Gaylaxicon is a recurring science fiction, fantasy and horror convention that focused on

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

and

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

topics. It has taken in various locations in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and occasionally

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, often on the

East Coast East Coast may refer to: Entertainment * East Coast hip hop, a subgenre of hip hop * East Coast (ASAP Ferg song), "East Coast" (ASAP Ferg song), 2017 * East Coast (Saves the Day song), "East Coast" (Saves the Day song), 2004 * East Coast FM, a ra ...

. Started in 1988 in

Provincetown, Massachusetts Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States Census, Provincet ...

, Gaylaxicon was organized by member organizations of the

Gaylactic Network The Gaylactic Network is a North American LGBT science fiction fandom organization. It has several affiliate chapters across the United States and Canada, with a membership of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) people and friends, shar ...

. The Gaylaxian Science Fiction Society (GSFS) was the

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

–based chapter of the Network, which organized the original convention. The

Gaylactic Spectrum Awards The Gaylactic Spectrum Awards are given to works of science fiction, fantasy and horror that explore LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) topics in a positive way. Established in 1998, the awards were initially presented by the Gaylactic ...

were sometimes awarded at Gaylaxicon and were instituted by the organisers of the conference. They are now managed by the Gaylactic Spectrum Awards Council, an independent organization.

Origins

Gaylaxicon was organized by member organizations of the

.Gaylactic Network Yahoo groups page
/ref> The Gaylaxian Science Fiction Society (GSFS) is the

–based chapter of the Network, which organized the original convention in Provincetown, Massachusetts in 1988.

Spectrum awards

The

are given to works of

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

and horror that explore

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

(

) topics in a positive way. Established in 1998, the awards were initially presented by the

, with awards first awarded in 1999 at Gaylaxicon. In 2002 the awards were given their own organization, the ''Gaylactic Spectrum Awards Foundation''. The results were generally announced and presented at Gaylaxicon, although they have also been presented at

Worldcon Worldcon, or more formally the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention. It has been held each year since 1939 (except for the years 1942 to 1945, during ...

in the past.

Past conventions

References

External links

Official WebsiteThe Gaylactic NetworkThe 2005 Gaylaxicon siteThe 2006 Gaylaxicon siteThe 2010 Gaylaxicon siteThe 2011 Gaylaxicon site
{{LGBT fiction Science fiction conventions in the United States LGBT events in the United States Recurring events established in 1988 Multigenre conventions

Origins

Spectrum awards

Past conventions

See also

References

External links