that is a tough one to respond to, in my experience we tried to start an all men meeting in WPB, Florida and the area shut it down citing the fact that it violated the third tradition
an excerpt " Addiction does not discriminate. This tradition is to insure that any addict regardless of drugs used, race, religious beliefs, sex, sexual preference or financial condition is free to practice the NA way of life.
You can have a group that focuses on a specific issue, such as gender, sexual identity, or culture (e.g. Hispanic) as long as any addict is welcome to attend. The third tradition is not negotiable.
area shut it down Those words sent a chill down my spine....... There are several gender specific meetings in my area as well as a young peoples group. Nothing wrong with it. So long as "no addict turned away" is part of the group conscience, then the group is free to set up it's own format, area has no say in the matter.
We just started a women's meeting in town, simply to try and cultivate some unity with the women and foster sponsorship. That was our intention.
At the first meeting, we had a business meeting and discussed how to handle men attending the meeting. Our group conscience was to welcome them with open arms, like any other addict. We don't have to say it's a women's meeting - they will see it for themselves based on the attendance. The thought was to give them a meeting list and tell them to keep coming back.
We don't discriminate. Hell, the women's meeting is simply a meeting where the population just so happens to be all female. It's fantastic to be able to build relationships with other women in the program. Most women come and go in the meetings around my home town. They never stay too long in NA. Once they get some time, they all seem to head to the other fellowship. I'm not so sure why...
An NA area does not have the authority to shut down a meeting. The area could decide to kick a meeting out of the area or take them of the meeting list, but they can't shut meetings down.
