Courage Chat Group Posting Guidelines
The following are some general guidelines to assist you when posting messages in the Courage Online Chat Group. We want to foster a safe environment of openness, trust, and support, and the words we use in our messages can help to create such a space; therefore, we present to you the following guidelines:
- Do feel free to share openly and from the heart. Whatever struggles or challenges you may be going through with same-sex attraction, it’s okay to share the particulars of those experiences with the group. At the same time, it’s best not to use explicit details in your sharing if you sense your words might cause someone else to stumble in thought or deed.
- We advise Courage members not to refer to themselves or others as “gay” or “lesbian”. Oftentimes, these terms have political and moral implications which are not compatible with Catholic teaching and anthropology. The user of the terms “gay” and “lesbian” may not intend those implications, but their usage may unwittingly be confusing and misleading to other chat group members. We prefer to use the term “persons who experience same-sex attraction”. (For more on this, please go to the FAQ section of our website.)
- If you are now living chastely with someone with whom you used to be sexually involved, it’s certainly okay to talk about this in the chat group. We do ask, however, that you please not refer to that person as your “partner” in your posts. That terminology may be misleading to a new person who joins the group and doesn’t realize that you are now striving to live chastely. It’s okay to refer to that person as your housemate, or friend instead of using the term “partner”.
- The main purpose of the chat groups is for Courage members to help each other to live in accordance with the five goals. Please keep this in mind as you participate in the various discussion threads.