We total 7 people in our group, with an average attendance of 4, and we adhere strongly to the definition of sexual sobriety as: no sex with oneself or others outside of marriage in the traditional sense. We are struggling, but feel that it’s worth it.

Very seldom in Essay have I seen contributions from any of the original groups in the Los Angeles area. The Long Beach meeting was one of the original three meetings in the Los Angeles area — along with the West Los Angeles and Alhambra — and has been through many changes in the past 7 or 8 years.

At the Chicago Conference, Roy K. announced that he was severing his administrative connection with the SA Central Office. His reasons for doing so are listed in “Roy Steps Away From the Central Office,” one of three papers he submitted to the Fellowship at the Conference, copies of which appear in Box 300 with this issue of Essay.

[The following are all responses received by the Central Office to the article “SA and Sexual Abuse” on page 20 of the October 1990 issue of Essay. We hope no response was omitted; the CO was in transition due to Nan’s leaving.—Ed.]

In but a few weeks it will be ten years from the time Box 300 was first opened (June of 1981) and that first wave of desperate letters started pouring in asking for help. When the Chicago conference rolls around in July, it will have been ten years from the historic meeting in our garage where SAs from over the U.S. joined together for the first time and came to one mind and spirit in formulating the principles of our SA Program.

My story is very similar to many I have read and heard in SA. I was sexually obsessive and compulsive for over 50 years. And my disease got progressively worse until I finally found myself living in a flop house hotel, losing my job, frequenting porno shops and flicks, and having lost my family and friends. In desperation, I called SA and got help.

As of February 1991, I started an SA group here in Blackwell. I am very grateful for the four members of SA at Wichita, KS for coming to Blackwell and helping me to get started. I am very grateful for SA and my recovery. I’ve been in recovery since June of 1988 when I found out I was a sexaholic and started attending SA.

Sorry for being so long in payment of the White Book—it is some heavy book. The group is going well. We have four regular members who are really working hard on their sobriety.

Our regular Friday meeting has been doing quite well in terms of attendance, and while we still do not boast of numbers we see in other fellowships with similar addictions, we feel our group has generated a level of intimacy and open honesty that most of us have never been exposed to in the past.

Our group fluctuates in numbers… Some move from the area, others seem to be unable to connect with the program and the life of recovery. At the present time we normally have six to ten at our meetings. These are the core group of those who “keep coming back” because the program is working for them.

As we enter into spring…we see continued new life in our SA groups. We have three meetings a week in Syracuse (all growing in numbers, praise be to God!) and have begun a meeting once a week in Binghamton, NY, 70 miles south of us. We have members with one, two, and three years of sobriety, and we are constantly scrutinizing our meaning of sobriety, and the quality of our recovery.

No matter how small your group, please notify Central Office with a contact name and a telephone number. This information will be used to help inquirers make contact with the group nearest to them. Thanks for your help.

[Convention planners decided that the convention business meeting, traditionally dealing only with matters pertaining to conventions, would, in this case, also bring up other matters. It was stated at the beginning of the business meeting that any suggestions or recommendations made on such other matters would be suggestions only, not binding on the fellowship.—Ed.]

[A member in Germany shares his concerns about length of sobriety required for voting in SA business meetings.]

The overwhelming response to the survey shows how SA is passionately concerned about the issue of how sexual sobriety is interpreted. Over 75% of responding groups hold to traditional SA sobriety (see the report inside). However, over 18% hold to non-traditional sobriety; we have a house divided.

In 1985 and 1988 Roy K. was asked to give seminars at the Walther Lechler Psychosomatic Klinik in Bad Herrenalb, Germany. He told his story and discussed the program of recovery to mixed audiences of persons in various Twelve Step programs, including SA.

[Many have asked about the Central Office Advisory Committee, what it is and how it came about. The following is taken from Roy’s taped conversation with another member 9-15-90.]

As has been previously announced, the SA logo (gender symbols on a circle) appearing on our literature is a trademark, registered with the U.S. Trademark and Patent Office. In future reprintings of SA literature and letterheads, the TM symbol will be changed to the R symbol, indicating the mark is now duly registered. Due to current legal issues and to safeguard SA’s principles and interests, the marks SA, Sexaholics Anonymous, and Essay have also been registered.

One motion made in Oklahoma City suggested more communication between the Central Office (CO) and the fellowship. The sobriety issue is currently the top news in SA. Hundreds of SA members have received letters from New York City on the sobriety issue and the role of the Central Office in relation to NY Tri-State Intergroup. This has caused considerable confusion and misunderstanding.

A bit of background: I asked for the IGC to be implemented in Bozeman in 1987; it was to be the beginning of a new attempt at self-responsibility in SA (we had tried it before in 1983). As of July 3, 1990, the IGC Committee has been stalled due to internal division within the Committee on the sobriety issue and other matters (refer to memo of the chair 3 July 1990 and my 27 August 1990 letter to the fellowship).