Members of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists are urging the state organization to come out against Proposition 8.
In January, the association's 12-member board unanimously rejected a request to take a position on the measure and perform other actions related to Prop 8, which was passed by the state's voters in November and eliminates the right of same-sex couples to marry. The state Supreme Court is set to decide whether to repeal Prop 8.
Same-sex marriage will be a topic presented to the board by a CAMFT member Saturday, March 21, when officials from the therapists' association will be in Washington, D.C. to visit Capitol Hill to discuss issues such as Medicare reimbursements.
In a letter earlier this year explaining the board's decision to those who had requested that it take a stance, Mary Riemersma, the association's executive director, wrote, "The members of the CAMFT board have great respect for those organizations and individuals that have as their mission to act to protect the rights of same-sex couples, however that is not CAMFT's purpose. The various things that you have asked CAMFT to do would use resources intended to be used to assure parity for marriage and family therapists and parity for mental health treatment."
Riemersma, who's straight, told the Bay Area Reporter that she's not a voting member of the board. She also said that she supports same-sex marriages, but the association, which has a budget of about $3 million and approximately 30,000 members, has "limited resources."
Board members of the San Francisco chapter of the state association wrote to Riemersma saying they were "extremely disappointed" with CAMFT's decision and, among other requests, asked it to take a formal position to repeal Prop 8.
Bruce Weitzman, the openly gay president of the San Francisco chapter's board, told the B.A.R that he will give a presentation on same-sex marriage in Washington on Saturday to encourage the board to take a position "that is in line with their code of ethics."
The board of directors of Gaylesta, the LGBTQ psychotherapist association of the Bay Area that is comprised primarily of MFTs, sent a letter to Riemersma in February about the issue.
Rebecca Silverstein, secretary of Gaylesta's board, wrote in an e-mail to the B.A.R., "All of my LGBT clients bring up issues related to Prop. 8 all the time. There was a lot of depression and anger when the measure passed, and that hasn't abated. ... Even most of my straight clients, including couples, were upset when Prop. 8 passed."