2024

Society for Sexual, Affectional, Intersex, and Gender Expansive Identities’ Position Statement on Pro-Conversion Therapy Legislation

The recent and alarming rise of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and the preceding shifting of the Overton window have caused a resurgence of support for conversion therapy, especially for transgender and gender diverse individuals. Conversion therapy is the practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms. It is based on the belief that being a member of the LGBTQ+ community is an aberration, which is irrefutably false. In the face of these bills and laws, the Society for Sexual, Affectional, Intersex, and Gender Expansive Identities (SAIGE) upholds the values of our profession and our organization in opposing conversion therapy in all forms.
Conversion therapy for members of the LGBTQ+ community is dangerous and actively leads to harm. The practice is demonstrably pseudoscientific, and the suffering it causes has been acknowledged by many who formerly created and promoted it. Certain governmental jurisdictions are attempting to either force conversion therapy to be used in clinical therapeutic practice or forbid state mental healthcare boards from banning these overtly harmful modalities. There are also legislators in some states working to protect parents who seek to send their LGBTQ+ children to conversion therapy. Additionally, abroad, at least one regulatory organization is undermining national efforts to ban conversion therapy due to the inclusion of children in said ban. Those seeking to permit the practice of conversion therapy are seeking to persecute the LGBTQ+ community through the promotion of a practice that multiple medical and mental healthcare organizations have denounced. Conversion therapy worsens mental health outcomes, resulting in severe issues ranging from depression to substance abuse to suicide. People who want these practices permitted are essentially advocating for pain and death. We at SAIGE seek to remind our membership, our legislators, and our communities of conversion therapy’s legacy and strongly urge all entities with such authority to enact bans on conversion therapy to protect LGBTQ+ individuals from this harm. These conversion therapy bans are grounded in science and the endorsement of evidence-based practices, which every iteration of conversion therapy is not.

Society for Sexual, Affectional, Intersex, and Gender Expansive Identities’ Position Statement on Gender-Affirming Healthcare Bans

Over 115 pieces of legislation have been introduced in state legislatures in 2023 that focus on banning aspects of gender-affirming medical care for transgender and gender expansive Americans1. Transgender and gender expansive individuals experience significant mental health disparities, including increased depression, anxiety, and suicidality, not because of their identity but because of the way that people respond to their authenticity2. Restricting access to gender affirming care is discrimination. These bills and laws seeking to ban or restrict access to care further perpetuate discriminatory attitudes towards transgender and gender expansive individuals3. Similar legislative efforts that invoke “conscientious objection” to providing these important medical interventions are no better than the bans and still have the same harmful impact on clients seeking care. In the face of these bills and laws, the Society for Sexual, Affectional, Intersex, and Gender Expansive Identities (SAIGE) upholds the American Counseling Association’s commitment to the prevention of harassment in all forms - verbal, physical, sexual, emotional, and psychological - including standing up for the basic human rights of transgender, gender expansive, and LGBTQ+ individuals4.
Gender-affirming interventions are not new or novel and have a well-established use for both cisgender and transgender youth5. Gender-affirming medical procedures and mental health care are essential and endorsed by American Academy of Pediatrics, the Endocrine Society, the American Academy of Family Physicians, American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Medical Association, the United States Association for Transgender Health, and the World Professional Association of Transgender Health. SAIGE’s own Competencies for Counseling Transgender Clients6, which have been endorsed by the American Counseling Association7, call for counselors to embrace the full spectrum of gender identity and expression, affirm transgender mental and medical care, and serve as advocates for transgender individuals. Provision of affirming medical care is evidence-based best practice when working with transgender individuals.
SAIGE recognizes these bills and laws have a damaging psychological effect on an already marginalized group and therefore stands in solidarity with transgender and gender expansive individuals targeted by these acts of legislated hate, in addition to their medical and mental health care providers, their families, and their support systems. SAIGE strongly opposes any prejudicial bills and laws that are in opposition to the ACA’s Code of Ethics and/or SAIGE’s Competencies for Counseling with Transgender Clients.

Drafted by: Gene N. Dockery, MA, LPC, NCC – SAIGE Public Policy Committee Chairperson; Edited by: Valeo L. Khan-Snyder, MS, tLMHC, NCC & Brandon R. Tomlinson, PhD, LPCC, NCC– SAIGE Public Policy Committee Members

Society for Sexual, Affectional, Intersex, and Gender Expansive Identities’ Position Statement on Anti-Transgender Sports Bans and Laws

The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023 has been introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives. Similar bills have been introduced into more than twenty states in 2023 alone, and some have passed into law. These bills require schools and organizations to consider eligibility for sports on the basis of sex assigned at birth and are therefore discriminatory to intersex, transgender, and gender expansive individuals. These bills and laws are prejudice disguised as equality and misrepresent the complexities of biology. There is no scientific evidence that transgender or gender expansive children perform at a level that disadvantages their cisgender peers in sports. Laws that allow and/or mandate discrimination toward intersex, transgender, and gender expansive individuals are recognized by the Society for Sexual, Affectional, Intersex, and Gender Expansive Identities (SAIGE), a division of the American Counseling Association (ACA), to be harmful.
In the face of these bills and laws, SAIGE maintains the ACA’s commitment to advocate for nondiscrimination and the prevention of harassment. Per a position statement from the ACA, this commitment includes, but is not limited to, “access to learning environments that are free of discrimination, bullying, and harassment; access to restrooms and changing facilities that are safe and affirming for gender non-conforming youth and adults; and use of preferred names.” Laws that unfairly discriminate against intersex, transgender, and gender expansive individuals’ right to be accepted as their authentic selves can and often ultimately do precipitate mental health crises among intersex, transgender, and gender expansive youth. SAIGE recognizes these bills and laws have a negative psychological impact and stands in solidarity with intersex, transgender, and gender expansive individuals prejudicially targeted by these laws. SAIGE strongly opposes any discriminatory bills and laws that are in opposition to the ACA’s Code of Ethics and/or SAIGE’s Competencies for Counseling with Transgender Clients.

Drafted by: Valeo L. Khan-Snyder, MS, tLMHC, NCC – SAIGE Public Policy Committee Member;  Gene N. Dockery, MA, LPC, NCC – SAIGE Public Policy Committee Chairperson; Edited by: Brandon R. Tomlinson, PhD, LPCC, NCC – SAIGE Public Policy Committee Member

Society for Sexual, Affectional, Intersex, and Gender Expansive Identities’ Position Statement on Parental Rights Bills/Laws

In 2022, the legislature for the State of Florida passed, and Governor DeSantis signed, a bill into law, called the Parental Rights in Education Act. This law entails specifically a section that prohibits the discussion of sexuality and gender identity issues, written as follows: “Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3.”[i] This was done under the guise of “fundamental right of parents to make decisions regarding the upbringing and control of their children in a specified manner.”[ii] Now, states across the country are adopting or attempting to adopt similar laws.[iii] While these laws claim to work toward ensuring students’ parents (especially students in the age groups of kindergarten through third grade) rights to teach their children about such subject matter, the reality is that these laws prohibit schools from discussing fundamental matters of humanity like sexual orientation and gender identity.[iv] This has been shown to be a metric for bad actors and propagators of hateful ideologies to enforce their beliefs on children[v] because they errantly believe that people being not straight or cisgender is a fundamental malformation of the human identity rather than a rich and natural feature of life.[vi]

What this does do is potentially deprive young children still in the midst of discerning their own identities, because a child’s understanding of their orientation has been shown to develop as early as toddlerhood. [vii] When people assert that schools should not address orientation and identity issues, they deny an opportunity for students to receive ideas they can use to understand themselves. The evidence that obstructing people (children included) from exploring their identity has a profoundly negative effect on their mental health in the short and long term is extensive.

We at SAIGE believe that curtailing the education of children by constricting schools from talking about an ineffable fact of life out of a politically motivated attempt to push an anti-LGBTQIAP+ agenda runs counter to the core ethics of the counseling field intended to “promote respect for human dignity and diversity.” [viii]

[i] The Parental Rights in Education Act, no. HB1557, Florida House of Representatives (2022). https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2022/1557/BillText/er/PDF
[ii] The Parental Rights in Education Act, no. HB1557, Florida House of Representatives (2022). https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2022/1557/BillText/er/PDF
[iii] Jones, D., & Franklin, J. (2022, April 10). Not just Florida. More than a dozen states propose so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bills. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2022/04/10/1091543359/15-states-dont-say-gay-anti-transgender-bills
[iv] Under fire: The war on LGBTQ people in America. (2023). Movement Advancement Project. https://www.mapresearch.org/file/MAP_Under%20Fire%20Report.pdf
[v] Berger, E. (2022, April 4). How Florida’s ‘don’t say gay’ law could harm children’s mental health. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/04/florida-dont-say-gay-bill-children-mental-health
[vi] Kinney, R. L. (2015). Homosexuality and scientific evidence: On suspect anecdotes, antiquated data, and broad generalizations. The Linacre Quarterly, 82(4), 364–390. https://doi.org/10.1179/2050854915Y.0000000002
[vii] Putnam, D. (2022, March 28). Florida’s anti-gay bill is wrong. It’s also unconstitutional. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/florida-hb-1557-anti-gay-parental-rights-education-violates-free-ncna1293466
[viii] ACA Code of Ethics. (2014). American Counseling Association. https://www.counseling.org/resources/aca-code-of-ethics.pdf

2023

2022

2020

6/19/20

Since May 25th, 2020, we at SAIGE have been outraged by the brutal murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers and by the attacks on protestors by police. We are continually outraged by the culture of white supremacy that exists in our country. We believe silence is not an option. On May 31st, 2020, we released a Presidential Response and we endorsed ACA’s Response to Undue Police Violence.

And we got it wrong.

We want to express gratitude that the ACA responded quickly, because silence is complacency. After the statements went out, a few things happened. First, we heard from our members. Although we heard positive feedback about our presidential call for social justice action, we heard critical feedback on ACA’s statement that we endorsed. We stepped back, reread the statement, and listened to our members and board members' views. We sat with it, and we are here working in full transparency to do better. We discussed our concerns with ACA leadership and are now working collaboratively with them on these concerns at the national level, while we share with our members our position within our division.

As we navigate our intersectional lives and experience, we can miss not only our own internalized hidden biases, but it can individually and collectively cause us to not listen to voices of dissent. I have immense gratitude for those who stepped forward and pushed us to be better and to do better. I also have deep gratitude to our Board who listened, reflected, and recognized that we could do better. It is one thing to promote a mission in word, it is another thing entirely to live and breathe our mission and values in practice. I am so very proud to be part of an organization that does exactly that.

Please read SAIGE’s Position Statement on Police Brutality and Systemic Racism.

In Solidarity on Juneteenth,

Misty Ginicola

5/4/20

Our Name Change!

As you may be aware, our organization has had a long history of addressing the evolving language of the communities we serve by changing our name. Starting as the Caucus of Gay Counselors, over time we recognized the people we serve as our main focus, and became inclusive of other affectional identities (Lesbian and Bisexual), as well as Transgender people as we changed our name four additional times.

We became the Association of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Issues in Counseling over 12 years ago; as we all well know, the field of counseling Queer and Trans people, as well as the language describing the communities, has dramatically shifted during this time. We have also moved from fighting for our existence and affirmation to a recognition that as intersectional people, we must work together for our mutual liberation and celebration of our identities. Our new mission and vision for our organization have also guided us in re-evaluating our name to be more inclusive and line with our values.

In response to the changing field and terminology, formal and informal member input, strategic plan committee feedback, and board discussions which have occurred over the last 2 years, and after ACA approval in April 2020, we are very excited to become the official name with our official tagline:

Society for Sexual, Affectional, Intersex, and Gender Expansive Identities (SAIGE)

We are Counselors and Related Professionals Serving

Sexual, Affectional, Intersex, and Gender Expansive Communities

We wanted to take a moment to address a few questions that you may have about our new name.

Why did we not include individual identities?

Our mission is to be inclusive of all identities, but even our newly adopted acronym LGBTGEQIAP+ recognizes that it will continue to grow and evolve as the language and identities of those we serve evolves. We wanted to both have a name that would be relevant for as long as possible, as well as lead the way in embracing an umbrella term for the people we serve (SAIGE – referring to those with Sexual, Affectional, Intersex, and Gender Expansiveness).

As someone whose major identity was also removed from the name (as were the vast majority of those who were on the Board), we discussed this a lot. Many of us expressed deep grief over losing this in lieu of the use of umbrella terms. Gay men, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgender People had to fight continually at great cost for basic acknowledgement, not even acceptance. Although we have made great strides towards equality, as you know, we are a far cry from it and the forefront of this battle is still occurring for our trans siblings. For all of us with these identities, we absolutely know what it is like to be excluded, made invisible, devalued, and ignored – and it hurts more when it comes from one of our own within the Queer and Trans communities.

The use of the umbrella terms was not to erase our 4 identities in any way, it was to include those amongst us who face even more extensive erasure as they are fewer in numbers than those who are LGBT; we heard from so many people that identify as queer, asexual, aromantic, pansexual/polysexual, trans* and trans (those having issue with the term transgender, but identifying as trans), two-spirit, intersex, agender, bigender, genderqueer, as well as our siblings who identify with poly relationships or kink.

Our identities are truly vast; and as someone who is Native and 2-S (two-spirited), I absolutely believe that this is the nature of who we all are – we cannot be contained by any singular label or term. Our identities are infinite. We are blessings to the world and bring awareness to all who reside within it that we do not need to be held within our “boxes” that society has set aside for us. There is absolutely no way that we can create a name that could capture all of our identities, not just because we are vast in diversity, but also because of the nature of who we are – always evolving, expanding, and becoming more ourselves.

With that reality, we needed to focus on what was most inclusive for all of us, and what parameters of our identities connect us as a group. This is not easy, and we have had many heated discussions, disagreements, and lots of "feels" that we carry with us to this day. It came down to what is the nature of our expansiveness – what differences do we carry from “conventional” heterosexual and cisgender people. Our communities carry diversity within sexual, affectional, sex (intersex umbrella), and gender.

Sometimes we identify as divergent in just one, sometimes multiple categories. But the truth is that together we face the impact of misogyny, homoprejudice, cissexism, and colonization – how we choose to react to these ‘isms is within our own control and identities; my hope is that we can recognize our intersectionality, shared interests, and fight together for a better world. And that is what the name is intended to capture – we vary along these dimensions, but we are all united.

Why does the acronym not match the name? Why SAIGE?

The acronym SAIGE was selected to focus on the important piece of our work as an organization: to focus the attention on the people we serve, rather than us as counselors and related professionals. In our discussions, the acronym also had two associations for those of us on the Board.

First, it has the connotation of a sage as a noun, which is a person who has profound inner wisdom. We wanted to be clear that we do not see ourselves as counselors as the sages – competence and specialization with these populations is a continual journey. We therefore see the term sage as associated with part of our liberation work – we seek to provide space for the people we serve to empower themselves and find their inner wisdom as Queer and Trans people.

Second, for our President, as a person with Native American heritage, the name has special significance. To sage as a verb, means to use a sacred healing herb in a ceremony to bless, cleanse, and restore balance. It brings attention to the indigenous wisdom of people of color, as well as to the two-spirit beliefs (an indigenous identity that includes both Queer and Trans Spectrum identities and native ancestry and spirituality). These beliefs, which are now being supported by modern science, indicate that all queer and trans people are inherently gifted with social and emotional skills and resilience, and they are to be celebrated, as their value to the community is vast. To learn more about 2-S identities and their philosophy, you can read here: https://www.ihs.gov/lgbt/health/twospirit/

What do the identity terms mean?

The SAIGE terms indicate underserved populations whose identities include variation in sexual (sexual bonding, attraction, and behavior) and affectional (bonding on all multiple levels, including romantic, emotional, spiritual, psychological). It also includes those who are under the intersex identity umbrella (differences of sex development) and whose gender expands past the simple binary of male and female, including transgender, gender non-binary, and others whose gender is creative. These terms are meant to serve as umbrella terms to capture and be inclusive of all identities across the Queer and Trans spectrum.

We recognize that our new name is not perfect, but we are happy to have a more inclusive name that is in line with our mission and goals. If you have any questions about the name change, please feel free to contact me at ginicolam2@southernct.edu.

As we move forward in our continued struggle and collective community, we are one. We are connected, united, and indivisible. We will resist and persist…together.

In Solidarity,

Misty Ginicola