[HuskyPup]

Been wanting some person to person support in terms of quitting drinking for a while now, but too scared to go to AA.

Has anyone ever been to a gay/lesbian AA meeting? There is one here, but I was wondering what I might expect. I’ve posted some of these concerns on other threads, but I was wondering how a gay/lesbian meeting might affect the following concerns, what kind of ‘fit’ it would be:

I’ve had a few experiences with AA, all online, and all bad! I don’t much care for the steps, or the big book, or found them very useful. I've never been able to wrap my mind around AA due to the book/steps, the way God turns up so much. Not to mention, it seems so guilt based, making all these lists about what you did wrong, as opposed to lists of what you did right, or what you did in-between right and wrong. I just didn’t get it, it all seemed based on a very traditional Judeo-Christian worldview, that I found it hard to even approach.

I tried once what somebody said, black out the parts that did not help, and most of the book was like that: gone. It seemed more like the structure that I had a problem with, not the parts. It seemed impossible to take what I wanted and leave the rest without the whole structure collapsing, if I can use a metaphor.

I’m also not religious in any real sense; I tend to have a vague worship of nature, of foxes, wolves and certain animals, but not in such a way that they are seen as ‘powers’ that have any ability to meddle in human affairs.

Also, I don’t like the idea that we are ‘defective’, it seems a counterproductive notion, and closely allied with Christianity’s notion of original sin.

Well, hoping to hear some input. I have looked at a version of the steps called the spiral steps that seems more workable…….they are like this:

Spiral Steps

1. We admitted that we had a problem and made the decision to reclaim our lives.

2. We came to believe that there was hope for healing, health and balance.

3. We now honor our connection with the divine, as we understand it, and we accept the process of change.

4. We make a searching, fearless and honest inventory of our behavior and beliefs. We consider their effect on our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual selves and their impact on our relations with others.

5. We admit to ourselves and to another human being what is both healthy and unhealthy in our lives and we make a daily commitment to heal ourselves in body, mind and spirit.

6. We are willing to seek our Highest Good and to grow both spiritually and emotionally.

7. We let go of dysfunctional thoughts and behaviors and we consciously welcome joy, love and peace into our lives.

8. We make a list of all beings we have harmed, including ourselves, and we become willing to make amends to them all.

9. We work to restore balance in our lives. We make direct amends to others wherever possible and we value and care for ourselves.

10. We continue to take personal inventory and promptly acknowledge both our mistakes and our achievements whenever they occur.

11. We continue to grow in compassion, strength and understanding. We learn to celebrate our lives and our connection to all living things.

12. Having had a spiritual and emotional awakening, we work to help others along the path and we practice these principles in all our affairs.

13. We seek to find our calling and to develop the will and the wisdom to follow it.




I think I could live better with a version like this, just wondering how amenable AAers are to such things, or if they wig out and start thumping the big book.

Again, hope to get some input,

HP