Spirituality: Congregation Beth El Binah
Nightlife: Caven Enterprises
Sports: Pegasus Slowpitch Softball Association
Activism: Dallas Gay & Lesbian Alliance
Retail: TapeLenders
Service: Texas Gay Rodeo Association