HIGH TECH GAYS (HTG)     

 A Silicon Valley Social & Gay Rights Organization 1983 to 1997

High Tech Gays was a social and gay rights organization that held monthly meetings and social events in San Jose, California from March 1983 to January 1998.

In June 1988 the High Tech Gays (HTG) executive committee ask that I become the official historian of the organization. This web site presents that historical material and is dedicated to all of the people that made HTG successful. ~Denny Carroll

Archived here are 174 HTG newsletters (mailed monthly for 15 years). Also included are 160 letters of correspondence to and from HTG, 38 photos and numerous newspaper articles.

On July 6, 2018 the Library of Congress archived this web site as a part of a continuing effort to provide access to, and preserve digital material for researchers today and in the future. Dr Ryan Reft, Historian Modern History Division of the Library of Congress worked with us to make all of this happen. We thank him for helping us to preserve HTG history.

On September 28, 2018 all of the original material contained in this web site was donated to Craig Simpson, Director of Special Collections and Archives for the Martin Luther King, Jr. library at San Jose State University at One Washington Square San Jose, CA.

Denny Carroll (below left) presenting HTG material to Craig Simpson, Director

 Below: Denny Carroll and Bob Correa 

High Tech Gays (HTG)

The High Tech Gays organization was founded on the principle that all persons deserve fair and just treatment by the government, their employer, the law and the professional societies to which they belong regardless of their sexual orientation.  HTG worked to achieve those goals through political and social action.

As a non-partisan association of gays and lesbians in the Silicon Valley high tech and supporting industries, HTG provided a means by which people with similar interests could meet each other socially, assist each other in their job search and become active in the gay rights movement.

As a social organization, HTG gave members and friends a wide range of opportunities from which to choose, from water or snow skiing to river rafting and camping, from afternoons in a museum to evenings at the theatre. All in addition to the monthly potluck meetings which included a prominent guest speaker. These monthly meetings with attendance peaking at over 250 people were held from early 1983 to 1998. A newsletter was published monthly for nearly 15 years. These newsletters are posted on this web site and may be copied, reproduced and shared. The originals have been archived at the San Jose State MLK Library.

In those 15 years, the organization attained worldwide visibility via articles that appeared in The Advocate, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The San Jose Mercury News, The San Francisco Chronicle plus many other newspapers. Those article profiled HTG's various efforts to fight discrimination in the work place and in the process of obtaining a government security clearance. HTG became very influential in the political arena. Candidates seeking public office often requested the opportunity to address the membership at the monthly meetings.

Some of the monthly speakers:

- The Hon. Donna Hitchens, Superior Court Judge
- Linda Speraw, producer of the video "The Last Laugh"
- Matthew Coles, American Civil Liberties Union
- David Burnnel – Editor in Chief of PC World, Mac World
- Hank Plante, TV news anchor at KPIX
- San Jose Mayoral Candidates: Frank Fiscalini, Susan              Hammer and Shirley Lewis
- Caldwell, Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
- Robert Stipicevich, Fremont School Board
- Pam Walton, producer of the video "Out in Suburbia" and "Gay  Youth"
- Cleve Jones, NAMES Project
- Tom Nolan, San Mateo County Supervisor
- John Laird, California Secretary for Natural Resources, state       assemblyman, first openly Gay mayor of Santa Cruz, CA
- State assemblyman John Vasconcellos

- NGLTF President Jeff Levi

LGBT Rights Activism:

- Provide information to lesbians and gays attempting to obtain a  Government Security Clearance

- Supported effort to pass AB 101, the Gay Rights Bill, in    California
- Participated in the national March on Washington in 1987 &  1993
- Participate yearly in both the San Jose and San Francisco Pride  Celebrations
- Host benefits for local AIDS support groups
- Support the efforts of BAYMEC and NGLTF through    cooperative membership
- Annually bestow the Richard P. Rudy Community Service  Award to a dedicated member of the gay and lesbian community
- Ongoing efforts by the HTG Political and Business Action  Committee (PABAC) to persuade companies to change Equal  Employment Opportunity policy to include sexual orientation

Industrial Security Clearances Support:

* Robert Weston v. Lockheed, in which a defense contractor, on advice from the federal government, would not even process an application for clearance because Weston is gay. 

*Supported LGBT people in their fight for security clearances in civilian employment

*High Tech Gays v. Defense Investigative Security Clearance Office (HTG v. DISCO)

*Jean Kovalich v. Defense Investigative Service, in which Kovalich was demoted for being a lesbian.