Sexaholics Anonymous - History

History

Sexaholics Anonymous was founded by Roy K (in 12-Step fellowships it is customary to refer to members by their first name and the first initial of their last name, in order to preserve their anonymity). SA received permission from AA to use its Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions in 1979.

From the earliest attempts by Roy K to found SA in the 1970s, and throughout the history of SA, some members have sought to change the group’s concept of sexual sobriety. SA formally defined its concept of sexual sobriety in the early 1980s, such that for members of the fellowship, sexual sobriety meant “no sex outside of marriage”.

After this, some members and groups, particularly in New York, tried to replace the term marriage with committed relationship or promoted the idea of “marriage as you understand marriage”. This adapted the 12 Step concept from Step 3 of “god as you understand god”. This was an attempt to endorse as sexually sober, sexual activity by couples, not legally married, whether they be of the same or opposite sex. The fellowship did not accept this and, as a result, in 1991 some SA members and groups left SA to form Sexual Recovery Anonymous, citing the SA sobriety definition’s lack of endorsement of same sex relationships and committed relationships. Murray R, one of the founders had served on the SA General Service Board and had long attempted to change the SA sobriety definition to include committed relationships with either the same or opposite sex.

The issue came up again in the late 1990s, and on July 9, 1999, the SA leadership, meeting at an international conference in Cleveland, unanimously voted (9-0) to clarify the definition of "spouse" to be "one's partner in a marriage between a man and a woman." This is known as the Cleveland Clarification. Though individual members of SA continued to oppose the Cleveland Clarification, it was overwhelmingly accepted by the membership at the group, intergroup and regional level.In 2000 same-sex attracted SA members expressed their support for the Cleveland Clarification in a letter to SA Delegates and Trusteees signed by 66 members from 7 countries.

SA has attracted a subsection of the same-sex attracted population who seek not to act sexually on such attractions. At the July 2007 SA International Convention a survey was conducted of 176 SA members. Asked the object of their sexual fantasy and acting out, 23% nominated same-sex and a further 7% indicated both genders. Topic meetings on same-sex issues are held at SA International Conferences and personal stories of same–sex recovery appear in Essay, the official SA quarterly publication.

Roy K died from cancer on the afternoon of September 15, 2009. He had been sexually sober since January 31, 1976.