SAMHSA Move Against Gay References Sparks Outcry February 16, 2005
News Summary
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is under fire from some mental-health experts for requesting that references to gays and lesbians be removed from a SAMHSA-funded suicide-prevention conference program, the Washington Post reported Feb. 16.SAMHSA project manager Brenda Bruun requested that a session at an upcoming Suicide Prevention Resource Center conference in Portland, Ore., be changed from "Suicide Prevention Among Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender Individuals" to something that does not directly reference the terms "gay," "lesbian," "bisexual," or "transgender."
Bruun told session organizer Ron Bloodworth that using the term "sexual orientation" would be acceptable. But Bloodworth noted, "Everyone has a sexual orientation. But this was about gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders. Unless you use an accurate term, the people you are trying to reach don't recognize themselves and don't attend."
"We find this behavior on the part of our government intolerable," Bloodworth wrote in an e-mail to colleagues.
SAMHSA spokesperson Mark Weber said that the agency prefers the term "sexual orientation" because it is more "inclusive." Weber added that the change was just a suggestion, not a mandate.
The inclusiveness argument did not convince Ken Stark, director of Washington state's division of alcohol and substance abuse and a member of SAMHSA's national advisory committee. "You have to ask: What's the problem?" Stark said. "I mean, other than something political, what is the problem with these words?"
Weber said the agency has received some nasty letters over the incident, including some calling SAMHSA Administrator Charles Curie a "Nazi."
COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE: