With the upsurgence of mainstream geek-centric movies and visibility through social media, Geek culture has slowly become more mainstream over the past few years. Long avoiding association with the cliche ant-social archetype made popular by The Simpsons, geeks of all types are finally starting to come out of the proverbial closet. That includes geeks in the LGBT community, who at time can face alienation in an already marginalized community. Thankfully, organizations like Geeks OUT exist. I encountered the LGBT geek organization at the 2011 New York Comic Con and have since hung out with many of their members (as well as my geek family at Gay Geeks of New York) on my many trips back to the Big Apple. At the 2012 New York Comic Con, I talked with Geeks Out about the possibility of bring their events here in Chicago. And with that, the first Geeks OUT event in Chicago will be happening at Spin Nightclub on January 25, 2013 at 7PM. More info about the event can be found here.
In my preparation for the event, I caught up with Geeks OUT board member Patrick Yacco about the organization and the inspiration that started it: