The Midtown group of Alcoholics Anonymous was rogue, even by AA’s standards. The Q group, which took its name from its leader, Edward "Mike" Orlando Quinones, Jr., is a more of extreme example of what happens within the loose structure of AA. 13th stepping is common practice within AA, but this group took it from an art form, to criminal. Here is a quote taken from this reprint of an article from The Washington Post. This is only one example cited in the article:
Kristen, now 26, said that for eight years, she was “passed along” from one middle-aged male leader of Midtown to another. She said her sponsor urged her to have sex with Quinones — widely known as Mike Q. — as a way to solidify her sobriety and spiritual revival. Kristen, who spoke on the condition that her last name not be used in keeping with AA traditions, also recalled helping to persuade other teenage girls to sleep with older men in the group. “I pimped my sponsees out to sponsors,” she said, referring to the AA members who agree to watch over a fellow member’s sobriety. “I encouraged them to sleep with their sponsors because I really believed that this would help with their sobriety.”
In addition to 13th stepping, the article describes the more common practice of AAs being encouraged by their sponsors to stop taking doctor prescribed medications:
That young woman told The Washington Post that her sponsor in Midtown refused to continue as her adviser if the woman kept taking prescription medications. The sponsor also directed her to stop seeing a therapist ” ‘because you need one clear voice — your sponsor’s,’ ” the woman said.
This is a frightening story, and is covered in greater depth in this article from Newsweek magazine.
So, what was the reaction to this from those within AA? It fits a familiar theme of denying of accountability from AA World Services, and of personal attacks on those who brought this story to light:
A meeting held on Sunday evenings for nearly two decades at the Church of the Pilgrims near Dupont Circle left the church this year after ex-Midtown members provided “detailed and credible allegations,” said the Rev. Ashley Goff, director of Christian education at the church. Midtown leaders told pastors they were being criticized unfairly by “disgruntled people who couldn’t keep their act together,” Goff recalled.
Does characterizing these victims as “disgruntled people who couldn’t get their act together” sound familiar?
Despite a stellar reputation and worldwide brand, it has never been more than a set of bedrock traditions. It has no firm hierarchy, no official regulations, and exercises no oversight of individual groups. Disgruntled former Midtown members discovered this in recent months when they tried to get the central AA office in New York to condemn Midtown’s tactics and departures from the traditions, including a highly unusual practice of assigning older men to sponsor young women. “The assumption since our founding was that groups that did not follow the traditions and concepts would fall away,” said a staff member at AA’s General Service Office, who spoke on condition of anonymity “because we are all alcoholics, and that is our policy.” The main office does offer “strong suggestions” for how groups should operate, including how to pair each member with a sponsor who shares confidences and helps the member stay sober. AA recommends that “it’s best if a man sponsors a man and a woman sponsors a woman, so that there are not outside distractions,” the staffer said.
No accountability. No expression of remorse. Nothing done that might prevent this from happening in the future. Essentially, some anonymous representative at the AA headquarters said ‘It ain’t our fault, and we aren’t going to do anything to change it. It works if you work it”. He can’t even get through a statement without using the standard “these are just suggestions” line of bullshit. Sure, they suggest that middle aged men don’t fuck teenagers, but each group does their own thing. Pathetic.
The Midtown Group appears to be a cult-like offshoot of Alcoholics Anonymous, touting itself as the strongest A.A. message in the area. The Midtown Group recruits new members via hospitals, institutions, and through the local A.A. hotline, and quickly indoctrinates them into their specific way of thinking. To the best of our knowledge and from personal experience, this thinking includes the belief that there is a leader, and that an A.A. group operating under a hierarchical system is proper. The newcomer comes to believe in this group. Certain members have been and are being told what to do, how to live, with whom to have sexual relations, how to spend their money, and how to run their lives. There was a "leader" of this group and his sponsees, along with their sponsees, created a strong hierarchical system.
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