Petition CAMFT to Support LGBTQ Mental Health

Target:

The Board of California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists

Sponsored by:

California Therapists for Marriage Equality

Please join with California Therapists for Marriage Equality in demanding that the Board of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists seriously address LGBTQ equality as the mental health issue that it is, as well as taking accountability for soliciting and publishing material that defames LGBTQ people.

Dear CAMFT Board,

We, the undersigned, find the stance the CAMFT Board has taken regarding same-sex relationships and parenting to be of grave concern to all who work with, are allies of,
or are part of the LGBTQ community. In addition to refusing to take a
public stand on marriage and parenting equality, articles were recently solicited by
CAMFT for its professional publication endorsing discrimination against
LGBTQ people as a valid stance for mental health professionals.

Articles that defame and de-humanize the LGBTQ
community in a publication geared to mental health professionals
affects the larger community. CAMFT has directly undermined gains that
have been made in the mental health field to discredit hurtful myths
and stereotypes that affect LGBTQ people.

Mental health organizations such as the American Psychological
Association, American Psychiatric Association and American Academy of
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry have unequivocally debunked research
cited in your publication. All of these organizations are taking an
active role in educating the public as to why de-stigmatizing same-sex relationships and parenting is an important mental health issue. Even historically conservative organizations such as the American Psychoanalytic Association have condemned "reparative" treatments. All of these organizations have actively repudiated the very positions of the authors that CAMFT actively sought out to argue a case against marriage equality and same-sex parenting.

Putting out a publication with parallel sections for and against
same-sex relationships and parenting means CAMFT takes the stance that
both viewpoints are equally valid and have equal professional
legitimacy. This stance causes direct damage to LGBTQ people as it
explicitly legitimizes discrimination as a valid position for those in
the psychotherapeutic community, a community that many LGBTQ people
both work in and turn to.

Hate crimes and discrimination against the LGBTQ community are real.
All who work with, are part of, or are allies of LGBTQ people should
feel assured when either going to or referring to an MFT in California
that MFT%u2019s are committed to providing appropriate treatment.
Appropriate treatment and best practices do not include viewing
same-sex relationships as intrinsically pathological. The California
Association of Marriage and Family Therapists is giving no public
assurance that MFT%u2019s are committed to best practices and appropriate
treatment in regards to LGBTQ people.

We, the undersigned, support the many MFT%u2019s who demand that CAMFT
rectify this situation. We join them in asking the organization to
rigorously examine how, under the guise of "healthy discourse,"
blatant discrimination, vilification, and defamation came
to be portrayed as a legitimate mental health stance.

It is our hope that we can restore our faith in the Marriage and
Family Therapists of California by your efforts to join the
professional ranks of those who support the mental and physical health of LGBT individuals and families via best practice as well as commitment to furthering education regarding cultural sensitivity and competence regarding treating LGBTQ peoples.

We, the undersigned, believe that your stance on this issue affects
the greater community and must be rectified.

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We signed the "Petition CAMFT to Support LGBTQ Mental Health" petition!

# 193:

11:44 am PST, Nov 9, Karyn King, United Kingdom

# 192:

9:28 am PDT, Oct 14, Carole Hagen, Oregon

# 191:

6:40 pm PDT, Oct 1, Kimberly Wong, California

# 190:

8:48 pm PDT, Sep 28, Carol Hagler, California
How could these articles possibly have been published by an organization affiliated in any way with the APA, who have so strongly opposed such baseless bigotry wrapped in the guise of professional recommendations? It's appalling.

# 189:

8:38 pm PDT, Sep 28, Lucia Olson, California

# 188:

11:53 am PDT, Sep 28, Pam DeLitta, Texas

# 187:

2:57 pm PDT, Sep 4, Name not displayed, California
Reading the articles from your publication certainly make me question the legitimacy of CAMFT. I cannot believe that a therapists' organization could possible publish such tripe.

# 186:

11:16 am PDT, Sep 3, Kristine Kuebler, California
I find it an outrage that CAMFT would publish tripe that demeans or minimizes the LGBT community. I'm a lesbian and have lesbian friends who are some of the best parents I know. Shame on CAMFT.

# 185:

12:42 pm PDT, Aug 25, Robert Michael Andrews, Florida
This is the kind of things that were being published about gay people in the 1960's. i can't believe it's still going on. From what i Know homosexuality is no longer considered a disease. At least according to the DSM IV. Amnesty International's Project Outfront at www.amnestyusa.org/outfront

# 184:

11:28 am PDT, Aug 25, Sara Astarte Lippman, California
Please take a stand to show support for marriage equality.

# 183:

8:53 am PDT, Aug 10, Nancy Scotton, California

# 182:

11:36 pm PDT, Aug 5, Jodi Perelman, California
I am a licensed MFT in California.

# 181:

6:11 pm PDT, Aug 5, Jeffrey Kennedy, California
Shame on CAMFT! MFTs should certainly think twice before associating with such an organization. Therapist heal thyself.

# 180:

9:57 pm PDT, Aug 2, Scott Salberg, Florida
WHAT are you THINKING?!?!??!

# 179:

9:30 pm PDT, Aug 2, Stephen Zollman, California
As a lawyer who represents children who rely on and need therapy..this is simply an affront to all unions of concerned people who do their best to raise them...

# 178:

9:15 pm PDT, Aug 2, Name not displayed, California
I refuse to renew my membership with CAMFT in response to the article “An Inside Look at Gay Parenting" in the May/June issue of "The Therapist" until a formal apology is issued. I find the inclusion of this discriminatory & hateful article deplorable and unacceptable. I strongly urge CAMFT to issue a formal apology (most especially the LGBT community) for the harm caused by your editor's poor judgement.

# 177:

3:55 pm PDT, Aug 2, John Geiger, Pennsylvania

# 176:

3:24 pm PDT, Aug 2, Alonso Duralde, California

# 175:

2:02 pm PDT, Aug 2, Rebecca Campbell, Nevada
I am extremely disturbed that there was not disclaimer about the articfle by Austin R. Nimocks who serves as senior legal counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund at its Team Resource Center in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Alliance Defense Fund was formed by D. James Kennedy of Coral Ridge Ministries, James C. Dobson of Focus on the Family, William Bright of the Campus Crusade for Christ more than 30 other Christian ministries, as a response to the American Civil Liberties Union. ADF's major focus is strategizing and coordinating with hundreds of lawyers and right-wing groups to defend what they define as "Christian legal issues." Examples include anti-gay cases like Boy Scouts of America v. Dale and Schenck v. Pro-Choice Network, and a national strategy to "protect marriage," following Vermont's decision to allow same-sex civil unions. They are pro-life and anti-gay and their ultimate goal is to see the law and government of the US enshrined with conservative Christian principles based on Old Testament law. Their agenda is to seek the criminalization of same sex love, abortion and divorce. They believe only Christian Churches should maintain schools and that Christianity should be the only religion one is allowed to practice in the United States.

# 174:

1:51 pm PDT, Aug 2, Jane Wishon, California
As a straight mother of 3, I have seen both gay and straight couples parenting their children - I can find no differences except that I find gay couples tend to be more accepting of their children's individuality. Having loving parents is more important than the gender of those parents.

# 173:

1:48 pm PDT, Aug 2, Matt Brister, Illinois
It's embarrassing that the United States still discriminates against a group of people.

# 172:

1:35 pm PDT, Aug 2, Name not displayed, New Jersey
This is outrageous, are we stuck in the dark ages??

# 171:

4:17 pm PDT, Jul 31, Rebecca Mandeville-Chong, California
I teach on Multicultural and Diversity awareness at the Graduate level (MACP students). I can no longer in good conscience refer my students to CAMFT or to "The Therapist" magazine due to the Board's apparent disregard of social justice concerns, including civil rights, as well as a disregard of editorial responsibility (the May/June "against" same-sex marriage articles being the most egregious to date). Anyone familiar with even the basics of "critical analysis" in regard to professional, peer-appropriate journalism (including my own first-year MA students) would have discerned immediately that the articles in question did not merit inclusion, as I pointed out in my own letter to the CAMFT Board, sent earlier this week. There is no excuse for persisting in this "stance of Silence" - This is a civil rights issue and it IS our concern - We are MARRIAGE and family therapists - It is time for CAMFT to break its organizational silence and take a stand in support of same-sex marriage. I say this as a straight, Caucasian woman married to an Asian man - A marriage that would, like same-sex marriage today, have been illegal in many states less than 70 years ago due to "definitional" exclusions - A rationale that is no different than the rationale being used to ban same-sex marriages today.

# 170:

1:42 pm PDT, Jul 29, Tony Naaman, Texas

# 169:

7:09 pm PDT, Jul 28, Sarah McConnaughey, Nevada

# 168:

3:36 pm PDT, Jul 24, Anne Persons, South Carolina
It is vital that all members in the mental health field--psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, therapists, and social workers--go beyond simply being aware of LGBTQ issues. They need to be educated and exposed. All of us need to go beyond tolerance and work towards acceptance. This is important everywhere. Do no harm: it applies in the mental health field just as much as it does in the medical field.

# 167:

5:55 pm PDT, Jul 20, Ava Rose, LCSW, California
Yet another reason for aspiring clinicians to chose SOCIAL WORK over the MFT. I apologize to all those MFTs who stand for civil rights--you must be horrified that your professional organization does not.

# 166:

1:33 pm PDT, Jul 18, Name not displayed, California

# 165:

7:33 pm PDT, Jul 16, Kennita Watson, California

# 164:

4:20 pm PDT, Jul 16, Virginia Blue, California

# 163:

2:59 am PDT, Jul 15, Sigrid De Ruyck, Canada

# 162:

10:52 pm PDT, Jul 13, Linda Barra, MSW. LCSW, California

# 161:

10:45 am PDT, Jul 13, Name not displayed, California

# 160:

8:40 am PDT, Jul 13, Samuel Celestine, California

# 159:

10:03 pm PDT, Jul 10, Bruce Watkins, California
This kind of inaction on the part of a profesional psychological association might have ben ignored when I was young. I would have endured it silently. But not, today. For the good of your LGBT members, CAMFT needs to support marriage equality, now.

# 158:

7:59 pm PDT, Jul 10, Stanley Harris, California
The Southern California Psyciatric Society has joined the California Psychiatric Association in support of explicit American Psyhiatric Association policy recognizing the importance of marriage equality for mental health in Californina. Therefore, organized psychiatry opposed Proposition 8. If your organization would like to be credible, please join the other leaders in mental health in promoting marriage equality for all families, regardless of gender or orientation.

# 157:

4:37 pm PDT, Jul 10, Jens Schmidt, PhD, California
I am outraged by CAMFTs decision to trample on the civil rights of the LGBT community which also includes many marriage and family therapists. As a teacher of ethics in psychotherapy in several graduate programs it was my practice to emphatically encourage my MFT students to join CAMFT early on in their career. In fact, I even encouraged my psychology students since CAMFT appeared to provide excellent services. The apparent lack of cultural competence and the blatant disregard of issues of social justice displayed by CAMFT will now be a new topic for my lectures. And i am confident that my students will show more sophistication than the CAMFT board.

# 156:

3:10 pm PDT, Jul 10, Craig Peterson, California
Marriage equality is extremely important and should be treated with much more awareness and accuracy by CAMFT. There is no place any longer for bigotry, hate, and discrimination in our country.

# 155:

1:26 pm PDT, Jul 10, Erik Schott, MSW, LCSW, California

# 154:

1:02 pm PDT, Jul 10, Susan Holt, California

# 153:

7:47 am PDT, Jul 10, Patricia McDermott, California

# 152:

6:18 am PDT, Jul 10, Sherie Hayden, Canada

# 151:

8:07 pm PDT, Jul 9, Guillermo Alvarez, MFT, California

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