History of GNI

A Personal Recollection

In telling the history of GNI, it’s necessary to go all the way back beyond its beginning, with the organization of The Naturist Society in the early 1980s. The Naturist Society was created to promote legalized nude recreation on public lands, and to promote body acceptance as a natural and healthy concept.

The original author of this article (which GNI has since updated), Steve J., joined The Naturist Society in late1982 after purchasing a copy of the book by TNS founder Lee Baxandall, World Guide to Nude Beaches and Recreation. Through its quarterly magazine (then called Clothed with the Sun), Steve learned that TNS had a gay special interest group (SIG) called Gay and Lesbian Naturists (GLN), with the late Murray Kaufman of New York (below, in cape) as its coordinator. The author of this article immediately sent his dues to Murray and joined the SIG.

In the spring of 1983, the author attended his first naturist gathering at Paradise Lakes Resort near Tampa, Florida. He learned that The Naturist Society is very gay-friendly, and met several members of a gay naturist club, the Everglades Rawhides, which had recently been organized in the Miami area.

The next year, over Labor Day weekend 1984, the author and a friend, Jeff J., visited Summit Lodge in Ohio, then a gay naturist campground and lodge that he had learned about through Clothed with the Sun magazine. There, they met Roger B. and Charles W., who had just organized a gay naturist club, Males Au Naturel (MAN), in New York City. They were having so much fun with their club and were so enthusiastic about it that the author and his friend decided to try to organize one in Atlanta, where they were from. The result was Greater Attanta Naturist Group (GANG).

The next summer (1985), the author finally met Murray Kaufman at The Naturist Society's East Coast Gathering at Sunny Rest Lodge in Pennsylvania. GLN had been going for more than a year and had a sizable number of members, and there were several other local gay naturist clubs in existence. Murray had decided it was time for GLN to have a Gathering of its own, and later that same summer, all GLN members were invited to come for a long weekend at Summit Lodge to get acquainted.

Four from Atlanta, including the late “Naked Bob” F. and the author, attended. It was quite different from the highly organized, high-energy, ten-day Gathering that GNI has now. The weekend was very simple and unstructured, with mostly informal discussion groups and socializing around the pool being the main activities. Murray organized a "Mr. Gay Nude" contest (the forerunner of Mr. GNI), a Best Buns contest (Murray's favorite thing -- he was known as “A** Man”), and a Mr. Congeniality award. The contests were held outdoors, with contestants simply lining up by the pool to be appraised. With only about 50 men present, there wasn't much competition for the awards!

A second, similar Gathering was held at Summit Lodge in 1986 with slightly higher attendance. At this Gathering, Murray announced that he wanted to resign as SIG Coordinator of GLN. After he repeated this announcement in the next newsletter and got no response, the author volunteered to take over the coordinator’s job to keep GLN going.

The author served in that position, keeping membership records and putting out a two-page quarterly newsletter, until December 1988, when he turned it over to his successor, who had to resign about a year later for health reasons. After a brief fill-in by someone else, Murray eventually resumed the job of Coordinator. With GLN membership growing steadily, the Coordinator’s job became more difficult.

After the second Gathering, GLN decided to find a new location, and arrangements were made to hold the 1987 Gathering at Hauska House, a private country home owned by a gay couple in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. The 1988 Gathering was held there also. For the 1989 Gathering, a different, larger location was needed, since GLN had become so large, and the owners of Hauska House found it necessary to discontinue hosting gay groups.

(Continued...)