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The “Guidelines for Psychological Practice With Lesbian, promoting the mental health and well-being of lesbian, gay,
Gay, and Bisexual Clients” provide psychologists with (a) and bisexual people and in providing psychologists with
a frame of reference for the treatment of lesbian, gay, and affirmative tools for practice, education, and research with
bisexual clients1 and (b) basic information and further these populations. In 2009, the association affirmed that
references in the areas of assessment, intervention, identity, “same-sex sexual and romantic attractions, feelings, and
relationships, diversity, education, training, and research. behaviors are normal and positive variations of human
These practice guidelines are built upon the “Guidelines for sexuality regardless of sexual orientation identity” (APA,
Psychotherapy With Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Clients” 2009a, p. 121).
(Division 44/Committee on Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual
Concerns Joint Task Force on Guidelines for Psychother-
apy with Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Clients, 2000) and are This article was published Online First August 29, 2011.
These guidelines were adopted by the APA Council of Representa-
consistent with the American Psychological Association tives, February 18 –20, 2011, and replace the original “Guidelines for
(APA) “Criteria for Practice Guideline Development and Psychotherapy With Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Clients,” which were
Evaluation” (APA, 2002a). They assist psychologists in the adopted February 26, 2000, and expired at the end of 2010. These revised
conduct of lesbian, gay, and bisexual affirmative practice, and updated guidelines were developed by the Division 44/Committee on
education, and research. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Concerns Guidelines Revision
Task Force. The task force included Kristin Hancock (chair) and members
The term guidelines refers to pronouncements, Laura Alie, Armand Cerbone, Sari Dworkin, Terry Gock, Douglas Hal-
statements, or declarations that suggest or recommend deman, Susan Kashubeck-West, and Glenda Russell. The task force
specific professional behavior, endeavors, or conduct for thanks Glenn Ally, Laura Brown, Linda Campbell, Jean Carter, James
psychologists. Guidelines differ from standards in that Croteau, Steven David, Randall Ehbar, Ruth Fassinger, Beth Firestein,
Ronald Fox, John Gonsiorek, Beverly Greene, Lisa Grossman, Christine
standards are mandatory and may be accompanied by an Hall, Tania Israel, Corey Johnson, Jennifer Kelly, Christopher Martell,
enforcement mechanism. Thus, these guidelines are as- Jonathan Mohr, David Pantalone, Mark Pope, and Melba Vasquez for
pirational in intent. They are intended to facilitate the their thoughtful contributions. The task force also acknowledges the
continued systematic development of the profession and long-standing support of Clinton Anderson, director of APA’s Lesbian,
to help ensure a high level of professional practice by Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Concerns Office, and APA staff liaisons
Sue Houston (Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the Public
psychologists. These guidelines are not intended to be Interest) and Mary Hardiman (Board of Professional Affairs) for their
mandatory or exhaustive and may not be applicable to assistance.
every clinical situation. They should not be construed as Each of the 21 new guidelines provides an update of the psycholog-
definitive and are not intended to take precedence over ical literature supporting it, includes sections on rationale and application,
and expands upon the original guidelines to provide assistance to psy-
the judgment of psychologists. Practice guidelines es- chologists in areas such as religion and spirituality, the differentiation of
sentially involve recommendations to professionals re- gender identity and sexual orientation, socioeconomic and workplace
garding their conduct and the issues to be considered in issues, and the use and dissemination of research on lesbian, gay, and
particular areas of psychological practice. Practice bisexual issues. The guidelines are intended to inform the practice of
guidelines are consistent with current APA policy. It is psychologists and to provide information for the education and training of
psychologists regarding lesbian, gay, and bisexual issues. The revision
also important to note that practice guidelines are super- was funded by Division 44 (Society for the Psychological Study of
seded by federal and state law and must be consistent Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Issues) of the American Psychological Asso-
with the current APA “Ethical Principles of Psycholo- ciation (APA) and the APA Board of Directors.
gists and Code of Conduct” (APA, 2002b).2 This document is scheduled to expire as APA policy in 10 years
(2020). After this date, users are encouraged to contact the APA Public
Background Interest Directorate to confirm that this document remains in effect or is
under revision.
In 1975, the APA adopted a resolution stating that “homo- Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to the
sexuality per se implies no impairment in judgment, sta- Public Interest Directorate, American Psychological Association, 750
bility, reliability, or general social or vocational capabili- First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242.
ties” and urging “all mental health professionals to take the 1
lead in removing the stigma of mental illness that has long Throughout this document, the term clients refers to individuals
across the life span, including youth, adult, and older adult lesbian, gay,
been associated with homosexual orientations” (Conger, and bisexual clients. There may be issues that are specific to a given age
1975, p. 633). In the years following the adoption of this range, and, when appropriate, the document identifies these groups.
important policy, the APA indeed has taken the lead in 2
Hereinafter, this document is referred to as the APA Ethics Code.
Appendix A
Internet Resources
It is useful for psychologists to know how to acquire infor- Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Pro-
mation about resources of various kinds, including therapeu- fessionals
tic, educational, social and recreational, and family support. Works to critically transform higher education environ-
Several authors have provided overviews of lesbian, gay, and ments so that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender stu-
bisexual communities that can provide valuable guidance dents, faculty, administrators, staff, and alumni have equity
(e.g., D’Augelli & Garnets, 1995; Esterberg, 1996). Gates and in every respect.
Ost (2004) have published an atlas of census-based informa- http://www.lgbtcampus.org/resources
tion on the distribution of lesbian, gay, and bisexual house- Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere (COLAGE)
holds in towns or cities and states in the United States.
A national movement of children, youths, and adults with one or
Online resources exist at a number of levels. National re-
more lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer parents.
sources tend to be quite stable and can provide psychologists with
http://www.colage.org
a wide variety of general information. In addition, many national
resources have information about regional resources. Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN)
To access resources in individual cities, one can search Strives to assure that each member of every school com-
online using words such as gay paired with the city name. For munity is valued and respected regardless of sexual orien-
example, a search on “gay St. Louis” yields many helpful tation or gender identity/expression.
links. One can find many local resources related to health, http://www.glsen.org
religion and spirituality, social clubs, real estate, and so on. Human Rights Campaign
American Psychological Association The largest national lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
Resources civil rights organization.
http://www.hrc.org
APA Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Lambda Legal
Concerns Committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights
http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbc/homepage.html of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people, and
APA Division 44, Society for the Psychological Study of those with HIV through impact litigation, education, and
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues public policy work.
http://www.apadivision44.org http://www.lambdalegal.org
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (The Task Force)
Other Resources
Works to build the grassroots power of the lesbian, gay,
BiNet USA bisexual, and transgender community.
An umbrella organization and voice for bisexual people. http://thetaskforce.org
http://www.binetusa.org Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays
BiResource (PFLAG)
Committed to providing support to the bisexual community and Promotes the health and well-being of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and
raising public awareness about bisexuality and bisexual people. transgender persons, their families, and their friends.
http://www.biresource.org http://pflag.org
Appendix B
Religious and Denominational Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender
Advocacy and Affinity Organizations