INTERNATIONAL CHILD AND YOUTH CARE NETWORK

28 FEBRUARY 2000
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Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) writes to "Dr Laura"
over Anti-Gay talks

CWLA joined more than 150 prominent organizations and individuals who signed on to a letter to Dr. Laura Schlessinger on the subject of her negative comments on homosexuality, including use of words like "deviant" and "biological error." CWLA believes that this kind of talk may be dangerous, creates a climate of intolerance, and can have a detrimental effect on gay and lesbian youth.

The text of the letter is printed below:

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Dr. Laura Schlessinger
c/o Premiere Radio Networks
15260 Ventura Blvd, Suite 500
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
fax: 818-461-5140 

Dear Dr. Laura,

We are writing to express our deep concern for the detrimental effects your anti-gay commentaries are having on America's children. 

Dr. Laura, with 20 million listeners, you are one of the leading talk radio show hosts in the country 1 . Though you have publicly acknowledged that your Ph.D. is in physiology and not psychology, the loyalty of your listeners derives, in part, from their trust that you are relying on mainstream scientific opinion. Yet the anti-gay beliefs you espouse on a regular basis - that homosexuality is "deviant" and that gays can and should be cured - are entirely outside the mainstream of scientific thought.2 

Today, fortunately, it is difficult for public figures to argue that African Americans or Jews are biologically inferior. Yet you have become a leading radio show host while claiming that homosexuality is a "biological error".3 

We are concerned that your show, columns, and television appearances are contributing to the fear and hatred of gay and lesbian people. We are especially concerned that your commentaries are teaching otherwise happy and healthy young people to hate themselves. 

First, your claim that gays are more likely to sexually abuse children than heterosexuals is not only incorrect, it creates fear and hatred of gay people. The notions that homosexuality is caused by childhood sexual abuse, or that gays are more likely to molest children, have been rejected by every leading medical, mental health and child welfare organization in the country. Study after peer-reviewed study backs the scientific consensus that heterosexual men pose a greater risk to children than homosexual males.4 

Recently, the New Jersey Supreme Court examined the evidence and came to the same conclusion when it ruled that the Boy Scouts could not exclude gays. "The belief that a gay scoutmaster poses a risk to young boys because of his orientation is patently false," the Court wrote.5 

Second, your claim that homosexuality is a tragic pathology and that gays and lesbians can and should be "cured" by "reparative therapy" is not only inaccurate but also promotes the idea that there is something wrong with being gay.6 

The idea that homosexuality is an illness has been repudiated by the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Association of School Administrators, the American Counseling Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the American School Health Association, the National Association of School Psychologists, and the National Association of Social Workers.7 

The above groups were so concerned by the notion of "reparative therapy" that they recently created and sent a booklet to all 14,700 public school superintendents in the country, reiterating strongly that there is "no support among health and mental health professional organizations" for the idea that being gay is a mental illness, abnormal, or in any way something that must be cured through therapy.8 

Nowhere are the consequences of anti-gay feelings more apparent than in the high number of suicides among gay youth. Studies have found that gay youth are three to seven times more likely to attempt suicide than heterosexual children.9 

While suicide is the ultimate consequence of homophobia, studies find that gay youth - and youth who are perceived to be gay - are more likely to get beat up, feel isolated, and have trouble in school. In Massachusetts, a state known for its tolerance of gays, a study done for its former Republican Governor found that 97 percent of public high school students reported hearing homophobic remarks regularly from their peers, and 53 percent reported hearing them from school staff.10 Gay teens are four times more likely than heterosexuals to be threatened with a weapon at school.11 

Given the environment of fear and violence created by homophobia, it's little wonder that over a decade ago, President Reagan's Department of Justice concluded that gays are "probably the most frequent victims" of hate crimes.12 

And it's not just gay teens who suffer. Children of gays and lesbians suffer from the stigmatization of their parents as unfit and immoral. Yet study after study has concluded that same sex parents are as capable as straight parents of providing everything a child needs for his or her psychological development.13 

It doesn't have to be this way. Embraced by their family and by the larger society, gay youth - and the children of lesbians and gays - are as happy and healthy as other young people. 

We encourage you to follow the example of the Rev. Jerry Falwell, who recently told a gathering of gays and lesbians that "I have been strident in my language... We acknowledge that words can lead to actions." The Reverend said he would critically examine his statements to avoid any "statements that can be construed as sanctioning hate or antagonism against homosexuals"14 and pledged to no longer refer to homosexuals as deviant.15 

Dr. Laura, we are not saying that you should be censored. Nor are we implying that you don't have the right to express yourself. We are simply saying this: young people who are otherwise happy and healthy are being taught to hate themselves simply because they are gay. 

As the most powerful radio show host in America, you understand the effects of language on children. It is within your power to use your wit and intelligence to help kids by speaking out against homophobia and anti-gay violence. 

Sincerely, 

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Notes 

1. Sixty thousand people call in to your show daily, you have sold 2 million books, and 60 newspapers run your syndicated column. You have appeared on "60 Minutes", "Larry King Live" and countless other radio and TV shows. 
2. See attached examples. "Hear it one more time perfectly clearly: if you're gay or a lesbian, it's a biological error that inhibits you from relating normally to the opposite sex." 
3. See attached examples. "Hear it one more time perfectly clearly: if you're gay or a lesbian, it's a biological error that inhibits you from relating normally to the opposite sex." 
4. See Carole Jenny, et. al, "Are Children at Risk for Sexual Abuse by Homosexuals?" in Pediatrics Magazine, 1994, and A. Nicholas Groth and H. Jean Brinbaum, "Adult Sexual Orientation and Attraction to Underage Persons," in Archives of Sexual Behavior. 
5. Chuck Colbert, "Stereotypes, Myths, Underlie Scouts' Anti-Gay Policy," August 13, 1999. 
6. "It is a sadness, and there are therapies which have been successful in helping a reasonable number of people become heterosexual." Radio Show, July 22, 1999. 
7. In December, 1998, The American Psychiatric Association denounced reparative therapy in a policy statement which said that "there is no scientific evidence that reparative therapy or conversion therapy is effective in changing a person's orientation" and that it may harm patients by "causing depression, anxiety and self-destructive behavior." 
8. "Just The Facts", brochure, November, 1999. 
9. JRI Health/Sideny Borum Jr. Health Center, Harvard School of Public Health, and the Massachusetts Department of Education, Pediatrics, May, 1998. Centers for Disease Control, Massachusetts Department of Education, "Massachusetts Youth Risk Behavior Study," 1997. Study is being conducted every two years. Forty-six percent of gay kids in Massachusetts attempted suicide, whereas 8.8 percent of straight kids attempted suicide. Gary Remafedi, et. al., "The relationship between suicide risk and sexual orientation: results of a population-based study," American Journal of Public Health, January, 1998. 
10. "Making Schools Safe for Gay and Lesbian Youth: Report of the Massachusetts Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth," 1993 
11. Harvard, Pediatrics, ibid. 
12. US. Department of Justice, The Response of the Criminal Justice System to Bias Crime: An Exploratory View," 1987. 
13. The American Psychological Association concluded in 1995 that "Not a single study has found children of gay and lesbian parents to be disadvantaged in any significant respect relative to the children of heterosexual parents. Indeed, the evidence suggests that home environments provided by gay and lesbian parents are as likely as those provided by heterosexual parents to support and enable children's psychological growth." 
14. Chattanooga Times, November 14, 1999. 
15. Scott Simon, National Public Radio, November 13, 1999.
    

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Source: http://www.cwla.org/communic/dl022400.html