Congressman Barney Frank, D-Mass., applauded the clarification offered by Charles Curie, Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration ( SAMHSA ) , that it is permissible to use the terms 'Gay', 'Lesbian', 'Bisexual' and 'Transgender' in the titles of workshops or other SAMHSA-sponsored public events.
It was originally reported that a SAMHSA official had ordered a change in the title of a panel discussion on suicide issues in the GLBT community. The panel, which was to be entitled 'Suicide Prevention Among Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender Individuals,' is set for Feb. 28 in Portland, Ore., as part of a suicide prevention conference being organized by the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, a Massachusetts-based SAMHSA grantee.
The organizers had been instructed to remove any GLBT references from the title of the panel.
A press release issued from Frank's office stated that, while SAMHSA officials partially backed away from that position after being publicly criticized, they did not explicitly make it clear that there was no bar to using GLBT references in SAMHSA funded activities, creating a muddled situation.
As a result, Frank spoke to Curie several times to urge that he issue a clear statement that the terms could be used. Curie complied, noting in an e-mail to Frank that 'there is no policy on the use of the words lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.'
'I am pleased that Mr. Curie was so cooperative and moved so quickly to repudiate the apparently erroneous earlier statements that SAMHSA policies bar the use of references to any of these terms,' Frank said.
'Given the fact that the frequency of youth suicide in particular is so much higher in the GLBT community, it would have sent terribly mixed signals to convene a panel discussion on suicide within that community and then refuse to even acknowledge the target audience.'