In the last five years I've attended many gay discussions about coming out, spirituality, etc... usually in large groups with very limited time (as a group, let alone individually). The  minimal relationship developed never really gave ample time to explore what it is that I was trying to say and find out.  Even  prolonged discussions with gay men in two's or three's about gay life issues have been too unstructured or  had other agendas and issues intervening.

This retreat** series is my response to personal questions/concerns which I feel are generally unmet in the gay community.    I wanted to provide significant time and space to develop some relationship, and really explore some of these topics.  I also wanted to use other medium than just talking, as valuable as that is.   In essence I wanted to be able to provide for gay men opportunities:

	to share personal stories/journeys
	to learn from one another (ie not have an expert led retreat)
	to experiment within a safe setting
	to be as open as possible
	in essence, to provide an opportunity to become more authentic - true to what it is that we are.

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** retreat certainly has a negative connotation for some men who've experienced abuse, especially religious settings.  The term retreat just seems so appropriate in the strict sense of the word as 'retreating from the normal world'.  These retreats will not generally be 'expert' driven experiences -- the couples weekend being the exception, in that it will be more directed...