From the Newsletter 10, 15, 20, 30 and 35 years ago

Summer 2011

President Bonnie Strickland noted that this year the Division is celebrating its 25th anniversary. “I doubt that any of us could have foreseen the momentous changes in our Division and in our lives that have occurred over this last quarter of a century.”

Convention programming included: Negotiating Transphobia: Community, Work, and Mental Health Challenges; Intersecting Identities: Perspectives on Black Lesbians, Gays, and Bisexuals; Borders and Margins: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Immigrant Experiences.

Francisco J. Sánchez, Lead Coordinator and the representative for Division 44, gave a report on the 2011 NMCS, Bridging Psychological Science and Practice in the Public Interest.

The 2011 prestigious American Psychological Foundation Gold Medal Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Practice of Psychology will be given to Charles Silverstein, PhD., founder of a peer counseling center for gays and lesbians in 1971.

Multiple Minority Identities: Applications for Practice, Research, and Training, edited by Reginald Nettles, PhD and Rochelle Balter, PhD, JD, has just been published by Springer Publishing Company.

Summer 2006

President Charlotte Patterson announced that she would present a Division 44 Presidential Citation to Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry, who wrote the screenplay for Brokeback Mountain, as part of the 2006 APA Presidential Program at the New Orleans Convention.

The Division Task Force on Aging announced the publication by Columbia University Press of their edited book, Research and Clinical Perspectives on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Aging.

Chris Downs and Steven James wrote an article, “Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Foster Parents” in this issue.

Christopher Martell announced a new book in the Division 44 Book Series, Sexual Orientation and Mental Health, edited by Alan Omoto and Howard Kurtzman.

Fritz Klein, founder of the American Institute of Bisexuality who developed the multi-dimensional Klein Sexual Orientation Grid, died at age 73.

Summer 2001

President Terry Gock reported the Division had completed a survey of the President Emeriti in order to solicit their input and seek their valuable experience as past leaders of our Division. Kris Hancock summarized the responses of this “Lavender Ribbon Panel” regarding future directions of the Division.

Representatives from Division 19 (Military Psychology) asked that the ban on military advertising be lifted and it was expected that an informal meeting between Divisions 19 and 44 would be held at the convention.

Division 17 (Counseling Psychology) Section on Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Awareness (SLGBA) invited Division 44 members to consider joining their Section.

The APA Committee on Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Concerns prepared a sample letter in support of the elimination of Footnote 4 to the Accreditation Guidelines that certain religiously-based professional psychology programs have used to justify policies that discriminate against LGB students and faculty.

July 1991

The Public Interest Directorate and Division 44 will sponsor a mini-convention entitled “Beyond Stigma: Homosexuality as a Social Issue” at the APA convention in San Francisco.

Division 44 sponsors a pre-convention workshop titled: “AIDS Dementia: Critical Issues in Managing the Environment.”

The Association of Lesbian and Gay Psychologists (ALGP) is sponsoring the Fourth Annual ALGP Empowerment Conference on social activism for lesbian and gay psychologists and our friends at APA’s convention on Thursday, August 15.

The APA Board of Directors passed a recommendation to APA Council clarifying APA policy in response to the U.S. military’s request to advertise in APA publications in light of the Department of Defense policy of discrimination against lesbians and gay men.

July 1986

Alan Malyon reported that the Division 44 Task Force on Diagnostic Concerns, formed in March, met with the Work Group to Revise DSM-III on June 24. On June 27, 1986, the Board of Trustees of the American Psychiatric Association voted to recommend removal of “Ego-dystonic Homosexuality” from DSM-IIIR. Thus, we are now close to having disabused the official diagnostic nomenclature of all references which link homosexuality, either explicitly or implicitly, with psychopathology.

The APA Committee on Lesbian and Gay Concerns Task Force to Develop Guidelines for Psychotherapy with Lesbians and Gay Men has been meeting since January, 1985, and has received broad official support within APA governance. Data collection will begin this summer, representing the first empirical data ever gathered on professional practices in the delivery of psychological services to lesbians and gay men.

Linda Garnets reported that the APA Committee on Lesbian and Gay Concerns Task Force on Avoiding Heterosexual Bias: Guidelines for Ethical and Valid Research produced an excellent draft document, now being revised; and that the APA Insurance trust is unwilling to eliminate the one-year waiting period for its “spouse-equivalents” coverage.

Armand Cerbone reported that a group of Midwest psychologists and students from four states met in Chicago to discuss common issues and to devise strategies for establishing a regional support system.