Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Phony medical group receives numerous rebukes for anti-gay web page

Yesterday, I posted that University of Minnesota researcher Dr. Gary Remafedi, M.D., M.P.H. accused the American College of Pediatricians of distorting his work on its anti-gay web page, Facts About Youth.

Today, the group is facing another rebuke for its site and this time it's from a more legitimate medical group, the American Academy of Pediatrics.

According to Truth Wins Out, the group released a statement which said:

In 2008, a diverse coalition of 13 national organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) joined in a renewed effort to protect the safety and emotional well-being of students, including those who are at higher risk because of their sexual orientation. This group of education, health, mental health and religious organizations developed and endorsed Just the Facts about Sexual Orientation and Youth: A Primer for Principals, Educators, and School Personnel and sent the resource to public school superintendents across the US.

On or around March 31, 2010, school superintendents may have received another letter from the American College of Pediatricians, which is in no way affiliated with the American Academy of Pediatrics. The letter promotes another campaign titled “Facts About Youth,” which professes to offer guidance to educators on “approaches to students experiencing sexual orientation and gender identity confusion.” Their campaign does not acknowledge the scientific and medical evidence regarding sexual orientation, sexual identity, sexual health, or effective health education.

The AAP encourages school administrators and officials, teachers, parents, and youth to become familiar with and utilize the AAP developed and endorsed resources on this issue for reliable, sound, scientific, medical advice:

Just the Facts about Sexual Orientation and Youth: A Primer for Principals, Educators, and School Personnel – A guide for employees who confront sensitive issues involving gay, lesbian and bisexual students. It is intended to help school administrators foster safe and healthy school environments, in which all students can achieve to the best of their ability. “Just the Facts” includes the most recent information from professional health organizations, as well as up-to-date information on the legal responsibility of school officials to protect students from anti-gay harassment.

Sexual Orientation and Adolescents – A clinical report from the AAP Committee on Adolescence.

Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Teens: Information for Teens and Parents – Questions and answers from the AAP for teens and parents about sexual orientation.

Gay and Lesbian Teens – Information on sexual orientation from the AAP’s Caring for Your Teenager.

Gender Identity and Gender Confusion in Children – Information on gender identity, sexual stereotypes, gender confusion, and sexual orientation from the AAP’s Caring for Your School Aged Child: Ages 5-12.

While not as full of fire as I had hoped, the statement, coupled with Remafedi's complaint (and a blistering review from professor Warren Throckmorton of Grove City College, a conservative Christian) does more than enough to expose the holes and faulty research of Facts About Youth and the American College of Pediatricians in general.

However, as Truth Wins Out points out, the ACP has not corrected its site and religious right groups continue to push the site's research as if it's credible.

Why should anyone be surprised? I guess they figure when one is fighting for God, truth and integrity are expendable casualties.

Hat tip to Truth Wins Out

Related posts:

American College of Pediatricians, NARTH pushes new site featuring old anti-gay lies

The American College of Pediatricians and the Laundering of Junk Science



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