Advocating for Marriage and LGBT Mental Health Through Op-Eds

Abstract

This paper describes a project undertaken by the Group for Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Committee, that of writing opinion pieces (op-eds) advocating for marriage for gay and lesbian couples and other issues related to LGBT mental health. GAP and the GAP LGBT Committee are described. The paper details the rationale for professionals taking on an advocacy project and the struggles and lessons gleaned from the project. Among other things, members of the LGBT Committee learned how to use existing position statements from their profession as well as scientific studies to assert their professional voices in opinion pieces.

KEYWORDS:

• LGBT
• mental health
• advocacy
• opinion
• op-ed
• Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry

Notes

Quote taken from GAP's website, www.ourgap.org. Also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_for_Advancement_of_Psychiatry for more information on GAP.

Cathy Renna of Renna Communications, www.rennacommunications.com.

The William A. Kerr Foundation.