Saige's Journal: Administration Showing Anti-Gay Bias

The following information was passed on to me via a GLBT mailing list that I was on, and it's very distressing. It makes me worry about the direction this country is headed under the current administration.

From: Reid Vanderburgh < mailto:[e-mail]
<mailto:[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2005 6:23 PM
Subject: Who's next?
 
Hello colleagues and friends,
 
Recently, I was asked to help present a workshop on suicide prevention among GLBT individuals, at the third in a series of five regional conferences on suicide prevention in the U.S. This particular conference covers Public Health Regions 9 and 10 (basically, the entire west coast). Following is a statement my co-presenters and I have prepared outlining recent chilling events surrounding our workshop. One interesting thing to note - the two previous conferences, one in New Orleans and the other in Denver, contained workshops very similar to ours and were not a problem. The difference? Both were held PRIOR to the last election. We give permission to forward this to whoever you believe needs to read it:
 
Statement of Concern and Protest
 
Government funders within the Bush Administration at SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) notified the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) that SAMHSA Administrator, Charles Curie, would not be allowed to attend a SPRC regional conference on suicide prevention if conference organizers went forward with a workshop title that included the words "gay", "lesbian", "bisexual", and "transgender". The conference is scheduled to take place in Portland, Oregon, February 28-March 2. The original title of the workshop was "Suicide Prevention Among Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, and Transgender Individuals."
 
On January 31, Lloyd Potter, SPRC Center Director, contacted workshop presenters Ron Bloodworth, Joyce Liljeholm and Reid Vanderburgh and requested that we come up with alternative wording for the workshop so that the words "gay", "lesbian", "bisexual", or "transgender" did not appear in the workshop title or descriptor.
 
We worked with SPRC to create alternative wording so that the workshop could continue to be offered but we expressed deep concern about government intrusion to remove any reference to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people in the workshop title and descriptor. After agreeing to the title "Suicide Prevention in Vulnerable Populations", we were told that the new title would be acceptable to SAMHSA and that we could use the term "sexual orientation" in the workshop descriptor but that the term "gender identity" would "not fly with SAMHSA".
 
We are still planning to offer the workshop as originally planned even though the workshop title and descriptor had to be changed but we will not be quiet about the heavy handed efforts of SAMSHA to render gay, lesbian, bisexual, and/or transgender people invisible. The action of our government in this regard is the very reason a workshop on suicide prevention with gay, lesbian, bisexual, and/or transgender individuals is needed. How ironic! The discriminatory and intimidating actions of SAMHSA and the Bush Administration should not go unchallenged and should be of concern to all Americans.
 
It's important to note that Oregon Senator Gordon Smith is scheduled to attend the conference as part of his support for suicide prevention efforts in the U.S. We urge you to use the attached contact information to express your concern to SAMHSA Administrator Charles Curie, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Mike Leavitt, Oregon Senator Gordon Smith, and other members of Congress from your state that represents you.
 
Thank you for your concern and support.
 
Ron Bloodworth, MA, LPC, Portland, OR
Joyce Liljeholm, MEd, Portland, OR
Reid Vanderburgh, MA, Portland, OR
 
Contact Information for Government Officials:
 
Charles Curie
Office of the Administrator
SAMHSA
Rockville, MD 20850
Tel: [phone]
[e-mail]
 
Mike Leavitt
Secretary of Health and Human Services 200 Independence Ave. SW
Washington, D.D. 20201
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
 
Senator Gordon Smith
404 Russell Bldg
Washington, D.C. 20510-3704
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
http://gsmith.senate.gov/webform.htm
 
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
[e-mail]
 
Reid Vanderburgh, MA
Holistic Psychotherapy
1020 SW Taylor, Suite 630
Portland, Oregon 97205
[phone]
www.transtherapist.com