Reunion Online

We begin this New Year with a much greater awareness within our communities than just a year ago about the frequency at which boys are subjected to unwanted or abusive sexual experiences. So let’s hope that when we look back on 2013, we’ll be able to see it as the tipping point year, when individual’s, families’ and communities’ support for men’s willingness to seek help to recover from unwanted or abusive childhood sexual experiences became the norm, rather than the exception.

Growing up in East Austin, there was little refuge for me from the gangs, drugs, and violence in my barrio, so when an opportunity arose for me to join the Boy Scouts as a teen, I jumped at the chance. I went from feeling trapped by the violence I was witnessing in my own home to the freedom of exploring the outdoors. Through the guidance of my Scoutmaster, I acquired camping and survival skills, but I also learned how to navigate through my adolescence using the Boy Scout Oath and Law as a compass.