Ruth Institute Blog

California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) is being pressured heavily to change its nuetral stance on gay marriage. So far they are holding steady where other organizations have already caved. Stay strong, CAMFT! Be an example to others not to be bullied!

By Kathleen Gilbert

SAN DIEGO, California, March 15, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Abandoning its long-held neutrality on the marriage debate, the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) has slowly come to disavow pro-family views and sexual orientation therapy as “homophobic.” Instead it now warmly supports homosexuality as a “normal and positive” variant of sexuality – all thanks to pressure by gay activists who have openly vowed to transform the organization from within.

The disturbing result of the activists’ tactics, says one anonymous CAMFT intern, is that pro-family therapists in California are becoming increasingly afraid to speak up in favor of natural marriage and the family.

CAMFT, one of the largest therapist associations in California with over 30,000 members, had maintained a broadly neutral stance on same-sex “marriage” for most of its existence.

But in the run-up to California’s vote on Proposition 8 banning same-sex “marriage” in November 2008, CAMFT’s neutrality began drawing unfriendly attention. Gay activists pointed out that organizations such as The American Psychological Association, the California Psychological Association, and the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, had all come out in support of deconstructing the legal definition of marriage.

After Proposition 8 passed in November, the Los Angeles psychotherapist group Larchmont Associates launched the first major salvo against CAMFT: a petition threatening to cut ties with the association if they did not oppose Prop 8 in an amicus brief. Meanwhile, Antioch University Los Angeles and Phillips Graduate Institute also encouraged students and faculty of psychology programs to shun CAMFT over the issue.

In a Jan 2009 letter to Larchmont and Antioch U. activists, CAMFT Executive Director Mary Riemersma wrote that advocating for same-sex “marriage” “is not CAMFT’s purpose,” and expressed consternation at the “bullying” tactics used to push the issue.

“Our Board was troubled by your ‘bullying’ tactics and threats to abandon your involvement in the Association because the Board chooses to take a course different than you demand,” Riemersma wrote.

“And while the Board understands that each of you can and will make your own decisions about your future involvement in CAMFT,” she continued, “it is very disturbing that those of you affiliated with Antioch would jeopardize the wellbeing of your students and their future careers by failing to inform them of CAMFT’s importance to their careers and the many resources available to them from CAMFT.

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