Photo courtesy Bim Florek
Bim Florek
Bim Florek
When I last wrote about GAMMA (Gay Athletic Milwaukee Men’s Association), it was in 2015 on the occasion of the organization’s 37th anniversary. Now, seven years later, GAMMA celebrates its 46th anniversary. That’s not fuzzy math. It seems somewhere over the past near half century, the group’s age had been mistakenly based on its year of incorporation in 1978, not on that of its actual founding in 1976. But, as fate would have it, one of GAMMA’s original founders, Randy Reddemann, recently moved back to the Milwaukee area and decided to return the fold. In fact, he joined the group’s board of directors. In that process he also set the record straight in the matter of GAMMA’s age and history.
Originally established as a social alternative for the bars, GAMMA activities focused, as its acronym implies, on athletics. Reddemann described its earliest days, “We started with about 10-15 regulars and charged $1 per year as dues. I remember going to the bank to deposit a handful of singles. Everybody was pretty much closeted in those days. At the time, it was unusual for people to be completely out. The first directory listed only first name and initial. GAMMA also gave gay people a chance to play sports no matter how good or bad you were.”
Those sports included volleyball, slide football and softball as well as board games for the not so athletically inclined. According to Reddemann, a GAMMA team played in the then nascent gay softball league, SSBL (Saturday Softball Beer League), for a season or two. To secure use of UWM volleyball courts, the group managed to get a university professor involved so they could use campus facilities. GAMMA volleyball players would eventually become part of Milwaukee PrideFest activities, playing on the grassy island next to the Dance Pavilion.
Broader Mission
Today’s GAMMA mission has broadened somewhat. While the membership has become older and less inclined to physical sports, it remains true to its definition as a social, recreational and cultural organization. Unlike many groups that boast a similar longevity of decades, GAMMA’s schedule of events and activities has grown rather than contract. Under the decade-long term of its outgoing president Bim Florek, GAMMA Out at the Theater, museum tours, boat trips and hikes became part of the typical monthly roster in addition to the traditional fare of sheepshead, cribbage, DiningOut and other group activities.
In 2015, for the first time, GAMMA members marched in the Pride Parade. President Bim made the local news leading the contingent in the uniform of a Russian general decorated with rainbows in a satirical “Puttin’ it to Putin” parody of the homophobic despot. In subsequent years, Bim has appeared as his extravagant and glittery alter ego, Liberace.
Also in 2015, a philanthropic program, GAMMA Gives, was launched. It directs member donations to a local social service organization. Collected at GAMMA’s annual holiday party in early December, gifts and cash are then presented to that year’s recipient. Beneficiaries have included the youth support organization, Pathfinders (selected again as this year’s recipient), Penfield Children’s Center, and Courage MKE, a group providing housing and services to local homeless LGBTQ+ youth. GAMMA Gives has also initiated a grant program that awarded its first grants to LGBTQ friendly arts organizations including the student musical group Broadway Bound, the Boulevard Theatre and Our Voice, the city’s LGBTQ chorus. The funds come from GAMMA’s annual dues (now $40 per annum), 10% of which is dedicated to the grant program.
Then COVID-19 restrictions ended the group’s social activities for the better part of the pandemic’s duration. However tentatively, they began to reappear. “The pandemic really changed people’s routines. They got used to functioning within their “bubbles” and entertaining themselves. Now that GAMMA is coming back, members are hungry for the activities they could once rely on with GAMMA. Membership numbers are approaching the 100 mark, our typical average,” Bim said.
Sheepshead and cribbage diehards were among the first to reconvene. Still apprehensive after years of reclusive isolation, members have slowly returned to participating in group activities like GAMMA Out at the Theater and Dining OUT. In fact, a new group geared to the organization’s classical music hounds has scheduled a night at the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra coming up on Nov. 12.
Reddemann’s return to the organization he helped found nearly half a century ago is also a testament to its continuing appeal. Asked what advice he might have for potential members, Reddemann replied, “Attend an event. All of our events are open. Attend one and check it out. It goes back to the spirit of 50 years ago of interacting together. Today’s Grindr and Scruff pretend to offer a means to meet people but they don’t. Meeting people face to face is the real magic of GAMMA.”
For membership information visit the GAMMA website at milwaukeegamma.org.
