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This is a repost of an event that happened to me not to long ago. It came up in another thread and another forum member wanted to hear the whole story but that thread was not the place to really discuss it...so I am reposting it here.
Angry at Portland social and legal services!
I was recently involved in an botched attack by three underage gang members in downtown Portland (as some of you already know).
After the attackers were caught by police I worked with one of the prosecutors to try and come to an acceptable agreement for a plea deal that did not ruin the rest of the kids lives, but instead both punished them and educated them to the fact that there are other options in life. I wanted to see their punishment try to correct their behavior and not harden it.
After it was all over I was asked if I would be willing to be part of a Mentor Program for at risk youth sponsored by a local not-for-profit organization (which shall remain nameless). The woman represtenting the program said they were in dire need of people like me which I thought was sad in itself. I agreed since I have a lot of experience with that very population from when I was in social services myself and started the process of becoming a mentor.
After weeks of processing and interviews I was told today that I was rejected. This ticked me off a bit since I was the one they approached to become involved and I am highly experienced and educated in the field.
I went down today and spoke to the head of the program (a nice excuse to ride my kawi DT). I was curious if my sexual orientation was an issue. If it was I was going to be very upset.
I was informed my sexual orientation was not an issue at all. A lot of social service employees are gay and so are many of the mentors. In fact a lot of the kids in the program are also gay. I was already aware of all of this but wanted to be sure.
When I asked why I was rejected I was told that one of the people reviewing my file read some of the statements and court papers and learned that I had been carrying a firearm at the time I was attacked. They then asked one of my personal references if they knew if I was involved in any firearms related hobbies. The person they asked was a good friend of mine that I regularly shoot with and he told them I have a nice firearms collection and that we regularly engaged in sports shooting at a local range.
Because of this I was rejected from the program because they felt I might subject the client to a harmful "culture of firearms and violence" as the woman worded it in her report.
I guess the fact that I was the one attacked and that I did not use my gun, then went out of my way to do the right and compassionate thing, that I am a law abiding citizen, that I have ran successful businesses, and the fact that I have a degree in psychology and years of experience working with at risk youth is irrelevant. What matters is that I am a gun owner and that makes me an "unacceptable risk."