Popular Culture Review Vol. 16, No. 2, Summer 2005 | Page 102

98 Popular Culture Review “Everyone has a sexual orientation,” Ron Bloodworth told the [Washington] Post. “But this was about gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders.” . . . “Unless you use an accurate term, the people you are trying to reach don’t recognize themselves and don’t attend,” he told the paper, adding that the agency told him he should not use “gender identity” (365Gay.com, February 16, 2005). But in keeping with the Bush administration’s evangelical politics, name changes were not all they wanted. They also insisted there be a session on “faith-based suicide prevention.” Reaction was again swift: “It is unconscionable for politics to get into the way of life and death health care gay LGBT young people,” Human Rights Campaign spokesperson Steven Fisher told 365Gay.com. —and as manipulative as ever: “It is incredible, the venom from these people,” said [Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration] spokesperson Mark Weber who added that the name change was “only a suggestion.” But, when pressed by the [Washington] Post about how strong a suggestion it was, Weber replied: “Well, they do need to consider their ftmding source” (365Gay.com, February 17, 2005). Focus on the Family’s “encouraging” CitizenLink story by Stuart Shepard about the lack of support for obviously “at risk” gay and lesbian teens in public schools also quoted other “Christian” reactions built on myths and stereotypes: “PFLAG’s goal is not to provide accurate information for these students, but to indoctrinate them with one specific, pro gay view of homosexuality,” said Scott Davis, youth director for Exodus International, a group that helps people leave homosexuality. Exodus Ministries came to the forefront when they ran a full-page ad in The Los Angeles Times on July 23, 2004. Their advertisement for a “therapy” deemed by medical, psychiatric, psychological, and pediatric authorities to be harmful (ex-gay therapy was publicly decried in 1999 as unethical by both the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association)