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Chananya Weissman writes another incisive article:

If you ask your fellow Jew to define the term “ba`al teshuva,” the
response is almost certain to be “someone who didn`t grow up
religious.” If you press for a more specific answer, you`ll get
“didn`t always observe the laws of Shabbos and kashrus.” The ba`al
teshuva is to be contrasted with the Frum From Birth (“FFB”), the
latter being a far more desirable species of Jew.

While ba`alei teshuva are lauded for their return to an observant
lifestyle, and even admired for the challenges they must overcome, they
never manage to shake the stigma of not being Frum From Birth. This
stigma is even transferred to children and the extended family, as if
it is a genetic defect of spiritual proportions. Not surprisingly,
ba`alei teshuva have a significantly lower value on the shidduch
market, and in general have a much lower ceiling in the observant
Jewish community. The definition of ba`al teshuva as one who was
previously less observant and the resulting lower status of those
saddled with the term is one of only a few things the myriad splinters
of observant Jewry (particularly FFB`s) agree upon.

Of course, it could hardly be further from the truth, with catastrophic
repercussions to suit.

[...]

So what exactly is a “ba`al teshuva”? An individual, says Rabbi
Yehuda, who had repeated opportunity to sin and was spared (Midrash
Aggada Vayikra 16). Rabbi Eliezer further teaches that one should
repent one day before his death. His students asked whether one can
know when one will die in order to schedule this repentance. Rabbi
Eliezer replied that, all the more so, one must repent every day in
case death comes tomorrow – and thus one will be a “ba`al
teshuva” all one`s days (Shabbos 65B). This teaching, in fact,is
cited as halacha in the Rif: it is an obligation for one to be a ba`al
teshuva.

We must further note that, based on this teaching, one can lose the
glorious title of ba`al teshuva if he discontinues his repentance.

[...]

Yet while so many Jews turn their lives upside down over the most
remote concerns with kashrus, that which the Torah treated with utmost
priority is trampled upon. Nowadays it has become completely mainstream
in the shidduch world for contestants to be made to divulge whether
they are ba̓alei teshuva and, if so, for how long. Those who must
check this unfortunate box on the questionnaire are essentially branded
as undesirables.

There can be no greater violation of the previous source, no greater
“reminder” of one`s past lifestyle, than this – yet there is no
public outcry over this travesty, no rabbinic condemnation of this
defilement of those who are pure.

I would not be at all surprised if this widespread injustice is
partially responsible for the degradation the Jewish people suffer at
the hands of the nations of the world. After all, Hashem always repays
in kind.

[...]

Judaism does indeed have a lower class: those who fail to earn the
privilege of being referred to as ba`alei teshuva.

Chananya Weissman was born into an observant family, is proud to be a
ba`al teshuva of 26 years, and is envious of those who become observant
despite not sharing the advantage of an observant upbringing. He is the
founder of www.endthemadness.org, and can be contacted at
a...@endthemadness.org.

Full article at
http://www.jewishpress.com/news_article.asp?article=4887