(no subject)

The Yearly Meeting house I go to in Philly has two meeting rooms from when it was first built. the east one, I think, is the old women's meeting room. What amazes me is that it took me so long--several years, though only occasional visits to realize the problem with this. Quakers have been EO since they started. Women have been ministers (*not* preachers, more like traveling teachers.) since the first few years. So why the two meeting rooms. So I asked someone. They weren't for meeting for worship, just meeting for business. And it wasn't out of any sort of inability for the groups to interact or relate or anything. It was for comfort. It was a lot easier for a woman to stand up and say, "I agree/disagree/think it's a stupid idea." if her husband wasn't sitting next to her. And I agree. I think that people need space of their own.
So while I don't like that the lesbian/gay group at FMW has a different meeting than the rest of us, I also understand why they want one. And I know it's not exclusionary, and that probably if I went, no one would care, or ask or anything, but I would feel uncomfortable because they'd be...judging? that's not quite the word I want--evaluating, maybe, me based on a set of common experiences that I wouldn't have. So I say, let them have their meeting. Let them have one spot where they know they are safe. So much of my life is safe, why must I begrudge them an hour a week?