2017 Annual Report of the Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity

• Chair: Seth T. Pardo, PhD (2015-17)
• Chair-elect: Arlene Noriega, PhD (2016-18)
• Mark Brennan-Ing, PhD (2014-17)
• Sarah E. Burgamy, PsyD, (2017-19)
• Nadine Nakamura, PhD, (2017-19)
• David Rivera, PhD (2016-18)

The 2017 Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity (CSOGD) included one who identifies as a transgender man, one who identifies as gender queer/nonconforming, two who identify as cisgender women and two who identify as cisgender men. With regard to sexual orientation, one committee member identifies as woman-attracted, two who identify as gay men and three who identify as lesbian. In terms of race/ethnicity, members identify as Latin, Asian-American and Caucasian. Three committee members were early career psychologists, one was mid-career and two were senior-career psychologists.

The committee revised language pertinent to all diversity markers to parallel with language pertaining to gender diversity.

The CSOGD 2016 Outstanding Achievement Awards were presented to lore m. dickey, PhD and Anneliese A. Singh, PhD.

2017 Convention Activities

• The Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE) and Gender Identity Change Effort (GICE) Writing Groups hosted a conversation hour to discuss their progress and solicit input.
• Drs. Noriega and Burgamy spoke with Div. 44 President, Kimberly Balsam, about improving communications between the committee and the division, and a new Div. 44 liaison was appointed.
• Participated in the Div. 44 Public Policy Committee meeting.

Update on Dissemination of Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Clients

Document Revisions

Revising "Answers to Your Questions About Individuals with Intersex Conditions." Div. 54 Differences of Sexual Development Special Interest Group as well as the Intersex Youth Advocacy Organization InterACT participated in the review of this document. The DSD SIG agreed to propose a finalized update. The CSOGD keeps the Committee on Children, Youth and Families apprised of progress.

Revising "Lesbian and Gay Parenting." The Office on Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity hired a consultant to review and assess the need for updates to "Lesbian and Gay Parenting" by the end of 2017.  The consultant surveyed current and anticipated legal issues being addressed by organizations that provide legal services to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender parents and, in consultation with the original author, determined that the document currently mostly serves its purpose, and the recommendations therein are now common practice. Next steps of focus are for the committee to consider developing additional literature about transgender parents.

Issues Pertaining to Gender Identity and Expression

• The committee received a number of questions both directly and indirectly through a Div. 44 listserv discussion about how to respond to questions about scoring for binary gender options in psychological evaluation tools. The committee held an informal focus group with various content experts in psychometrics, the Committee on Psychological Testing and Assessment, and research in sexual and gender diversity. As a result, the committee produced a new tool entitled, "Psychological Testing Fact Sheet: Psychological Testing and Neurocognitive Assessment with Transgender and Gender Nonbinary Adults."
• The committee engaged in collaborative work with CEMA and CWP to address issues of violence and homicide of transgender women of color.
• The committee assisted with the development of a model amicus brief on discrimination against transgender people.
• The committee partnered with Div. 44 to convened SOCE and GICE writing groups to develop a new APA policy on the topics.

APA Policy and Practice on Collecting and Reporting Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Information

The CSOGD received input from Fenway Health, the San Francisco Department of Public Health and other subject matter experts to develop a rationale to help APA and its providers move forward with collecting sexual orientation and gender identity data in respectful and appropriate ways. The committee agreed to recommend guidelines consistent with the San Francisco City and County Sex and Gender Guidelines, and the Sexual Orientation Guidelines. These guidelines were developed across a vast stakeholder working group that included content matter experts from across the state of California, Fenway Health in Boston and APA Div. 44.

Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity Concerns in Psychology Education and Training

The Committee co-signed a letter to the Board of Educational Affairs that outlines concerns over sex and gender discrimination toward members of the LGBTQ community who attend faith-based colleges and universities. BEA has agreed to appoint a working group to assess the matter and consider appropriate actions.

Consolidated Meetings

The committee held its inaugural online consolidated meeting in the fall of 2017. Despite a small number of technical and scheduling challenges due to staff participating across three different time zones, the committee was able to prioritize key elements for an agenda and completed its consolidated meeting as scheduled. In preparation for this successful activity, the committee:

• Reviewed in advance and agreed upon a table of contents for the fall agenda by the end of August 2017. The committee set priorities to distinguish smaller topics that could be addressed in their regularly scheduled monthly Skype for Business meetings from the more complex topics that would be taken up during a longer Skype for Business meeting set for the "Fall Consolidated" time in October 2017.
• The fall consolidated meeting was held during the weekend of October 21 (with October 28 reserved as a back-up for spill over topics). The committee held multiple, 90-minute Skype for Business meetings as needed to address the more complex topics delegated during the August and September monthly calls.
• Lessons learned from this virtual meeting includes: The importance of advanced preparation by each committee member in order to have a smooth meeting. Where technical difficulties limited visual access to members, much was lost in nonverbal communications. It was very difficult to engage the number and size of the electronic documents — pagination is needed for quick e-tabbing through pdfs of several hundred pages. The opportunities for spontaneous, cross-committee work is not possible in a virtual meeting. This severely limits the amount of work that could have been done in real time. The committee all felt that if virtual meetings became the new normal, this could be a disincentive to candidates taking on the responsibility of serving on APA committees. Having the opportunity to engage committee members in person makes a huge difference with developing professional relationship and rapport. Finally, but no less important, the virtual environment poses incredible challenges for any committee member that may have visual or hearing impairments.