Public Policy Committee
by Nick Grant and Michèle Schlehofer, co-chairs
The Public Policy Committee has been busy over the past few months, working on several initiatives, which we are pleased to share with the division. In the current political climate, it is important that our committee be immediately responsive to legislation that impacts LGBTQ people. Division President David Pantalone, PhD, shares this concern. Based on his recommendation, the Public Policy Committee worked with both the Executive Committee and staff from the American Psychological Association Public Interest Directorate-Government Relations Office (APA PI-GRO) to update the Rapid Response Protocol. The Rapid Response Protocol allows the Public Policy Committee to provide Div. 44 position statements on federal, state and local legislation and policies affecting LGBTQ people in a swift and efficacious manner.
We have already put our Rapid Response Protocol to use. In March 2018, the White House issued a memorandum disqualifying transgender persons with gender dysphoria from military service. Using the newly-developed protocol, the Public Policy Committee took action by drafting a position statement from Div. 44 affirming the APA’s opposition to this ban, and it is available on the division websiteopens in new window (PDF, 83KB).
We have also worked to take action in response to the Department of Education’s announcement that Office of Civil Rights (OCR) will no longer investigate or take action on discrimination complaints from transgender students who are barred from using restrooms consistent with their gender identity. Working with the APA Public Interest Directorate-Government Relations Office (APA PI-GRO), we assisted with a letter, signed by Division President David Pantalone, PhD, and the interim executive director of the APA’s Public Interest Directorate, Clinton Anderson, PhD, urging the Department of Education to rescind that decision. That letter was sent from the APA to Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, and is also available on the division websiteopens in new window (PDF, 141KB).
Last year, the Public Policy Committee compiled a series of resources for social justice advocacy. A booklet was developed and is now publicly available on the division website in the resources sectionopens in new window (PDF, 723KB). We encourage you to peruse this guide and access and share the resources provided. A huge thank you to Milo Wilson for formatting the guide so beautifully.
Looking ahead, it is important, perhaps now more than ever, that we as professionals are prepared and ready to engage in effective advocacy actions. To help prepare psychologists for advocacy work, we are pleased to announce that the Public Policy Committee has organized a stand-alone pre-convention workshop at the upcoming American Psychological Association Convention in San Francisco centered on LGBTQ Advocacy. Co-sponsored by Div. 44 and Div. 9 (the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues), this one-day workshop will provide practical skills for engaging in LGBTQ advocacy. Speakers include: Allen Omoto (Claremont Graduate University), Patrick Grzanka (University of Tennessee at Knoxville), Judith Glassgold (Princeton University), Annaliese Singh (University of Georgia), Adam Fingerhut (Loyola Marymount University) and Gabe Twose from the APA Public Interest Directorate. The workshop will be held at the University of San Francisco's Downtown Campus (101 Howard Street, San Francisco). Registration is $35 for students and $75 for non-students and includes all materials, continental breakfast and a mid-afternoon snack. You can register for the workshop onlineopens in new window. We are offering five Continuing Education (CE) credits for workshop attendance at an additional cost of $10. We hope you can join us for this important event.
Also at the upcoming APA convention, the Public Policy Committee will be hosting a conversation hour in the Div. 44 APA Suite on Thursday, Aug. 9th at 2:00 p.m. The focus of our hour will be “Continuing the Conversation on LGBTQ Advocacy.” Please look for us on the program and come by and say hello. We are a small but mighty group and welcome involvement from others in the division, regardless of your career stage or level of prior experience in policy work or advocacy. If you have interest in joining the committee, please let us know by emailing either Nick at or Michèle.
Call for More Inclusive Convention Programming and Proposal Reviewing
by Jenna Brownfield and Melissa Manley
Last August, the Bisexual Issues Committee worked with the Committee for Transgender People and Gender Diversity and the Committee on Racial and Ethnic Diversity to gather input about how inclusive LGBTQ convention programs were at APA 2017 via an anonymous online questionnaire. We wanted to hear about the ways various programs did or did not demonstrate inclusivity. For example, were there times when the LGBTQ acronym was used to describe a program but only represented one or two of the identities in that acronym? Was something advertised as being general LGBTQ programming and then did not include the experiences of LGBTQ people of color or transgender and gender diverse people?
Although we did not receive the amount of responses as we hoped to, those who did respond echoed sentiments we have heard over the past few years. Whereas some convention programs exemplify inclusive representations of the LGBTQ community, there are multiple instances where programming purports to be about the general LGBTQ population but then does not include any mention of LGBTQ people of color, bisexual individuals and/or transgender and gender diverse people. We worry that continuation of this erasure in LGBTQ programming perpetuates the notion that LGBTQ people of color, bisexual people and transgender and gender diverse people do not belong within more mainstream LGBTQ spaces and discussion at the APA convention.
We believe there are ways that both Div. 44 and other entities within APA can more fully commit to addressing these concerns. We suggest the following two considerations, especially when reviewing APA proposals next year:
1. More attention be given to the naming and advertising of convention programs (i.e. give careful consideration to acronym use and if the letters in the title’s acronym are fully represented in the program itself). If it seems there is inappropriate acronym use, note it as a concern in your review.
2. Build more programming that includes LGBTQ people of color, bisexual people and/or transgender and gender diverse people in regards to the topics covered in the presentation and the presenters themselves. Again, if this does not appear evident in proposals you are reviewing, please note it in your review.
We are hopeful that a division-wide effort to create change will help decrease identity erasure. We look forward to seeing more inclusive programming at the 2018 APA Convention in San Francisco and in all future conventions.