A blow has been struck for tolerance and acceptance! Well, okay, not a blow so much as a half-hearted smack, but I'm still unreasonably proud of myself.

For those of you who don't remember, a few weeks ago saw me frothing at the mouth over the small-mindedness of my fellow fraternal organization board members. RYA (Rainbow Youth Alliance) is trying to get a chapter going in my little corner of uptight Ohio, reaching out to gay/questioning teens with support and advice. It's a peer support group, similar to the gay/straight alliance that exists at many public schools. They're looking for a safe place to hold their meetings, and my group's clubhouse was suggested to them. After much hemming and hawing, it was decided to put it to a vote last night.

I have to give the president of the club credit; she tried really hard to separate the issue of what type of group wanted to use the clubhouse from the issue of having any group other than ourselves up there. The word 'gay' was never mentioned last night. However, it's a small club, and I'd be shocked if there was a single person in the room who didn't know what we were really voting on. And, as I feared, even after Nick's somewhat impassioned arguing (for which I love him a little more today than I did yesterday), the vote was 'no'.

Boo.

But don't despair! Here's where I don my Supergirl cape and those kicky knee-high red boots. I called up my sweet, wonderful, intelligent, insightful (man, I hope she reads this) minister at the local Episcopal church, and I'd barely gotten out two words about the situation when she said, "Well, we should definitely do this."

Yay! I think we know who's really wearing the Supergirl boots in this scenario, and it ain't me. She acknowledged that she's liable to take some flak for this, but she sounded not the least bit put off by the prospect. In response, for the first time ever, I feel like officially switching from the Methodist church to the Episcopal. (Sorry, Mama!) So this little saga has a happy ending, or a happy beginning, since now RYA will be able to actually get started. If even one kid gets the support he or she needs, I'll feel like all this angst has been worth it.

Posted by Louisa Edwards at 10:42 AM