Austin Galano Club Where All are Welcome
- Austin Galano Webmaster
- Jun 23
- 2 min read
Planning for the Austin Galano Club (AGC) began in July 2010 with a bold idea: create a home for LGBTQIA+ recovery in Austin that could serve multiple fellowships, offer space for meetings and connection, and function as a true community hub. The dream took shape in living rooms, where a group of dedicated Lambda Live & Let Live AA members formed an exploratory committee. Inspired by similar clubs in other cities, they incorporated AGC as a nonprofit by the end of 2011.
Remarkably, 110 people became dues paying members — before they even had a building.
In early 2012, AGC found its future home—a building owned by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. It was a perfect fit: multiple rooms, a kitchen for the coffee bar, enough anonymity for members, and a price that made sense.
The remodel was fast and grassroots: 30 days, $20,000 (about $28,000 in today’s dollars), and a wave of community effort. Around 75 volunteers came through during that month of construction—measuring, hammering, painting, and hauling materials. Some of them left their mark—literally—by signing the studs behind the office walls with their names and sobriety dates, a quiet testimony to the spirit that built the place.
By the end of June 2012, construction was done, and AGC opened its doors with a fundraiser for Austin Roundup. The first official meeting was Lambda’s 11 a.m. Sunday gathering on July 1. From that day forward, AGC became more than a shared space—it became a shared mission. AA, CMA, Al-Anon, OA, and others moved in, drawn by the chance to belong to something built for and by the recovery community.
Today, AGC hosts 51 meetings a week, 30 groups from 13 different fellowships, serving roughly 1,000 people weekly. What started as an effort to resolve long-standing frustrations over space, inclusion, and group-versus-club tensions has grown into a cornerstone of LGBTQIA+ recovery in Austin. It wasn’t built with deep pockets, but with deep commitment—the vision of one and the hard work of many.
