Triangle Club
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About the Triangle Club | 
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Located in the Dupont Circle area of Washington DC, the Triangle Club operates with the knowledge that for some people, being gay, lesbian, or transgendered and alcoholic or otherwise addicted is a special challenge preferably shared with others of similar orientation. Our mission is to provide a safe and dependable space where GLBT people may hold their meetings in accordance with the 12 Steps and Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon. We also foster an environment for fellowship, education, spiritual support and social opportunities. The Triangle Club is proud to be of service to the GLBT recovery community in DC since 1990.
Why a club? In the beginning, AA meetings were held in private homes. They were closed meetings, requiring that you have a sponsor bring you to them. As AA grew this became a somewhat awkward and undependable method as hosts of these meetings moved, spun off the program, or simply tired of the imposition of a weekly meeting in their home. Long before the 1955 adoption of the Traditions, the idea of clubs was formulated. This implementation was necessary in order to provide a fixed social setting where regular meetings could be held, and where a newcomer could be provided with safe refuge and support.
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The club idea has become part of AA life. Scores of these hospitable havens can report years of useful service; new ones are being started monthly. Were a vote taken tomorrow on the desirability of clubs a sizable majority of AA's would record a resounding “yes”. There would be thousands who would testify that they might have had a harder time staying sober in their first months of AA without clubs and in any case, they would always wish for the easy contacts and warm friendship which clubs afford.
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Bill Wilson, April 1947 publication of the AA Grapevine
It is important to note the distinction between an “AA Club” (which is not recommended) and a clubhouse for AAs. This is the basis for the Sixth Tradition which states “An AA group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the AA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.” The term “AA club” would imply AA ownership—thereby involving AA groups in “problems of money, property, and prestige.” That's why it is suggested to incorporate clubs for AAs as separate entities, not owned by any group or collection of groups. If a group wants to meet in a clubhouse, it pays rent as it would to a church or a community center. Bill Wilson stated in May 1948: “Strongly expressed is the opinion that even clubs should not bear the AA name; that they ought to be separately incorporated and managed by those individual AAs who need or want clubs enough to financially support them.”
How does this relate to the Triangle Club? Simple... any individual AA member (or member of a 12-step group) may personally endorse the Triangle Club (a related facility) through individual membership or donation, but no group of Alcoholics Anonymous should lend the endorsement. Why? Because nothing should be allowed to divert a group from its primary purpose of carrying a message of hope to the alcoholic who still suffers. The Sixth Tradition leaves every AA member the freedom to do that, if she/he cares to, so long as those actions do not constitute AA endorsement of the Triangle Club, nor “lend the AA name” to it. This principle also applies to every other 12-step group that follows AA's Traditions.
The Guidelines on Clubs published by AA World Services explains: “Even though the group meets in a club that may be composed exclusively of AA members, and many members of the group may be club members, too, the relationship of the AA group itself to the club should be the same as it would be to a church, hospital, school, or other facility in which it might rent space for its meetings.” The guidelines also recommend that clubhouses accept no money whatsoever from outside sources, being supported by membership dues and individual contributions from AA members. The Triangle Club abides by these guidelines.
The origin of the Triangle Club stems back to 1971 when the first gay AA meeting began at St. James Episcopal Church. By 1975 there were four nights of gay meetings at St. James and shortly a speakers meeting began at St. Margaret's on Friday night. Another gay AA meeting began in Virginia on Quaker Lane where the first AA dance was held in October 1975 (Halloween). By the end of the '70s gay AA and Al-Anon meetings were also held at St. Thomas (Ruins).
By the mid '80s, there were about 30 GLBT weekly AA & Al-Anon meetings throughout the Washington DC area. However, many groups found it was not so easy to find affordable and safe meeting spaces. Some groups continually saw their meeting rents increase. Other groups faced eviction as the space they were renting was in process of renovation. And other spaces were dirty, invested with venom and unsafe.
This gave rise to the “Gay Clubhouse Project” whose mission was to form a gay meeting place dedicated only to 12 step meetings. It was also clear of the need for the GLBT recovery community to have a place where they could expand their social needs in an alcohol and drug free environment. The Clubhouse Project was eventually called the Triangle Club and incorporated in 1989 as a non-profit organization with 501(c)(3) tax exempt status.
The Triangle Club officially opened its doors on January 1, 1990. Since then the Triangle Club, supported by membership dues, donations and meeting rents has provided a physically safe, properly maintained facility where GLBT recovery persons may hold meetings in accordance with the 12-Steps and 12-Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Today the Triangle Club has a growing and active membership and is home to about 40 twelve-step meetings a week. The conduct of the meetings is kept completely separate from the operation of the Club; there is no need to join the Club to attend meetings or to use the facilities. Many people come through our doors each week for meetings or to just socialize with other recovering people.
Operating on a volunteer basis, the Triangle Club has a Board of Directors who are responsible for carrying out the business of the Club, as set forth in the Bylaws. The Board, with the help of many volunteers, puts on all the activities, looks after membership, finances, and oversees the management and staff. If you would like to volunteer to help around the Triangle Club, just see the manager or one of the directors. You can have a positive impact in the Club and in the recovery of your fellow members as long as we continue to be mindful of the Sixth Tradition.
