Out Spotlight

Today's Out Spotlight is not about one person but a group of people coming together to make a difference beyond the gay community. Today's Out Spotlight is Gay for Good.

Gay for Good's aims to energize and mobilize the LGBT community to interact with city communities by volunteering time to various social welfare and environmental service projects. It wants to bring goodwill and understanding between the LGBT and greater other city communities through regular collaborative volunteer service projects.

Back in the fall of 2008, during a usual Saturday morning hike in the hills of LA, friends Frank Roller and Steve Gratwick talked about wanting to do more volunteer work. At the time they were inspired by the triumvirate of events happening: then-president elect Obama’s volunteer initiative, the biopic “Milk” and the passage of California’s antigay Proposition 8. They wanted to find a way how to take LGBT people beyond the “gay community” and into the larger world to actively do some good.

A year and a half later along with Tony Biel,whose gay hiking group Take a Hike brought the two friends together, Gay for Good was founded. Since it started G4G has completed more than 18 day-long volunteer projects around LA, mostly focused on tangible environmental pursuits, like landscaping and cleanup. “Because of the hiking group and the location, we have a lot of people who enjoy the outdoors,”. Every month 50-150 gay men and a few women "get to meet people outside the bar scene, learn something new, and have a feeling of accomplishment for an environmentally positive job well done."

Gay For Good is open to everyone. Each month G4G selects a non-profit organization to donate their time through a weekend service project. They also have regular pot-luck dinners or happy hours to connect and build friendships.

It's not about donating money but just time, energy and a positive attitude while at the same doing something valuable in cities and communities while meeting other great people in the LGBT community.

To achieve this mission they:


Identify and connect with environmental and social welfare organizations in each city chapter (including organizations not traditionally associated with the LGBT community)

Support select organizations primarily through volunteer service (time), rather than financial contributions

Coordinate regular social events for G4G members to develop friendships and network

Foster and promote a spirit of positive, enthusiastic camaraderie both within the LGBT community and towards our partner organizations

Do something valuable for our community, city and country

Above all, make a positive difference and have fun!

G4G has grown beyond LA with chapters in San Francisco and San Diego, Boston, Chapters in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Chicago are in the works.

Some of G4G projects

Planted trees in fire-scorched Malibu in partnership with Tree People
Landscaped a senior community housing complex
Cleaned up a trail on Santa Catalina Island
Cleaned up LA’s Ballona Creek, which leads to the Pacific Ocean
Picked oranges to distribute at local food banks with Food Forward
Beach clean up in San Diego
Gathering supplies and staples for Rosie's Place (a shelter for homeless women) in Boston

G4G volunteers clean up Runyon Canyon Park in Los Angeles.



Gay For Good website
Gay For Good Twitter