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from Social Issues
Division 44 President Decries
Diversity In 'Diversity' Conference
April 26, 2005 -
Michael Stevenson, president of Division 44, (Society for the
Psychological Study of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Issues) with the American
Psychological Association, has recently editorialized against a "coming out"
presentation presented at a multicultural/diversity conference.
Stevenson attended the 2005 National Multicultural Conference and Summit in
January in Hollywood, California. The subtitle of the conference was "The
Psychology of Race/Ethnicity, Gender, Sexual Orientation, and Disability: What
Works, With Whom and Under What Circumstances."
One of the workshops was conducted by Regent University Professor Mark Yarhouse,
and two doctoral candidates: Heather Brook and Ediza Garcia. The title of their
workshop was "Sexual Minorities: Clinical Considerations for the Coming Out
Process."
In his editorial on the summit, Stevenson noted: "Despite our best efforts, a
'critical incident' cast such an emotional pall over the meeting that it
requires some further discussion." The "critical incident" was the Regent
University workshop. According to Stevenson, "Under the guise of offering a
'diversity' of view points, the students described a model of coming out that is
inconsistent with the scientific literature that constitutes LGBT psychology, as
it equated forms of reparative therapy and 'Homosexuals Anonymous' with gay
affirming approaches to therapy."
According to Stevenson, this kind of workshop must not be permitted in the
future. "We must do what is appropriate and necessary to prevent such incidents
in the future as it is our responsibility to prevent the suffering of our LGBT
brothers and sisters when we can."
Updated: 8 February 2008
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