Category Archives: Advocacy

On the Pulse massacre: Who is left out of the current discourse?

Pulse2Photo by PeskyMonkey / iStock.

This blog post is a joint collaboration between: Minnah W. Farook, APAGS member and Student Affiliate Member of Divisions 17, 45, 35, 29, 52, and 56 and Counseling Psychology Ph.D. Candidate, Roberto L. Abreu, Counseling Psychology Ph.D. Candidate and Co-chair of the  National Latina/o Psychological Association Orgullo Latinx: Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity SIG  and Division 45 Student Committee Co-liaison, and James J. García, Clinical Health Psychology Ph.D. Candidate and Past Chair of the APAGS Committee for the Advancement of Racial and Ethnic Diversity (APAGS-CARED).

Disclaimer: The opinions in this blog represent the personal opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of APA, APAGS, NLPA, or any other divisions of the APA.

A year ago we mourned the loss of 49 LGBTQ+ victims (58 wounded) during the Pulse nightclub massacre, most (90%) of whom were of Latinx and Puerto Rican heritage.  Since then, the LGBTQ+ community, especially queer Latinx and people of color (PoC), have struggled to heal while fostering resilience and finding ways to work through fear and hypervigilance.  Needless to say, both the Latinx and LGBTQ+ community at large have, and will continue, to mourn.  Additionally, there have been repeated attempts by conservative politicians to co-opt this traumatic experience for the LGBTQ+ and Latinx community in order to advance an anti-Muslim agenda.  This has contributed to a sociopolitical narrative that:

  1. Allows the media and politicians to scapegoat the Muslim community by promoting anti-Muslim rhetoric and policies.
  2. Does not recognize the complexity of internalized homophobia and heterosexism, mental health issues, and gun control legislation that may be factors in the Pulse attack.

On June 10, 2017, ACT for America, a group that has been identified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, organized a “March Against Sharia” in 20 states and 28 cities across the country.  Although described as defenders of Muslim women and human rights, the founder of the group, Brigitte Gabriel, has equated all Muslims with terrorists, claimed that Muslims cannot be loyal to America, and has spread hate speech to demonize all Muslims.  In close proximity to the march, and timed with the anniversary of the massacre at Pulse nightclub, members of the group took the opportunity to connect their anti-Muslim message with support for LGBTQ rights.  This opportunistic ploy has attracted misinformed LGBTQ individuals and LGBTQ allies to these marches and to the thinly veiled anti-Muslim agenda of ACT for America.

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What Can I Do to Help? A Starter Kit for Effective Allyship

AllyIt is a time of turmoil and dramatic change in the United States. This is reflected in divisive executive orders, the rise in hate crimes, and hate rhetoric targeted at marginalized groups.

So what can you do? This article calls on psychologists and psychologists-in-training to use their expertise and privilege to combat prejudice and discrimination as well as promote inclusion across the spectrum of diverse identities.

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Crying Wolf: Is the public really at risk and do we really need another licensing exam?

The Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB) has repeatedly explained that its mission is to support licensing boards in meeting their goal of public protection. With this in mind, on March 21, 2016, the ASPPB announced its intention to create a competency exam, the Examination for Professional Practice of Psychology Step 2 (EPPP2), which the ASPPB expects to be ready for implementation by January of 2019. Unlike the EPPP, which is intended to assess knowledge, the EPPP2 is intended to assess competency-based skills. While public protection is an admirable goal, and one which I believe the ASPPB is sincerely committed to, it’s unclear how this additional test would help licensing boards meet their goal of public protection. The EPPP itself has been subject to many critiques that remain unanswered, critiques that would likely apply to the EPPP2 as well. Due to the significant investments of time and money students will be required to make in taking the EPPP2 (the cost of the EPPP is $687 in most jurisdictions, and half of test takers spend over 200 hours preparing), these critiques should be addressed prior to the implementation of the EPPP2.

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Possible Impact of Federal Hiring Freeze on the Internship Match

Dear fellow students,

As many of you already know, President Trump issued an executive order on January 23rd toInternships in Psychology Workbook freeze the hiring of Federal civilian employees across the executive branch with the exception of military personnel. The President’s memorandum can be found here. At present, this freeze includes all hiring at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BoP), and the Indian Health Service (IHS). Taken together, these three Federal departments are host to more than 700 APA-accredited internship slots, the vast majority of which are accredited through the VA.

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Advocacy in the Wake of National Tragedy

Quite some time has passed since the tragedies in Orlando, St. Paul, and Baton Rouge.  All of these incidents included violence toward traditionally marginalized groups.  For those of us with privileged identities or psychological distance from the events, much of the emotional toll may seem “in the past.”  For those of us without such privilege, however, the emotional labor has not ceased.  We write this post with the belief that, if we are to successfully ward off the threat of callousness and acceptance of unthinkable violence, we must meet our emotional expenditure with direct action.

Much has been written already on the complex feelings many of us within APAGS have experienced in the wake of the Orlando shooting (e.g. here and here) as well as the shooting of unarmed black men in St. Paul and Baton Rouge (see here).  The specific identities of those targeted marks these tragedies as incidents with much larger sociopolitical implications.  They represent both a deep personal trauma which must be addressed at the individual microlevel (with peers, with clients, on our listservs, within our families) as well as a national crisis that must be addressed at the systemic macrolevel.

Thus, in addition to the many resources regarding steps to be taken at interpersonal and community levels (The Community Healing Network has a great resource list, and another compiled by Skyler Jackson can be found here), in this post, we hope to provide resources regarding the legislative issues this tragedy touches upon.

Racial & Religious Discrimination

National tragedies such as Baton Rouge, St. Paul, & Orlando frequently touch upon many issues of racial and religious inequities in the U.S.; including Latinx rights, Black rights, Islamophobia, immigration reform, and racial profiling.  APA has a long legacy of opposing discrimination based on race and ethnicity (see APA’s 2001 resolution), and has taken actions on racial profiling, deportation, and immigration reform.  APA has also taken a strong stance on the need for religious freedom and tolerance (see here).  More information about policing in communities of color can also be found here.

Given APA’s strong voice on these issues, it behooves psychologists, as the 2001 resolution states, to “…speak out against racism, and take proactive steps to prevent the occurrence of intolerant or racist acts.”  To see a list of current legislative and community-based initiatives through APA you can take part in, check out APA’s ethnic minority affairs website.

Hate Crime Prevention & Gun Control Legislation

The APA strongly emphasizes primary (i.e. universal) intervention strategies to address violence, with an emphasis on multi-systemic involvement.  Strategies derived from the Task Force on the Prevention of Gun Violence , for example, focus on including mental health professionals and law enforcement in collaborative effort with one another to reduce risk of violence.  These include such things as addressing maladaptive expressions of masculinity through violence from at-risk males.

APA has also called for the expansion of funding for National Violent Death Reporting System to ensure that vital data is collected surrounding the tragic fatalities of violent acts.  If violence prevention and gun control legislation is something you are passionate about, one way to make your voice heard is through supporting “common sense” gun laws through a quick letter to congress.

LGBTQ+ Rights & Homophobia

APA has been a strong proponent of LGBTQ+ rights ever since Evelyn Hooker’s 1956 Annual Convention presentation.  In her speech, Dr. Hooker challenged the view that homosexual people were inherently less mentally healthy than their heterosexual peers (see here).  Since that time, APA has recognized that state-sponsored limits on LGBTQ+ freedoms (for example limiting basic parental, marriage, and legal recourse rights) not only dehumanize LGBTQ+ persons but also tacitly legitimize discrimination against them.

Recently, APA has been in strong favor of H.R. 3185 and S. 1858, also known as the Equality Act. As a bit of background, ‘H.R.’ stands for ‘House of Representatives’ while ‘S.’ stands for ‘Senate.’  In order to become law, a bill must be passed in both the House and the Senate, and thus often gets two separate identifying numbers (because debate and revisions occur on both the House and the Senate sides these bills often look slightly different from one another).  As of this writing, the Equality Act has been referred to the relevant subcommittees/committees in both the House and the Senate.   As such, stay tuned and take part in this and other relevant initiatives by registering for APA’s Federal Action Network (FAN).

Overall Advocacy Resources

If you are interested in the intersection between psychology and advocacy more generally, a great resource and manual has been provided here.  In addition, you can sign up to receive regular updates about APA “action alerts;” which are immediate steps you can take (often requiring less than 30 seconds) to have your voice heard on issues that you care most about.  You can sign up for such action alerts by going to: http://cqrcengage.com/apapolicy/home.  As an aside, we promise that the Federal Advocacy Network is not a ‘spam’ listserv. We’ve always received important and timely updates from the Action Network, and have heard back innumerable times from senators and representatives about letters we specifically sent through the network.

Conclusion: Stand Up!

APA itself has a strong history of advocacy in these realms.  As Amalia Corby-Edwards—Senior Legislative and Federal Affairs Officer with APA’s Public Interest Directorate—states, “APA has been lobbying on these issues for years […] going forward, we’ll likely redouble these efforts, and think about new approaches.”  As Corby-Edwards identifies, national tragedies both highlight longstanding societal problems and can hopefully serve as a catalyst for intensified legislative efforts.

As the saying goes, the “personal is political,” and relating our own experiences with larger social issues is not only therapeutic, it can help promote real change.  If you feel inspired or interested in joining like-minded advocacy peers, please consider becoming a campus representative with the Advocacy Coordinating Team by going to our homepage, http://www.apa.org/apags/governance/subcommittees/act.aspx.

Authors: Jeritt R. Tucker, Chair & Trevor Bixler, Regional Advocacy Coordinator, North Central Region, APAGS Advocacy Coordinating Team (ACT)

Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed in this blog post represent the exclusive views of the authors and not necessarily those of APA or APAGS.