The Welcoming Committee blog

Life is short, start a takeover.
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The April Takeover Line-up

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Newbie Party: Wednesday, April 3rd, 6 - 8pm
TWC Newbies, this party is for people new to the movement. Show up, grab a drink, meet the crew and ask us what other straight institutions we’ll be turning gay.  If you’re showing up stag, don’t worry about knowing anyone. Daniel and Ashley (who look like this) are already your insta-friends. Just let us know you’re coming by RSVPing here.

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Guerrilla Queer Bar: Friday, April 5th, 9pm
This month, our sacrosanct GQB takeover will be strategically located near one of the oldest, wealthiest and stodgiest institutions known to gays. On April 5th, Harvard’s gay law conference and Spring Fling social will be taking place around Harvard Square. Needless to say, we’ve agreed to take them under our wings and host their after-party. The last time Harvard asked to join our ranks, 600 of you showed up. Sign up here to join the movement and get the venue location intel (announced the day before).

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Abba, The Concert: Sunday, April 14th, 8pm
The ultimate tribute group will be shimmying their way onstage at the Wilbur Theater and TWC is showing up to ensure the concert is experienced the way the original foursome would have wanted it: in a room full of screaming gay people. A limited number of tickets will be offered up to TWC members between April 1st & April 5th. Sign up here to make sure you’re a part of the ranks. ¡Viva la (Abba) Revolución!

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SuperGQB: Graduate Student Edition, Friday, April 19th, 9pm
As home to approximately 4.39 billion academic institutions, it would be blasphemous to continue conquering straight bars without fraternizing with le gay grad students. On April 19th, we’ll be making these trophy wives/husbands/people our guests of honor. Sign up here to get details on the takeover location when it’s announced the day before.

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Flannel Takeover Company, 3rd Saturdays, April 20th, 9pm
FTC, 3rd Saturdays, is a roaming women’s party that will takeover the institutions that were secretly always built for women: everything, everywhere. Like all TWC atrocities, venues for FTC, 3rd Saturdays won’t be announced until the day before. Join the Facebook event here to stay informed.

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Newbie Party: Tuesday, April 30th, 6 - 8pm
TWC Newbies, this party is for people new to the movement. Show up, grab a drink, meet the crew and ask us what other straight institutions we’ll be turning gay.  If you’re showing up stag, don’t worry about knowing anyone. Daniel and Ashley (who look like this) are already your insta-friends. Just let us know you’re coming by RSVPing here.

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The Boston Symphony Takeover

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On March 29th, TWC members are gathering the troops and rallying together to engulf one of Boston’s oldest institutions: the Boston Symphony Orchestra. That means hundreds of years of classical musical and an entire section of Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 will go gay for one night only.

Friday, March 29th. 8pm. Tickets are $20. Join the takeover here: http://www.bso.org/Merchandise/Detail/51133

Shit Gays Should Know

A sometimes annoying and odd, but most of the time exciting and interesting, thing about being “out” is that straight people look to you for information about what’s happening in the glorious world of gay. The dorm room version of this is almost always sexual and will hopefully never go away because oh my god those conversations are so much fun. But the adult version is downright terrifying if you’re not a constitutional scholar.

And, so, today we launch a new weekly segment, “Shit Gays Should Know,” presented without judgement or fanfare. Every week we will post a link to an article or video that will help answer some of the questions you might get from a straight person at the dinner table or water cooler.

This week, with the Supreme Court set to hear two cases on gay marriage, you could find yourself on the wrong side of any of these conversations:

  • “Do the plaintiffs in Prop 8 have standing?” (WTF is Standing??)
  • “Is Perry just Roe 40 years later?” (Umm…Yes! No!? AHHH!!!)
  • “You don’t actually think that the 14th Amendment says anything about gay marriage, do you?” (Before I answer that, can you tell me what the “pro gay” answer is?)
  • “Do you think Kennedy is going to be the swing vote?” (Kennedy…Kennedy…the one whose wife wore the big glasses and redecorated the White House?)

To prepare you for the inevitable, here is a graphical overview (choose your own adventure, style) of the potential outcomes from this week’s hearings:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/03/24/us/how-the-court-could-rule-on-same-sex-marriage.html

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(Have a suggestion for next week’s link? Let us know: info(at)thewelcomingcommittee(dot)com)

Katie M., We Missed You

            

On Saturday night (or more accurately in a daze on Sunday morning) TWC’s Crew shed a tear. And not an “omg Bambi’s mom dies in the end” tear, we’re talking Beyonce got on stage and announced to the audience that she could no longer perform. Ever. EVER! Yup. On Saturday night, during Flannel Takeover Company, 3rd Saturdays, where we literally cleared out City Bar and made it ours, we were stood up.

After she said ON FACEBOOK (so it’s obvs official), that she would be descending on one of three bars at the Lenox Hotel, Katie M. (TWC member #605) never graced us with her presence. 

Perhaps Katie got stuck at Flag Football practice because she just couldn’t get her flags to stay on. Maybe she was busy text/skype/instagramming with this week’s love of her life. Maybe she just got sucked into Girls and Downton Abbey while petting her cat, wearing flannel and stalking that hot girl she saw on the subway, while constantly refreshing Missed Connections to see if said hot girl posted. But whatever the reason Katie, we just want to say: we missed you.

38 Hours in Montreal - #DestinationTakeover number 3

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With Foxwoods and Mount Snow behind us, we’re gearing up to take our traveling takeover circus beyond international boundaries. Introducing our third #DestinationTakeover - 38 hours in Montreal. Welcome aboard.

Yes, the trip includes transportation, bus-based-beers, lodging, hotel breakfasts, a choreographed bar crawl, and our (marginally) famous TWC Survival Kits. While those details and more are available on the ticket page, we wanted to address 5 groups of people:

1. Solo travelers
2. Budgeteers and overspenders
3. Those looking to relive their underage days
4. Those looking for a historical adventure
5. Those looking to takeover Bal en Blanc (Montreal’s version of “The White Party,” which, against all odds, is not just for gays…yet…except this party, which is already everything it should be)


So…

1. Solo
The most frequent question we get from our members is “would you like fries with that?” And we almost always say yes. But with regard to travel it’s “if I’m coming alone, what will that be like?” Answer: 25% of people come alone, and the majority of those choose to be randomly assigned to rooms for 4 people. If you’re a solo traveler and don’t want to spring for you own room, then just choose “4 to a room” and we’ll take care of finding you something gender and age (in)appropriate.

2. Budget v. Luxury
This trip has luxury and economy accommodations located within seven feet of each other in Old Montreal. If you’re feeling fancy, 1 and 2 person rooms will be housed in the Hotel Zero 1 (1 queen size bed). For those feeling more frugal staying 4 to a room, we’ve got you at the Travelodge…welcome back to bunk beds. Both hotels offer free wifi and breakfast.

3. Underage
Remember when you weren’t 21? And Montreal was safe harbor for public displays of, well, being you? The moment we hit the ground in the city that never sleeps (no, that’s not actually what they call it), you can opt in to crawl from bar to bar through Montreal’s most historic district. Get ready to be a sophomore again. Unless you would rather spend those first precious hours being…

4. Historical
We’ll be staying in Old Montreal (Vieux-Montreal), steps away from the Old Port and City Hall. In addition to the bar crawl and nightclub “tourism” options that we’ve conjured up, we’ve contracted with a tour provider to give an official walking and food tour of the city. You can buy tickets to those affairs when you buy your trip tickets.

5. White party
We’ll be there for Bal en Blanc, Montreal’s white party. All club activities are optional, but let’s just say that if you want to attend the 10pm-2am party and the 2am-10am party shifts, we’ll be there with Red Bulls blazing.

Grab your tickets here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5771256985/blog1
Until Friday 3/15 at 10pm, use this code for $50 off: CelineIsFromCanada