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PETER ROSENSTEIN
Friday, August 22, 2008
DURING
A
RECENT
weekend
in
Rehoboth,
I
chatted
with
a
good
friend,
Suzanne
Goldstein,
a
leader
in
both
GLBT
organizations
and
other
community
charities.
She
spoke
about
not
seeing
enough
young
people
involved
in
the
leadership
of
the
organizations
she
is
involved
with
and
wondered
how
those
of
our
generation
can
transfer
our
knowledge
to
the
next
generation
when
we
communicate
so
differently.
That
conversation
made
me
think
about
this
issue.
I
asked
a
number
of
other
friends
about
it
and
realized
it
could
be
a
serious
problem
for
the
future
existence
of
many
of
our
most
prominent
organizations.
I
began
my
career
when
the
exciting
new
communication
tool
was
the
IBM
electric
typewriter.
Wow!
I
could
make
corrections
without
retyping
my
work
from
scratch.
If
you
asked
a
young
person
today
about
“carbon
paper”
they
might
assume
it
has
something
to
do
with
global
warming.
I
admit
I
have
come
a
long
way
from
that
time,
but
I
am
still
more
comfortable
having
a
conversation
rather
than
texting,
and
a
face-to-face
meeting
rather
than
a
conference
call.
I
believe
the
nuances
of
what
we
say
are
clearer
when
we
talk
rather
than
text
or
e-mail.
But
the
fact
is
that
the
next
generation
will
communicate
the
way
they
do,
not
the
way
I
do,
and
I
need
to
accommodate
that.
So
we
must
address
the
issue
of
bringing
the
generations
together
to
transfer
knowledge
and
ideas.
One
way
is
to
make
sure
that
we
are
working
together
and
bringing
young
people
into
leadership
roles
early
in
their
careers.
We
need
to
incorporate
the
Facebook
generation
into
the
leadership
of
our
organizations
now.
WE
TALK
OF
diversity
with
regard
to
race,
gender,
ethnicity
and
religion
but
rarely
talk
about
it
in
terms
of
age.
One
way
to
ensure
that
our
GLBT
organizations
continue
to
flourish
in
the
future
is
to
make
sure
that
all
boards,
advisory
committees
and
other
leadership
venues
have
specific
slots
assigned
for
people
under
30.
That
may
mean
understanding
that
the
board
of
an
organization
like
Food
&
Friends
in
D.C.,
where
the
role
of
the
Board
is
to
raise
money,
will
have
some
slots
set
aside
for
people
who
may
not
have
money
or
access
to
it
now,
but
may
in
the
future.
It
will
mean
training
current
board
members
to
accommodate
a
younger
person’s
way
of
communicating.
The
tradeoff
is
that
the
young
person
will
be
able
to
advise
the
board
on
how
to
reach
the
community
they
are
a
part
of
and
make
the
organization
more
relevant
to
them.
I
recently
spoke
to
the
vice
president
of
the
Gay
&
Lesbian
Activists
Alliance.
He
is
as
concerned
as
others
about
who
will
take
his
role
when
he
is
ready
to
retire.
Who
will
have
the
interest
in
the
details
of
legislation
and
the
analytical
skills
that
he
and
others
of
his
generation
in
the
organization
have?
This
has
to
be
a
concern
for
HRC,
the
Task
Force
and
charities
like
Food
&
Friends
as
well.
We
have
young
staffers
in
many
of
these
organizations,
but
the
boards
are
often
only
representative
of
the
older
generation.
Jon
Hoadley,
the
executive
director
of
National
Stonewall
Democrats,
is
a
great
example
of
a
young
dedicated
activist.
He
and
I
first
met
as
adversaries
at
a
meeting,
but
by
taking
the
time
later
to
meet
and
talk
I
found
I
really
admire
his
abilities
and
his
work
and
hope
he
felt
that
I
also
still
have
something
to
contribute.
I
think
we
need
to
find
the
young
activists
like
Jon
and
work
to
bring
them
together
with
the
older
activists
like
myself
and
learn
to
communicate
with
each
other.
I
want
to
be
able
to
share
some
of
the
wisdom
I
hope
I
have
gained
at
the
same
time
that
I
must
be
willing
to
begin
to
cede
the
mantel
of
leadership
to
the
younger
generation.
SOME
TIME
AGO,
I
wrote
a
column
on
the
lost
clout
of
the
Gertrude
Stein
Club
and
GLAA.
I
didn’t
mean
to
suggest
that
those
groups
aren’t
important
or
still
needed.
Rather,
the
point
was
that
those
groups
haven’t
been
able
to
make
themselves
relevant
to
the
younger
generation
in
our
community.
There
are
thousands
of
young
GLBT
people
in
D.C.
and
in
communities
across
the
nation
who
are
comfortable
in
who
they
are
and
living
good
lives.
How
do
we
get
those
young
people
to
become
activists
or
volunteers
for
organizations
that
will
serve
them
and
their
peers
in
the
future?
How
do
we
learn
to
communicate
in
the
way
in
which
they
are
comfortable?
This
is
a
challenge
to
all
of
us,
young
and
old.
I
don’t
have
the
answer
but
we
need
to
find
the
way
to
communicate
with
each
other
for
all
our
futures.
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