Feds Restore 'Gay' Language to Workshop
By AP from the NYTimes on the Web, February 26, 2005
PORTLAND, Ore. Feb.25 -- The words "gay," "lesbian," "bisexual" and
"transgender" are being restored to the title of a government-sponsored
workshop on suicide after a federal health agency was bombarded with e-mail
protests over their removal.
The local organizers of the panel discussion said they had been warned that
if they did not change the title, the workshop might be canceled by the
federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which is funding it.
"I was told that the workshop 'might not fly,' " said Ron Bloodworth,
chairman of the Northwest chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
So Bloodworth and his colleagues changed the title from "Suicide Prevention
Among Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender Individuals" to "Suicide Prevention
in Vulnerable Populations."
Flooded with hundreds of e-mailed protests from Oregon mental health advocates,
the federal agency this week told the organizers they could revert to the original wording.
Mark Weber, a spokesman for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration, said the agency's name-change idea was purely a suggestion, not an order.
The workshop is one of more than 20 panel discussions that are on the agenda
of the three-day conference, which begins Monday.
Charles Curie, top official of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration, plans to attend.
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