COMMON QUESTIONS ABOUT THE EVENTS...
HEALTH & SAFETY UPDATES
May 8th, 2020
Gay & Sober has been closely monitoring the COVID-19 developments over the past several weeks, and in light of the current New York shutdown, other government agency recommendations and social distancing measures that will carry on well past the summer, we have decided to POSTPONE the 2020 Gay & Sober Men’s Conference and Pride Celebration until June 24th thru June 27th of 2021.
It has always been our mission to ensure that your sobriety, health, and safety are our top priority during this decision-making process. Although this was a difficult decision to make, we feel that it was the most prudent one. We want to express our deepest gratitude to our loyal patrons and participants, and we guarantee you that next summer’s GSM2021 VARSITY will be the most memorable conference/roundup you’ve ever experienced. As most of you know, there is just nothing like Pride weekend in New York City.
TICKET HOLDERS: To make the transition as smooth as possible, we will automatically transfer your current GSM 2020 registration to the new June 24th - 27th, 2021 dates and honor the registration fee you have already paid. All 2020 scholarships awarded will be honored in 2021 as well.
HOTEL ROOMS: If you booked your hotel room reservation for GSM2020, there is no reason to contact the hotel to change or alter your existing reservation. This has already been taken care of for you. The Westin Times Square has moved your reservation to June of 2021 with the same check in/out days that you had already selected. You may get an auto-cancel email from the hotel; please disregard it.
All room rates will stay the same.
All GSM registrations are Non-Refundable; however, if you cannot attend the June 2021 Conference, you can donate your registration to our scholarship fund to help those less fortunate attend or transfer and/or resell your registration to someone else. You have until Dec 31st, 2020 to notify us in writing of your wish to transfer and/or resell your registration.
Everyone here at Gay & Sober wishes all of you
and your families the best, and we look forward to welcoming
you back to the greatest city in the world in June of 2021.
With Love & Service,
Kevin Michael
Chief Operations Officer
Gay & Sober Inc.
April 20th, 2020
On Monday morning, in response to the ongoing health crisis, Mayor Bill De Blasio made the official announcement to cancel all June in-person gatherings - including the annual Pride events.
Due to this announcement and the impact it has on our community partner, NYC Pride, and for the health and safety of all of our participants and volunteers, we have made the difficult but wise decision to postpone our June pride events.
Our events are not cancelled, only postponed.
Stay tuned for an announcement about the new dates and for information about the transferring of hotel reservations.
We are extremely grateful for your support of Gay & Sober and we share your enthusiasm for our unique fellowship events and the life-changing experiences of the weekend. Thank you for your understanding and patience.
In Love & Service,
Christian Cerna - Parker
Chief Executive Officer
Gay & Sober Inc.
April 8th, 2020
We would like to update and reassure you on the current plans for this year’s Gay & Sober Men’s Conference & Pride Celebration.
Gay & Sober is currently looking at all alternative possibilities for what our conference will look like this year amidst the current climate in NYC and across the country. We are very busy behind the scenes continuing to plan the event. Every detail of our conference is still being worked on to ensure that we deliver another exceptional GSM weekend.
Regardless of when that date will be, we can guarantee you that it will still be the best conference/roundup that you’ve ever experienced.
Meanwhile we are asking for the community to be understanding and remember that your health and safety are our top priority and that we are working hard to make sure we see all of you here in NYC this year. We choose to look towards the future with hope, faith, and optimism that this too shall pass. Stay tuned...
Yours in Good Health,
Kevin Michael
Chief Operations Officer
Gay & Sober Inc.
March 25th, 2020
As attendees of the annual Gay & Sober Men’s Conference and The Pride Celebration, your health and safety are a top priority to us that we take very seriously.
After assessing the bigger picture and learning from what others are doing, we feel it a disservice to prematurely make any decisions that could impact the conference. It’s simply too early to call. In light of this, we have decided to continue with the conference as scheduled for June 25th - 28th, 2020. Again, as of today, all of the scheduled GSM events for Pride Weekend in NYC will proceed as planned.
Many fellows choose GSM because of our commitment to excellence. Now our commitment to you is broader, and perhaps even more important than before. We are committing to you that we are doing everything we can to make GSM2020 and The Pride Celebration a safe, healthy, fun, and memorable experience for all of our participants.
Just like you, we are closely monitoring new developments regarding the Coronavirus. We have implemented several new policies and procedures which will be in effect throughout the conference weekend. These procedures follow recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the New York State Department of Health (NYSDH). For more complete details on these changes designed for everyone’s health and safety please visit www.gayandsober.org/facts.
For further reassurance, NYC Pride has announced that they are still working on all June 2020 Pride events 100% as planned. The Gay & Sober Board and Conference Committee are also hard at work as we continue full speed ahead to plan for another memorable pride weekend.
We are committed to supporting our recovery community during this unprecedented time and want to share with you what we are doing. We have mobilized our network across the globe to pull together an inventory of online meeting links, which are being added to our meeting’s inventory on a daily basis. To explore the online meeting directory, CLICK HERE. We also host a nightly virtual recovery meeting open to the entire LGBTQ+ community. For more information on this daily meeting please visit: https://www.facebook.com/events/879432485862157/
We will continue to monitor the situation closely regarding COVID-19 (Coronavirus) for further developments, and will inform you of any potential effects it may have on the GSM2020 Conference. We share in NYC Pride’s confidence that this too shall pass and look forward to hosting all of you in New York City this June!
As the pandemic comes under control, GSM may very well be the perfect opportunity for fellowship and camaraderie that we have all earned and deserve!
With Love & Service,
Kevin Michael
Chief Operations Officer
Gay & Sober Inc.