Surgeon general's report covers gays, sex ed

SUMMARY: Anti-gay harassment, ex-gay therapy and a lack of respect for diversity has a negative effect on the mental health of gays and lesbians, according to a report on sexual health from the highest ranking medical officer in the United States.

Anti-gay harassment, ex-gay therapy and a lack of respect for diversity has a negative effect on the mental health of gays and lesbians, according to a report on sexual health from the highest ranking medical officer in the United States.

"The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Promote Sexual Health and Responsible Behavior," released Thursday by the office of Clinton-appointed Surgeon General David Satcher, said parents, schools and community leaders need to overcome discomfort with sex and sexuality to impart plentiful and accurate information to children about the subject.

"Given the diversity of attitudes, beliefs, values and opinions, finding common ground might not be easy, but it is attainable," the report concluded.

In the document, Satcher said no valid evidence exists that a person's sexual orientation can be changed, and efforts to do so can psychologically damage gays and lesbians.

"In their extreme form, anti-homosexual attitudes lead to anti-gay violence," the report said. "Averaged over two dozen studies, 80 percent of gay men and lesbians had experienced verbal or physical harassment on the basis of sexual orientation, 45 percent had been threatened by violence and 17 percent had experienced physical attack."

"We have a responsibility to be more supportive and proactive than judgmental," Satcher told the Associated Press. "We're certainly not trying to get anyone in any religious group to change their views. We're just saying these are people, these are human beings."

"Call to Action" also said although abstinence is a valid and important message for sex education, abstinence-only programs that don't teach about contraception methods are not effective in preventing sexually transmitted diseases.

George W. Bush's administration, which backs a federal abstinence-only program, moved quickly to distance itself from Satcher's report. "This report was commissioned by the previous administration. It was released today by an appointee of the previous president," Ari Fleischer (news - web sites), Bush's press secretary, told reporters just a few hours after Satcher's report was released.

"Two years of scientific research has resulted in a highly scientific report by the nation's top doctor that will save lives," said Winnie Stachelberg, political director of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay and lesbian lobbying group. "We urge the administration to immediately adopt the more science-based guidelines and let them serve as a policy roadmap for improving public health in America."

The report makes many recommendations, including provision of adequate training in sexual health for health care professionals, ensuring the availability of programs that aim to prevent sexual abuse, stressing the value and benefits of remaining abstinent until involved in a committed, enduring and mutually monogamous relationship, and developing and disseminating educational materials for sex-ed classes that cover the "full continuum of human sexual development."

Earlier in June, Satcher told a symposium marking the 20th anniversary of the onset of AIDS (news - web sites) that policymakers' proclivity for not basing decisions on scientific ground is dangerous, and often fatal. "I can think of no other area where the gap between what we know and what we do is so lethal as in human sexuality," Satcher said.