PFOX answers PFLAG

April 19, 2007

The Honorable Nancy Navarro, President
Dr. Jerry Weast, Superintendent
Montgomery County Board of Education
850 Hungerford Drive
Rockville, MD 20850

Dear Ms. Navarro and Dr. Weast:

This is in response to Mr. David Fishback’s February 9, 2007 letter to the Montgomery Board of Education where he erroneously states that PFOX’s message is that homosexuality is a curable “disease.” We at Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX) have only recently become aware of his letter.

As you know, Mr. Fishback is the discredited former chair of your curriculum advisory committee for the revised sex education lessons. Under his leadership, Mr. Fishback’s committee produced an illegal curriculum which reflected extreme views, and resulted in our having to file a lawsuit in order to stop its implementation. The court agreed with us and consequently the Board threw out Fishback’s curriculum. Mr. Fishback is now on the board of Metro DC Parent and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), an organization which is anti-ex-gay and seeks to silence former homosexuals. Mr. Fishback again seeks to influence the curriculum although his past history should discredit what he has to say. In short, he is once again leading you down the wrong path.

Indeed, Mr. Fishback’s public statements about PFOX’s mission of “curing homosexuality” are totally false. We realize that Mr. Fishback is passionate about this issue because he has two gay sons, but that is no reason to spread falsehoods about our organization or the ex-gay community. PFOX is not in the business of “curing” homosexuals or anyone else. We support families with gay children and advocate for tolerance for the ex-gay community. Ex-gays are already here, no matter how much Mr. Fishback wishes they would go away. Being ex-gay is not a disease and seeking help for unwanted same-sex attractions is not a disease either.

Ex-gays and their supporters should not have to be closeted for fear of other’s negative reactions or disapproval. They do not think something is wrong with them because they decided to fulfill their heterosexual potential. Nor do they believe others should condemn them for the personal decision they have made for their lives. The ex-gay movement is a civil rights movement to ensure the safety and inclusion of former homosexuals in all realms of society, and to support the ex-gay community’s equal access to public schools and other public venues.

Contrary to Mr. Fishback’s implications, none of the “major” medical associations prohibit therapy for unwanted same-sex attractions. Indeed, the associations adhere to a code of ethics which call for client self-determination of their individual therapy, whether it be gay affirming therapy or change therapy. The American Psychological Association (APA), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), etc., documents and selective statements from those documents, as submitted by Mr. Fishback, emanate from a small group of gay members or gay committees within those associations and have not been adopted by the entire association – they are not mainstream. Indeed, Mr. Fishback’s APA document was part of the invalidated curriculum and true to form, Mr. Fishback once again wants to insert in the new curriculum statements from this document even though the entire document was thrown out with the prior curriculum.

The AAP clinical guidance report submitted by Mr. Fishback is prefaced by a restrictive statement that reads: “The guidance in this report does not indicate an exclusive course of treatment or serve as a standard of medical care. Variations, taking into account individual circumstances, may be appropriate.” Mr. Fishback omits this information.

Mr. Fishback is also mistaken in his assumption that all ex-gays underwent therapy. Each year, thousands of men and women with unwanted same-sex attractions make the personal decision to leave a gay identity through gender affirming programs as diverse as faith based ministries, support groups, therapy, or other non-judgmental environments.

Mr. Fishback’s assertion that the American Medical Association (AMA) rejects “ex-gay views” is also patently false. Neither the AMA nor any of its committees have ever rejected ex-gays or supported intolerance of the ex-gay community. Indeed, ex-gays are members of the AMA. Further, no medical or mental health association supports intolerance against former homosexuals, which is the real issue here, and not therapy.

Tolerance is our viewpoint – not Mr. Fishback’s and PFLAG’s obsession with therapy. As we have repeatedly stated in our appeal, speeches before the Board, and Curriculum Advisory Committee (CAC) meetings, no other sexual orientation or gender identity in the Montgomery County Public School system (MCPS) receives the blatant intolerance that the ex-gay community is subjected to. The new sex ed lessons promote tolerance of homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals, transgenders, cross-dressers, and the intersexed. Yet the only sexual orientation in MCPS which receives no respect or tolerance is that of ex-gays. It is contrary to sound educational policy to devise a sex ed curriculum for the purpose of teaching "Respect for Differences in Human Sexuality" while excluding the only sexual orientation in MCPS that is actually subject to disrespect. COMAR 13A.01.05.05(B)(1). In light of the hostility shown to the ex-gay community by MCPS, including some of the CAC members, reasoning minds could not have concluded that ex-gays should be excluded from the tolerance portion of the new curriculum. COMAR 13A.01.05.05(B)(2).

As detailed in our lawsuit, three of the CAC members showed outright disrespect and intolerance of the ex-gay community by public emails, statements, and blogs continually written against PFOX and former homosexuals. These committee members stereotyped former homosexuals and misrepresented PFOX’s mission to the public, the Board, and the CAC. For example, one of the CAC members, Teach the Facts, compared our representation of the ex-gay community to the Klan and child molesters, despite PFOX’s mission of tolerance for both ex-gays and gays. Teach the Facts also helped to organize a picket against an ex-gay conference in Montgomery County last summer where they labeled the ex-gay community a “cruel hoax.” Another CAC member, Matthew Murguía, falsely claimed that ex-gays are subjected to ice baths, electric shock therapy, and viewing pornography. And, of course, PFLAG continually stereotypes former homosexuals and misrepresents PFOX’s mission. Yet these same members promote tolerance for gays, the intersexed, cross-dressers, and transgenders, and their curriculum recommendations on tolerance for their favored sexual orientation groups were accepted while our recommendation on tolerance for former homosexuals was rejected.

The pilot curriculum discriminates against former homosexuals while favoring other sexual orientations and relegates ex-gays to second class citizenship. The pilot lessons pick and choose which sexual orientations they favor, in violation of the Board’s own Instruction to the curriculum committee and non-discrimination policies which mandate tolerance and non-discrimination for all sexual orientations, and in violation of state law which requires that sexual variations be taught and not just the ones PFLAG favors. In this kind of intolerant atmosphere, it is impossible for students who have overcome or are attempting to overcome unwanted same-sex attractions to reveal themselves to their peers or teachers. Similarly, students who admit to having ex-gay friends or family members are subject to harassment in MCPS’s hostile learning environment

In addition to his inaccurate allegations, Mr. Fishback’s reasoning is similarly flawed. Although Fishback insists that the curriculum should state that homosexuality is not considered a mental disorder by “mainstream” medical associations, he fails to cite that transgenders are classified as having a treatable mental disorder by these same associations. Transgenderism, gender dysphoria, and gender identity disorder constitute mental illnesses according to the American Psychiatric Associations’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). Yet the curriculum does not state this fact. Instead, it implies that transgendered students should seek unisex bathrooms instead of counseling. If we follow Mr. Fishback’s logic, why isn’t trangenderism identified as a mental disorder in the curriculum?

We are also disturbed to learn that Dr. Carol Plotsky, the chair of the curriculum advisory committee, is a supporter and donor to PFLAG, Fishback’s organization. Dr. Plotsky’s generous donation to PFLAG lends even more credibility to our legal argument that the recommendations of the advisory committee were biased, as detailed in our appeal.

As chair of the committee which drafted the now discredited sex education curriculum for Montgomery County, Mr. Fishback’s views resulted in the curriculum being thrown out by a judge as a result of our lawsuit. We urge the Board to not repeat this mistake a second time by supporting biased and unfounded information.

Sincerely,

Regina Griggs
Executive Director
PFOX

CC: Dr. Carol Plotsky