In October, 2003, Mark Pope was elected as president of the American Counseling Association (ACA), a professional organization with more than 50,000 counselors and therapists in the U.S. As the first openly gay president of the ACA, he has worked to advance gay and lesbian interests in the mental health profession. Pope, who currently works as a professor in the Division of Counseling & Family Therapy at the University of Missouri, St. Louis, is also a member of Division 44 of the American Psychiatric Association and member of the Section for Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Awareness in Division 17 of the American Psychological Association.
In accepting his election as ACA president through the end of 2004, Pope noted:
"By a vote of the Board of directors of the American Psychiatric Association in 1973, we [gays] were removed from their 'Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.' They waved their magic wand and we were made 'sane' overnight. Do you understand the power that we, as mental health professionals, have to affect people's lives? We who are gay, lesbian, or bisexual were adjudged mentally ill because of the prejudices of the dominant culture. We who are in the mental health professions have responsibility for that. That is why my election to lead one of the largest mental health organizations in the world is so important. As the first openly gay man elected to such a position, I represent a final and total repudiation of that past."
In an interview in The Advocate magazine (12/9/2003), Pope observed that "When the health profession labeled gays and lesbians as sick, it was based on religious and political prejudices, not on data. There were no legitimate studies that made the case for homosexuality as a mental illness, and that's even clearer today."
When discussing reparative therapy with counselors, Pope says: "I explain the research and the policies the association has adopted. I explain that there is no evidence that conversion and reparative therapies work and that even if they did, what kind of message do they sent to young people?"
Pope also noted: "I come from the Native American background of two-spirited people, which allows us to go against the dominant sexual orientation and gender roles of the majority. That's something the rest of the culture needs to work toward."
He is author of "Crashing through the 'lavender ceiling,' in the leadership of the counseling profession," published in Deconstructing Heterosexism, by Sage Publications.
More proof that many in the mental health industry are mentally ill maggots.
"In October, 2003, Mark Pope was elected as president of the American Counseling Association (ACA), a professional organization with more than 50,000 counselors and therapists in the U.S. As the first openly gay president of the ACA, he has worked to advance gay and lesbian interests in the mental health profession. Pope, who currently works as a professor in the Division of Counseling & Family Therapy at the University of Missouri, St. Louis, is also a member of Division 44 of the American Psychiatric Association and member of the Section for Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Awareness in Division 17 of the American Psychological Association."