The February 2024 meeting of the APA Council of Representatives (COR) in Washington, D.C. was a notably active one for our Division 44 COR representatives.
In collaboration with Division 54 (Society of Pediatric Psychology), and the APA Advocacy Office, your Division 44 Council representatives moved a new business item: Policy Statement on Affirming Evidence-Based Inclusive Care for Transgender, Gender Diverse, and Nonbinary Individuals, Addressing Misinformation, and the Role of Psychological Practice and Science (PDF, 90KB).opens in new window This is one time I believe even my 7th grade English teacher would excuse the lack of title brevity for the thorough breadth of this policy statement! As you may have heard by now, thanks to some dutiful, real-time meeting reporting from our own Mira Jourdan, this policy statement passed with overwhelming support (93.9% Yes, 5.5% No, .6% Abstain). The policy document is now APA policy and will enable the Association to better advocate for access to gender affirming care for transgender, gender diverse and nonbinary people. Additionally, beyond supporting access, the policy also addressed the damaging and misleading effects of misinformation and how science-based evidence can get displaced by readily propagated misinformation via informal channels of communication or during legislative hearings.
Some of you may be wondering why/how this was not already a policy of APA? After all, we are all familiar with the Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Peopleopens in new window (2015; currently in the midst of revision), as well as the edicts of non-discrimination and competency in the APA Code of Ethics which specifically denote gender identity and gender expression. Using the three-legged stool metaphor, we were missing one very important leg – APA policy. Also, as many of you may be well aware, a Division 44 working group has been focused on this very issue for some time – in collaboration with representatives from Division 17 (Society for Counseling Psychology), Division 37 (Society for Child and Family Policy and Practice), Division 53 (Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology) and Division 54 (Society of Pediatric Psychology). Together with the APA Advocacy Office and a huge lift from Katherine McGuire, APA Chief Advocacy Officer, and stewarded by our own Arlene Noriega, Council Leadership Team (CLT) Chair and member of the APA Board of Directors, this policy document was put into final form and successfully added to the February COR meeting agenda on a tight timeline.
COR is the policy making body of the APA. As such, your representatives are positioned to bring concerns, business items, and inclusive competency in representation of our Division to all of the work which transpires at COR. Often, our work is focused on examining business items brought forth by other groups or constituencies. However, moving a new business item is one of the most powerful things we can do on behalf of the Division and our concerns.
As the COR meeting dates drew near, we sought endorsements for the policy item from other COR representatives – garnering more than 40 names: Divisions (10 total signatories: Divisions 17, 31, 35, 37, 38, 39, 44, 45, 53, 54); State, Provincial and Territorial Associations, SPTAs (both Ohio Psychological Association and Colorado Psychological Association signed on); and review and recommendations for approval from pertinent boards and committees of APA (Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest, Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, and the Advocacy Coordinating Committee).
Much of the “work” of COR is done in discussion with other COR representatives. This consisted of presenting the item to members of COR via virtual caucus meetings the week before the COR meeting (yes, caucuses, like a mini-psychology version of Congress), addressing questions, concerns and gathering support; and then engaging in ongoing conversation, discussion and collaboration with members of COR during lunches, in the hotel hallways, via e-mail, you name it! With some “game time” edits to address feedback and concerns, we then hit the floor and presented the item before the 183-member body of COR. In the case of our policy item, support at the floor microphones from other members of COR was overwhelming and moving. A few members of COR expressed some concern that the public may not have an adequate understanding of the term “gender-affirming care” and offered amendments to the item to use different terminology throughout the policy document. We declined this amendment and the body of COR defeated that amendment proposal. So therein lies a bit more detail about how the APA policy “sausage” gets made. Needless to say, I left this meeting feeling more buoyed by the support of our Association than I have in some time.
As COR met over two days, obviously, there is more to report than our policy item alone. APA CEO Arthur Evans provided an update regarding the health and activities of the Association. Notably, APA membership has grown to approximately 157,000 members (2023), up from even 2022 (146K), and quite remarkably since 2020 (121K). APA media-mentions topped out at 61,000 in 2023, up from 36,700 in 2021. Evans highlighted the efforts of members to make themselves more available for media comment and connection along with APA staff. Ever in alignment with the work of our Division, Evans noted that our work at APA is, after all, about “improving the human condition.”
Below, please find a summary of many of the remaining business items discussed during this meeting:
- Resolution Opposing Involuntary Individual Isolation of Youth in Juvenile Justice Settings: PASSED (98.1% Yes). One COR member remarked that she used to be a warden in a justice setting and this resolution document would have been particularly helpful. The resolution made some specific and practical recommendations in dissuading use of involuntary isolation of youth;
- American Psychological Association/American Psychological Association Services, Inc. Strategic Plan: PASSED (92.9% Yes). The CEO of APA is tasked with providing an updated strategic plan every five years. Notably, Sarah Burgamy referenced the Vision, Mission, Guiding Principles as well as Strategic Goals and Objectives from this very plan, passed just the day prior, during the introduction of our policy item on gender affirming care;
- Resolution to Support Parents with Disabilities: PASSED (99.4%).
- Resolution on the Secure Storage of Firearms and Lethal Means Safety Strategies to Prevent Suicides: PASSED (96.3% Yes);
- Amendments to Association Rule 210–5: Dues - PASSED: COR voted to increase full member dues by $27 ($247-$274) while simultaneously reducing dues at years four through six for early career psychologists (ECP) ($149 to $124). The APA Membership office reported a significant drop-off in membership for folks in year four of the ECP “ramp up” in dues which led to the proposal to reduce the amount of the increase from years three to four and through year six;
- Resolution on Combatting Misinformation and Promoting Psychological Science Literacy: PASSED (98.1%);
- Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Older Adults: PASSED (97.5% Yes); this item included considerations for aging LGBTQ+ folks. We also provided feedback, upon passage, regarding the definition of nonbinary in the guidelines. Suggested edits to the general descriptive definition of nonbinary were submitted to Amber Roopan, APA Staff Liaison to COR, utilizing information from our Division 44 Nonbinary Fact Sheet.
- Council Leadership Team Recommendations on Council Action Items: PASSED (83.4% Yes); this item concerned how the Council Leadership Team (CLT) reviews and makes recommendations to COR pertaining to COR business items.
Submitted by Sarah E. Burgamy, PsyD on behalf of the Division 44 Council Representatives (Burgamy, Mira Jourdan, PhD & David Rivera, PhD).