The Gay and Lesbian Medical Association on June 2 applauded the publication of an American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement, “Sexual Orientation and Adolescence,” in the June 2004 issue of Pediatrics.
GLMA says the six-page document examines barriers to health care faced by sexual minority youth and “reaffirms the physician’s responsibility to provide comprehensive health care and guidance in a safe and supportive environment for all adolescents, including nonheterosexual adolescents and young people who are struggling with issues of sexual orientation.”
The ex-gay network Exodus is a critic of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which is “the premier professional organization of pediatricians and pediatric sub-specialists in the US and has over 50,000 members nationwide.” In April and again in May, Exodus bypassed the professional pediatric group when it needed scientific support. Instead, Exodus consulted a small, Bible Belt-based, antigay doctors’ outfit called the American College of Pediatricians.
More information will be forthcoming, when Exodus announces its reaction to the AAP policy statement.
I notice the latest arsenal in the Christian Right’s war against gay rights and equality is the ACP. I don’t think Exodus and their ilk ever recovered from the official declassification of homosexuality as a disorder (a decision supported by various studies even at the time) and are in the process of a highly sophisticated PR offensive to counter it.
As despicable as I find it, the creation of the ACP is a smart move: most non-medics can barely distinguish between all the official American medical groups such as the AAP, APA, etc. How many uninformed people reading Exodus propoganda will be convinced that the ACP is actually the official group of American pediatricians? How much longer before they form their own version of the APA itself?
Again, this is an old tactic. I noticed that Lyndon LaRoushe (sp?) started it in the 80s – If you can’t find experts who agree with you, create them. I call it incestuous reporting.