[Ponte Alto] Announcement from the Board - Same Sex Consorts in Crown Tourneys

[Robert Capozello]

 The Board of Directors of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. would collectively like to thank everyone who took the time to write to us regarding the proposed changes to Corpora that would provide Crowns the option to allow same-sex couples to compete in Crown/Coronet Lists.  This topic is clearly one that people feel very strongly about, as the opportunity to fight or be fought for in the Lists is at the heart of our Society.



To gain a more quantitative understanding of the issue the Board tasked the 2010 SCA Census Committee with surveying the populace on this topic.  The SCA census results were divided almost evenly between those that did not want such changes, those that did want such changes, and those that had not given an opinion either way.  As further background to the issue, one Kingdom had formally requested a variance to Corpora for a specific Coronet List, and the Board is of course aware of the broader social and political trends wherein the topic of same-sex marriage has not only been on ballots in multiple US states in recent years, but has also been addressed as a human rights issue in several non-US countries.  The Board felt that requesting additional commentary would provide a deeper set of information from the membership, such as specific concerns people had, alternate wording options, and a better sense of what this proposed change or the retention of the
 current restriction would mean to people in our organization.



The individual members of the Board come from varied backgrounds and experiences within the SCA - so as to provide broad representation at that level of the organization.  Directors are fundamentally just seven members of our Society, each with our own strongly held opinions on this topic (and many others), just like every other member of our Society – though we are tasked with an obligation to make decisions in the best interest of the organization as a whole.  The topic of same-sex consorts, and the implications and needs of both today’s and tomorrow’s Society have been discussed in-depth at every quarterly meeting and many conference calls in the last months.  As with any potential change to Corpora, changes only happen after the opinions of the membership have been requested and fully reviewed, and the change is approved by a majority (at least 5 out of 7) vote of the Board.



Two variants of proposed wording changes to provide the option to Crowns to allow same-sex couples to compete in Crown/Coronet Lists were sent out to the membership for commentary, the second commentary period ending Dec. 1, 2012. An additional proposed change to restrict each member of an entering couple to be either fighter or consort is still out for commentary until March 1st, 2013. 



At the Dec 4th, 2012 conference call, the following Board action was taken:



Motion by Tim Jennings to approve the following change to Corpora IV.B.1, effective immediately:



Each competitor in a Royal List must be fighting for a prospective consort of the opposite sex unless the Crown has elected to permit a competitor to fight for a prospective consort of the same sex.

Seconded by Lisa May.  In favor: Mark Faulcon, John Fulton, Denise Hundley, Tim Jennings, Lisa May, Max Nelson.  Opposed: None.  Chairman Leslie Vaughn exercised her option to vote and did so in favor of the motion.  Motion carried.



Crowns now have the ability to accept entrance into their Lists by any and all pairs acceptable to the Crown.   As the saying goes, “With great power comes great responsibility.”  With this change, the Board places its trust in the Crowns, both current and future, to use this tool in a manner that best meets not only the wants and the needs of Their kingdoms and populace, but the Society as a whole. 



Yours in Service,



The Board of Directors     
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