Hello from San Francisco California USA

[candidesf]

Hello from an able-bodied gay guy in San Francisco California.... I'm a Gay guy 63,fit,5'11", 195 , bearded and hairy. Love to show off my great City as well chat online!
Have been a dev for many years, since we used to hook up through two small zines. They were all we had... one was called Able-Together and the other was called Para-Amps. (A bit of gay history for you!!) .. let's connect!

[Deleted]

ParaAmps was FORMATIVE for me. Also Bent Voices. I remember when a then unknown Ryan O’Connell posted an article to it.

[newjess]

Hi there! Would you be open to sharing more about the zines? I would love to learn more, that's honestly pretty amazing to hear about. I've often wondered how devs/PWD connected before the internet.

[greeneyedvillan]

Sept 21, 2023 21:14:27 GMT -5 newjess said:

Hi there! Would you be open to sharing more about the zines? I would love to learn more, that's honestly pretty amazing to hear about. I've often wondered how devs/PWD connected before the internet.

You know, I have always wondered if there were devotees before the internet? How they found people, and what did they call themselves (if anything).  I'm not gay but I'd also love to hear about those zines lol

[dantheman]

I was one of the guys who started Able-Together.......It was based on Para-Amps .....the first publication though, was Jarrod internationatial (Jim Norman from Laguna Beach)...
I was good friends with "Dr Hinkell". San Jose, when he had "the orthotorium" online...... Dan

[devogirl]

Sept 22, 2023 6:46:04 GMT -5 greeneyedvillan said:

You know, I have always wondered if there were devotees before the internet? How they found people, and what did they call themselves (if anything).  I'm not gay but I'd also love to hear about those zines lol

Sorry I missed this for months! Before the internet devs connected through mailing lists and newsletters. I don't know as much about gay dev history, but the straight male devs called themselves hobbyists, because stalking women with disabilities was their hobby. They also did horrible things like compiling and sharing home addresses of amputee women and sharing photos taken without the subject's knowledge. In the early days of the internet, you could order CDs of photos from certain websites. They would also attend conventions for amputees and watch from the sidelines, calling themselves "potted plants" meaning they hid behind potted plants in hotel lobbies to watch the women. Sorry this is all super disturbing and gross! I also would love to hear more about the gay dev zines, especially if it's different from what straight men were doing. As far as I know, the female devs didn't have any community before the internet, in fact many male devs I met online insisted that there were no female devs.

I remember the Orthotorium! I used to check it out all the time. Another major gay dev website in the early internet was the Secret Garden. When the owner decided to take it down, he asked us to archive his short stories. You can find them here: paradevostories.blogspot.com/search/label/Secret%20Garden%20Archive

[kro354]

I remember when I first started exploring my devness I came across a site called "Bent Voices" for gay disabled guys. I think it was also a magazine. They used "bent" as a term for a disabled gay man. I think those sites are all long gone.

[dutchdev]

Mar 5, 2024 22:35:54 GMT -5 devogirl said:

Sept 22, 2023 6:46:04 GMT -5 greeneyedvillan said:

You know, I have always wondered if there were devotees before the internet? How they found people, and what did they call themselves (if anything).  I'm not gay but I'd also love to hear about those zines lol

Sorry I missed this for months! Before the internet devs connected through mailing lists and newsletters. I don't know as much about gay dev history, but the straight male devs called themselves hobbyists, because stalking women with disabilities was their hobby. They also did horrible things like compiling and sharing home addresses of amputee women and sharing photos taken without the subject's knowledge. In the early days of the internet, you could order CDs of photos from certain websites. They would also attend conventions for amputees and watch from the sidelines, calling themselves "potted plants" meaning they hid behind potted plants in hotel lobbies to watch the women. Sorry this is all super disturbing and gross! I also would love to hear more about the gay dev zines, especially if it's different from what straight men were doing. As far as I know, the female devs didn't have any community before the internet, in fact many male devs I met online insisted that there were no female devs.

I remember the Orthotorium! I used to check it out all the time. Another major gay dev website in the early internet was the Secret Garden. When the owner decided to take it down, he asked us to archive his short stories. You can find them here: paradevostories.blogspot.com/search/label/Secret%20Garden%20Archive

Pretty sure I would have been a closeted dev my entire live before the internet, being on here and in touch with other devs really helps in finding my confidence.