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The American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) is a medical association of religous conservative pediatricians and other healthcare professionals in the United States. The College was founded in 2002 by Dr. Joseph Zanga together with 100 dissenting members of the American Academy of Pediatrics in rejection of AAP's statement of support for LGBT parental rights. Although the organization does not disclose its member count, as of May 2010, It was estimated to have about 200 members. Zanga has described ACP as a group "with Judeo-Christian, traditional values that is open to pediatric medical professionals of all religions who hold true to the group's core beliefs: that life begins at conception; and that the traditional family unit, headed by an opposite-sex couple, poses far fewer risk factors in the adoption and raising of children." The organization's view on parenting is at odds with the position of the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical and child welfare authorities that aver that sexual orientation has no correlation with the ability to be a good parent and raise healthy and well-adjusted children.

Issue positions

The positions taken by the American College of Pediatricians are socially conservative. These positions include:

• The prohibition of parenting by homosexuals
• The limiting of children's access to television and other media, particularly in relation to violence
• Opposition to legislation requiring HPV vaccines
• Opposition to the legalization of marijuana
• Selective use of corporal punishment
• Opposition to abortion
• Abstinence education

The American College of Pediatricians takes the view that mainstream health and mental health organizations have, in many cases, taken public positions on homosexuality and same-sex marriage that are based on their own social and political views rather than the available science.

Opposition

PFLAG identifies the American College of Pediatricians as an anti-equality organization, describing the group as "small splinter group of medical professionals who do not support the mainstream view of the American Academy of Pediatricians (AAP) that homosexuality is a normal aspect of human diversity."

The American College of Pediatricians filed an amicus brief in Kathryn Kutil and Cheryl Hess v. Hon. Paul M. Blake, Jr., Judge, et al. The National Association of Social Workers also filed a brief in that case, in which it described the College as a "small faction", and "out of step with the research-based position of the AAP and other medical and child welfare authorities."

Facts About Youth controversy

In response to the publication by AAP of Just the Facts, a handbook on teen sexual orientation aimed at a school audience, the College published its own Facts About Youth in March 2010, accompanied by a web site. The the College publication, accompanied by a letter was mailed to 14,800 school superintendents on behalf of Tom Benton, president of the American College of Pediatricians. This College publication was challenged as non-factual by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association. The letter primarily addressed same-sex attraction, and recommended that “well-intentioned but misinformed school personnel” who encourage students to “come out as gay” and affirm them as such may lead the students into “harmful homosexual behaviors that they otherwise would not pursue.” The letter also stated that gender identity disorder will typically disappear by puberty “if the behavior is not reinforced.”

Several researchers complained that Facts About Youth misrepresented their findings. Francis S. Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health, made the following statement regarding the American College of Pediatricians on April 15, 2010: "It is disturbing for me to see special interest groups distort my scientific observations to make a point against homosexuality. The American College of Pediatricians pulled language out of context from a book I wrote in 2006 to support an ideology that can cause unnecessary anguish and encourage prejudice. The information they present is misleading and incorrect, and it is particularly troubling that they are distributing it in a way that will confuse school children and their parents." Other researchers who found that Facts About Youth misrepresented their work include Warren Throckmorton and Gary Remafedi.

References

1. ^ Pro-Life Pediatric Group Stands Contrary to Established American Academy of Pediatrics
2. "History" (PDF). American College of Pediatricians.
3. Kranish, Michael (2005-07-31). "Beliefs drive research agenda of new think tanks". boston.com. Retrieved 2007-10-21.
4. ^ Pinto, Nick (26 May 2010). "University of Minnesota professor's research hijacked". Minneapolis City Pages. Retrieved 17 November 2010.
5. American Academy of Pediatrics, Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health (February 2002). "Coparent or Second-Parent Adoption by Same-Sex Parents" (PDF). Pediatrics. 109 (2): 339–340.
6. Attention: This template ({{cite doi}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by doi:10.1542/peds.2009-3160, please use {{cite journal}} (if it was published in a bona fide academic journal, otherwise {{cite report}} with |doi=10.1542/peds.2009-3160 instead.
7. ^ Brief of Amici Curiae National Association of Social Workers, p. 15
8. "Position Statements". American College of Pediatricians. Retrieved 2010-11-17.
9. http://acpeds.org/Homosexual-Parenting-Is-It-Time-For-Change.html
10. http://acpeds.org/The-Media-Children-and-Adolescents.html
11. http://acpeds.org/Human-Papilloma-Virus-Vaccination.html
12. http://acpeds.org/Marijuana-Use-Legalization-Not-a-Good-Idea.html
13. http://acpeds.org/Corporal-Punishment-A-Scientific-Review-of-Its-Use-in-Discipline.html
14. http://acpeds.org/Respect-for-Life-from-Conception.html
15. http://acpeds.org/Abstinence-Education.html
16. The "Trojan Couch": How the Mental Health Associations Misrepresent Science
17. A Brief History of the American College of Pediatricians
18. When Activism Masquerades as Science: Potential Consequences of Recent APA Resolutions
19. On the APA Endorsement Of Gay Marriage
20. "Anti-Equality Organizations". PFLAG. Retrieved 2010-11-17.
21. http://www.allbusiness.com/society-social/families-children-family-law-child/12301412-1.html
22. http://factsaboutyouth.com/
23. http://factsaboutyouth.com/posts/attention-school-superintendents/
24. Horton, Greg (June 23, 2010). "Doctors debate the facts surrounding sexual orientation and gender confusion". Oklahoma Gazette. Retrieved 2010-11-17.
25. "Statement from NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., in Response to the American College of Pediatricians". 2010-04-16. Retrieved 2010-05-18.

External links

• Official website

• Pediatrics
• American medical associations
• Health and disability rights organizations in the United States
• Sexual orientation and medicine