OC News Briefs
OC Therapist Challenges Prop. 8
Lisa Maurel, a marriage and family therapist from Orange County was among many mental health professionals who filed an amicus brief challenging Proposition 8 in the Perry v. Schwarzenegger case in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. The therapists from all over the country clarified the misconception asserted in the case that same-gender couples are inferior parents. They agree that what matters is the quality of the parenting, not the gender of the parents. The American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association both indicate that there is no peer-reviewed research evidence to support the conclusion that the traditional heterosexual parent family creates a better environment for raising children.
Choi Back in Uniform, But Not on Active Duty
First Lt. Dan Choi, who had been discharged from the military after disclosing that he is gay, is back in uniform. But he has not been called back to active duty: in February, he was called to train with his National Guard unit on “critical infrantry tasks.”
Choi, a West Point Graduate, Infantry platoon leader and Iraq War Veteran, is one of several gay linguists who speak Arabic, but were discharged under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. The irony of discharging soldiers with skills that are so valuable and badly needed, has helped to illustrate how ineffective the policy is – in addition to being unfair.
- Denise Penn