Queer n There	Queer n There Archive

Martin Luther King dreamed of leading African-Americans to equality. St. Francis Xavier dreamed of turning Japanese into Christians. Moqtada al-Sadr dreams of ending America's chokehold on Iraq. Richard Ray Harris dreams of bringing the gospel of golf to gay people everywhere.

"Golf can be a little intimidating-- it's had an unfair reputation as being stodgy," admits Harris, founder of the Gay Golf Association (GGA). Lacking the gene for stodginess, homosexuals have stayed away, and "gay golf" has for long been an oxymoron.

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For too long, says Harris. "We've seen individual gay golf leagues here-and-there across the country," he explains "but, mostly, they seem to cater to people who already know the game-- people in the same social clique who happen to get together. And often, those we've seen are expensive to join. So, we wanted to create something that's really accessible, fun, and inviting to everyone."

To that end, the Gay Golf Association is free to join as a member, and provides tools for heathen ignorami to learn the game through the GGA website and newsletters. Local league captains are advised to include and help anyone who wants to be on a team.

The standard GGA league plays a shortened (nine holes) variation of the golf game called a "scramble." For each weekly or biweekly game, players are shuffled into random teams competing against one another, so that players of all backgrounds and levels of experience have the opportunity to mingle and "win big prizes!" Gambling, however, is prohibited, as is excluding a player for any reason other than breaking the rules. The GGA is a catholic church: it is "open to men, women, and everything else, age 13 & up!" Browse to www.gaygolfassociation.com to learn more and join the club.