Division Dialogue | October 2012

LGBTC Committee update

The Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns Office share the following updates for division members
The Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns (CLGBTC)

  • The CLGBTC presented its 2012 Outstanding Achievement Award to Robert-Jay Green, PhD, at the APA Convention in Orlando, Fla., on Aug. 4. 

  • A project of the CLGBTC Dissemination & Implementation Subcommittee was to develop a continuing professional education workshop on affirmative psychotherapeutic interventions for clients seeking to change their sexual orientation. The workshop was developed by Timothy R. Moragne, PsyD, and Kathleen Ritter, PhD, piloted at the National Council of Schools and Programs in Professional Psychology 2012 Mid-Winter Conference, and offered by APA as a continuing education workshop at the 2012 APA Annual Convention. The APA Education Directorate’s Continuing Professional Education Department recorded the workshop to package as an online continuing education program. The online program consists of the presenter recording with synchronized digital slides and was scheduled to become available in mid-September 2012. The subcommittee anticipated that this project would serve as a model for developing CE trainings and webinars from other APA guidelines and task force reports. 

  • Dr. Clinton W. Anderson presented a PowerPoint presentation based on the workshop titled "Conflicts between Same-sex Sexual Orientation and Religion: A Framework for Affirmative Psychotherapy" at a brief session at the International Congress of Psychology 2012 in Cape Town, South Africa. The National Multicultural Conference and Summit 2013 has accepted a proposal submitted by Dr. Parrish Paul on behalf of the CLGBTC for a roundtable discussion based on the workshop.

  • The CLGBTC welcomes the suggestions of APA members on other trainings and other types of resources for general or specific audiences based on APA guidelines and task force reports for the subcommittee to consider undertaking. 

  • A significant project for the CLGBTC in the coming year will be to lead collaborations on the revising and updating of several APA resources including Lesbian & Gay Parenting (which consistently ranks among the top pages visited on the Public Interest Directorate’s website), the 1993 resolution on Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Youth in Schools, and the informational brochure Answering Your Questions About Individuals with Intersex Conditions. 

  • Call for nominations for the 2013 Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns Outstanding Achievement Awards. 

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns Office (LGBTCO)

  • The LGBTCO serves as the secretariat for the International Network on Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Concerns and Transgender Issues in Psychology. The main recent activity of the International Network was to solicit and promote LGBT-related programming for the 30th International Congress of Psychology, which took place in Cape Town, South Africa July 22-27, 2012. With the support of a previously reported Arcus Foundation grant to APA, seven representatives to the International Network, two alternates representing APA — Sharon Horne, PhD, and Armand Cerbone, PhD — and LGBTCO staff participated. The LGBT programming stream was robust and very well attended. A highlight was the pre-conference workshop "African psychology guidelines for LGBTI-affirmative practice: global and local experiences", and a symposium on the same topic open to all attendees, for which the Arcus grant supported the participation of a delegation of eight mental health professionals and advocates from East and West African countries including Cameroon, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda. The LGBTCO produced a promotional resource, Programs Related to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns: A Quick Reference Guide (PDF, 282KB), for distribution at the conference. 

  • The LGBTCO worked with the APA Office of General Counsel on the development of two amicus briefs: 

  1. Golinski v. United States Office of Personnel Management, filed in July, a case before the Ninth Circuit Court challenging part of Defense of Marriage Act.

  2. Windsor v. United States of America and Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the U.S. House of Representatives, filed in September, a case before the Second Circuit Court also challenging DOMA. 

  • The LGBTCO developed successful communications for International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, May 17 — which broke APA Facebook page records — and LGBT Pride Month. 

  • In September, the LGBTCO published an online Spanish language version of Answers to Your Questions for a Better Understanding of Sexual Orientation and Homosexuality.