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High Tech Gays was a political and social organization that met in San Jose from 1984 thru 1997.

HTG came into being when a group of gay and lesbian people working in high-tech were denied Federal security clearances required for employment.

They decided to sue the Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office[1] (DISCO), which had denied them security clearances based solely on their sexual orientation.

One theory put forth at the time to explain DISCO's policy of denying security clearances applicants was that closeted GLBT applicants could easily be blackmailed.

The plaintiffs ended up meeting at a weekly potluck to discuss the case, sometimes with their attorney, Richard Gayer. Attendance at the potlucks increased to the point where the group formally organized itself and met in public spaces, primarily at various incarnations of the Billy DeFrank Lesbian & Gay Community Center in San Jose.

The first lawsuit was initially won by HTG, then successfully appealed by the government, then successfully re-appealed by HTG. The group also served as an amicus curae for several other cases involving federal and/or military service discrimination based on sexual orientation.

HTG became a political force for change in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, sponsoring local initiatives to end employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. Candidates for city, council, and state elected positions often spoke with HTG. Several San Jose Police chiefs met with HTG to discuss GLBT community concerns and to improve GLBT/SJPD relations.

At its peak, HTG had roughly 150 members, and was the largest monthly group meeting monthly at the Billy DeFrank Center.

Allan Hurst created and ran a bulletin board system for HTG, called "HTG/Outreach". The BBS, based in San Mateo, California, ran on eSoft's TBBS software, and at its peak operated with six phone lines. Local forwarder numbers were set up in San Francisco and San Jose to ease toll charges for callers in those cities. The BBS was run as a free and open system, although users were encouraged to make donations towards the upkeep and upgrade of the system. HTG/Outreach was part of the FidoNet BBS network, and originated the HTG, HTGJOBS, and TSTV echo conferences, as well as acted as a secondary distribution point for the BEARS conference. The BBS also acted as a pre-Internet distribution point for articles and electronic phamphlets detailing what to do to fight discrimination when applying for a security clearance.

The organization was disbanded in the spring of 1998.

An archive of HTG's website can be found on archive.org [2].