After the SP2014 board elections and the devastation it caused in the relations between different groups in the LGBT community of SecondLife the week following the announcement of the new board of directors has been rife with hurt feelings, bitterness and name calling. Today however I saw a few hopeful signs that a healing process may have begun.
First I was contacted by a person who was hurt by my blogging of the election. Instead of lashing out at me this time he took the time to explain to me with calm and great care why he had been hurt in a way that I could understand. I explained to him my position and that I never had any intention of hurting anyones feelings but merely to give my personal view on the events. Although we did not say so explicitly, I feel we may perhaps have made a lasting truce.
Later in the day my attention was directed to some wonderful initiatives by Karl Kalchek, the incoming Community Relations Director.
Even before he gets installed on the Second Pride board tomorrow, Karl has started building bridges. A first step was been taken by him in establishing a blog Second Pride Community Relations. (I have added it to my blogroll for your future convenience.)
"The purpose of this blog is to create a forum where ideas about increasing diversity and improving Second Pride can be discussed. My hope is for a frank but positive conversation about why some parts of our community feel excluded, unwelcome, or disinterested.
To me, community building is at the very heart of any LGTB effort – including Second Pride. But community building is not something that one person – or even a Board -can do. To be successful, change has to have the support of the community. Through this blog I am asking for your support: Your ideas, your contacts – your knowledge of what’s worked or not worked in the past. With the help of the community, I hope we can not make Second Pride not just bigger but better for everyone in the community."The second step - and this is really awesome news - Karl reached out to Joshua Drew, one of his contenders in the election, and asked him to Co-Chair with him. And lo and behold, Joshie accepted the offer! I cannot commend the two enough.
"I am happy to accept Karl’s offer to be his Co-Chair/Co-Director in Community Relations. He and I compliment each other very well because we have different strengths and are tied to different communities. Karl is considered a “Bear” and me a “Twink” – yet here we are, great friends who respect each other and want to work together to actually build the bridges and communities ties that all of the candidates talked about during the campaign.
SecondPride was never meant to be an all “Gay Male Club” that throws a big Pride event once a year. Through our partnership, right out of the gate from the election, we hope to send a message to the LGBT Community that we welcome everyone. Now, I am happy to throw all of my support behind Karl and work with him as a team to make SecondPride much more inclusive and even more successful than ever before."
