Barry L sober in 1945, speaking about the origin of the 3rd tradition at the 50th World Conference in Montreal in July 1985. He was the first openly gay member of AA.
Tradition 3 - The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking.
Barry passed away 3 weeks after this speak.
Barry is the author of the book Living Sober and was a great friend of Bill W and his wife Lois.
In 1978 Lois gave origional manuscript of the big book to Barry, and in 1979 Barry signed a notarized letter gifting the manuscript to A.A. World Services, in exchange, he asked only to be able to keep it in his possession until his death.
Somewhere between 1979 and Barry's death in 1985, everyone at A.A. World Services apparently forgot about this arrangement. The whereabouts of the manuscript remained unknown until it reappeared at an auction house in 2004, sold by a “Joseph B.” for $1.5 million. It was auctioned again in 2007 to Alabama resident Ken Roberts for $992,000. A few months later, according to court documents, A.A. World Services rediscovered Leach’s notarized letter.
Last month (3/18) the manuscript was once again auctioned off, this time for $2.4 million.
