Fall 2010
President Bonnie R. Strickland reported: “This was the ‘gayest’ APA convention ever.” Because of the wrenching decisions we had had to make about the Manchester Hyatt as a venue for the convention, the APA leadership had gone all out to ensure that LGBT issues would be a highlight of the convention. And, this turned out to be the case. At least four different logos were available with the most prevalent being “I Support Marriage Equality” and they were everywhere.
On Saturday, August 14, 2010, over 100 members and allies of the Division gathered at the Old Town Mexican Café in San Diego for the Annual Fund Raising Dinner. Dinner tickets were in great demand and the dinner sold out even before the APA Convention's opening session. The dinner netted $7,551.25 for the Malyon-Smith scholarship fund.
Francisco J. Sánchez, Division 44 coordinator, announced the theme of the 2011 National Multicultural Conference & Summit (NMCS), “Unification through Diversity: Bridging Psychological Science and Practice in the Public Interest.”
Charles Silverstein described how the “ten percent” figure came about. I know because I was there when it was invented [in 1971]. Saying, “Well, probably something like 5 and 6 percent are completely homosexual, while another X percent . . .” caused the eyes of reporters to glaze over, and they would repeat the question. They wanted a firm and neat percentage. Ron [Gold] and Bruce [Voeller] came upon the 10 percent figure as even, neat, and meeting the reporters’ demand for concreteness.
Fall 2000
Ruth Fassinger outlined suggestions for how to find a mentor and how to get the most out of mentoring, noting that mentoring is a reciprocal experience.
Markus P. Bidell, Trevor Hart, Debbie Robinson, and Jamie McMinn were announced as winners of the Malyon-Smith Scholarship Fund. The award was increased by the Gamma Mu Foundation, Inc., whose Robin McDonald Memorial Scholarship was created to assist deserving students during graduate work in areas of importance to the gay, lesbian, and bisexual community.
Esther Rothblum presented her presidential address during the 2000 APA Convention in Washington, DC: “From Madness to Method—From Our History to Our Research.” She noted that, “the history of lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals is a history of increasing visibility. Sometimes change has been faster than we once believed possible.”
The Transgender Task Force reported that is was officially approved at the recent Executive Committee meeting and published its mission statement.
November 1990
Twenty-six hours of programming by the Division at the APA annual convention included Jan Shipppers from the Netherlands, an invited panel of Division 44’s past presidents, and an invited symposium on lesbian mothers.
Adrienne Smith, unable to attend the annual APA convention due to illness, requested that her presidential address be read by Connie Chan. Her address, “From Stigma to Paradigm: The Uses of Difference,” made the observation: "Being outsiders is a gift. It is a gift that is too easy to forget when we begin to acquire some of the perks of the insider."
A letter from Adrienne about her fight against cancer was also published in this edition of the Newsletter.
November 1985
Division 44 elected 14 Fellows who had previously been elected APA Fellows by other divisions. Douglas Kimmel was the first person elected to initial Fellow status through our Division.
Adrienne J. Smith reported on the symposium she chaired: “The panel members were part of my history as a lesbian psychologist and had each shown great personal courage in confronting the psychiatric and psychological establishments.” Del Martin discussed organizing demonstrations and presentations at the American Psychiatric Association meetings in the early 1970s. Charles Silverstein recounted zapping behavioral therapists. Gerald Davison, past president of the American
Behavioral Therapy Association, was “converted” by Silverstein. Judd Marmor, past president of the American Psychiatric Association, described the difficulties and lobbying involved in removing homosexuality from the list of mental illnesses.
Harold Kooden traced the history of the radical movement within APA. Steven Morin and Evelyn Hooker were discussants.
Greg Herek reported on a symposium on homophobia that was well attended despite its early Sunday morning time. He recalled that his first paper on the topic, submitted to APA [convention] in 1977, was rejected, in part because there was no appropriate division to host it.
Kristin Hancock reported on the Division 44 Task Force on Future Directions. Among the recommendations were the inclusion of ethnic and racial minority nominees in the Division through the use of election slates and the formation of a Task Force on Ethnic and Racial Minority Issues.