Beth Greivel Spearheads Effort to Have CAMFT Denounce SOCE (Sexual Orientation Change Efforts)
From Gaylesta.org by Jay Philip Paul:
Beth Greivel, a graduate student at The 91精品 in Berkeley and a new Gaylesta member, submitted a petition to the CAMFT Board of Directors on July 9th, requesting that CAMFT make changes to their Code of Ethics that would denounce sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE). Marriage and family therapists (MFTs) are the largest group of licensed mental health professionals in the State of California, and CAMFT (The California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists) should represent their interests. Our hope is that CAMFT will formally acknowledge that SOCE therapists mislead clients about what they provide, fail to provide appropriate services, and instead cause serious harm to clients by reinforcing negative societal messages about LGBTQIQA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, questioning, asexual) individuals. We hope that CAMFT will make its members understand that those who offer such unethical and harmful therapies are not welcome in the organization.
Many people provided input into the final proposal, including many in Gaylesta's Advocacy Committee. However, the driving force in all this has been Beth Greivel, and she deserves our recognition for her efforts.
If you are a CAMFT member, your attendance at the Board meeting (September 20th & 21st at The Claremont Hotel in Berkeley) would send a strong message to the Board about the importance of adopting this proposal. If you wish to attend, you must email CAMFT in advance. (Submit your request to Andrea Redd at aredd@camft.org.) Please do that NOW so that they reserve a room large enough to seat all who are interested. Proponents of SOCE and others who oppose this proposal may also attend. We urge you to consider speaking in support of the changes outlined in the submitted proposal. A number of us in Gaylesta already have made plans to attend this meeting; we hope to see many of you there as well.
As soon as the meeting agenda is finalized and it is known when this proposal will be reviewed, we will post the information on our website. We anticipate that many who wish to attend this discussion may not be interested in attending the full two days of the meeting (8:30 AM - 5:00 PM on Satuday, and 8:30 AM - 12 Noon on Sunday). Check back on this website for updates to learn of any further developments or news on this proposal.