We are coming up on what is a critical time for the United States and for LAGPA. While I realize in the larger scheme of things the former is more important than the latter, in Los Angeles LAGPA is important. Before I discuss these two issues, however, let me catch you up on some events that have occurred since the last newsletter.

On June 19, 2004, LAGPA held its annual conference, Our GLBT Families: Moving Forward. If you missed the conference, you truly missed a lot! There are articles on the presentations in this newsletter. Plan to attend next years event now. It will be held at the beginning of June, as a number of people suggested having it on a non-gay pride weekend day.

Due to a number of personal and health problems Bill Mochan resigned as Co-Chair of LAGPA. While he will continue as a Board member until the new elections in September, he no longer attends meetings nor has anything to do with running the organization. As a result of Bills difficulties, many of you have not received CEU certificates for the January, February and March continuing education seminars. If you would please send an email to Dr. Harry Drasin indicating which seminar(s) you attended, your name, address, license type and license number, we will try to rectify this problem.

Recently, Dr. David Burke resigned from the Board of Directors. David served on the LAGPA Board for a number of years and his help was invaluable. I would like to thank David and wish him well in all of his other activities.

Returning to national issues, we will soon be holding elections to determine who will be the next President of the United States. As most mental health professionals know the current administration has not been kind to our clients or to us. As most GLBT people know the current administration has not been kind to us or many of our clients. The course our country takes with respect to other nations and the people living within our own borders will be greatly impacted by the outcome of the November elections. As a country, our popularity and respect in the eyes of other nations has never been this poor. As GLBT people we face the possibility that, for the first time in this countrys history, a president may push through his proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution limiting the rights of a specific group of people: us. The last time a president approved (not proposed) an amendment to the Constitution it was called prohibition. Alcoholics and social drinkers everywhere were discriminated against. While that is not quite the same as discriminating against the GLBT community, prohibition was repealed as a result of economic and political pressure on elected officials. We as a people can do the same thing if we organize and work for it. As I sit writing this, the people of the state of Missouri just passed an amendment to their state constitution banning same sex marriage. Of course, we all know there are no GLBT persons in MO so its irrelevant.

LAGPA will also be holding elections soon and it is unclear if the organization will survive past this year. While the current Board members have worked hard and tried to update the data base, get out the newsletter, update the web site, get out mailings and schedule events more punctually, now more than in the past, it is a very large job. LAGPA is run by a volunteer Board of Directors, all of whom are therapists, interns and students with busy schedules. As is true with anything, the more people who volunteer to complete tasks, the less time any one person needs to spend overall. Los Angeles has one of the largest GLBT populations in the country and likely, one of the largest GLBT therapist communities in the country yet we are unable to maintain a full board of directors, or find enough people willing to take-on and follow through on the tasks necessary to maintain the organization the way members have lead us to believe they would like it run. We need those of you with experience on the Board, or in other types of businesses which may be relevant to running an organization, to volunteer to help. We need all of you to join, rejoin and pay your dues. Most of the Board Members strongly believe in LAGPA and would like to see it continue and flourish. Though I continually get emails and feedback complaining about LAGPA not functioning the way people want, getting people to volunteer for the Board or committees is very difficult.

For too many years a few Board members tried to run the entire organization. While we have had more Board Members this year, we do not have enough to manage all of the work necessary to run the organization the way in which its members seem to want. We know that many of you are extremely angry about the fact that the CEU certificates for the smaller seminars were not mailed to you in a timely fashion. Many of you may not have attended the wonderful LAGPA Annual Conference because the mailings went out later than we expected. If you, the members, would like this to change, we need you to volunteer for the Board or its committees. What has happened in the past is that a very few people have volunteered, tried to do everything, ran out of time, got burned out and left LAGPA. I am concerned that if more people do not join the Board and volunteer this will happen again and LAGPA will cease to exist.

A few months ago I sat wondering how I had become the co-chair of this organization when it had never been my intent. Life happens and the person who was to be the female co-chair was unable to do so. I decided to step in because Bill Mochan was the other co-chair. Well life happened again and here I sit trying to Chair the organization alone. I cannot do so, nor do I wish to do so. I know I will not accept the position of Co-Chair if no male member with previous Board experience volunteers to be an active Co-Chair with me. Since I initially volunteered my practice and other activities have increased to the point where I am no longer able to manage all of the tasks I have been for LAGPA. While I am willing to be on the Board, I am not willing to do it without more help from the membership. We need people who will take on tasks and follow through on them in a timely manner. If you, the members, wish to maintain the organization, we need you to volunteer to help.

If you would like to run for the Board, please come to our next meeting at the Village on August 15, 2004, from 1-3 PM. Please bring your current vitae and a short bio. If you would like to assist with some of LAGPAs activities, please come to the meeting or contact me by email. I look forward to hearing from you.