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Jeff Matranga is president of the Maine Psychological Association. Doug Kimmel of Hancock co-chairs the association’s Community Engagement & Social Justice Committee.
Members of the Maine Psychological Association joined with other professional organizations and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and allied groups to oppose enacting legislation that would change the affirmation of human rights protections for gender identity and discriminate against transgender persons in sports. We applaud the members of the Maine Legislature for voting down those bills and continuing support for LGBTQ+ rights.
Psychological research finds that gender is a nonbinary construct that allows for a range of gender identities and that a person’s gender identity may not align with sex assigned at birth. While gender refers to the characteristics and behaviors culturally associated with one’s sex assigned at birth, in some cases, gender may be distinct from the physical markers of biological sex. Specifically, gender identity refers to “a person’s deep felt, inherent sense of being a girl, woman, or female; a boy, a man, or male; a blend of male or female; [or another] gender,” a 2021 resolution from the American Psychological Association states.
Our opposition to this legislation was also based on the following research findings:
Exclusionary policies harm the general school atmosphere of tolerance and inclusion for all students regardless of gender identity.
Affirming environments, including access to school sports in accordance with gender identity, are strongly associated with reduced rates of depression, anxiety, and suicide risk in transgender youth.
Participation in sports can be instrumental in establishing feelings of self confidence and repairing emotional trauma, especially for young people dealing with their gender identity.
Exclusionary policies provide no general benefit to gender-conforming youth who otherwise differ in athletic ability due to early or late maturation and other factors. All youth should have access to sports.
The Maine Psychological Association supports and participates in LGBTQIA+ Pride celebrations around the state because we are focused on evidence-based advocacy that protects the dignity, safety, and psychological well-being of all Maine persons. Our commitment is grounded in science, ethics, and professional consensus.
It was a psychologist, Evelyn Hooker, whose pioneering research in the 1950s showed that same-sex sexual attraction was not a sign or cause of mental illness. This and other research eventually led the American Psychological Association to urge mental health professionals to take the lead in removing the stigma of mental illness associated with homosexuality in 1975.
Since then, psychologists have been conducting empirical research that has been important in supporting a variety of court cases that have removed laws criminalizing or limiting the rights of LGBTQ+ people. Psychologists have studied parenting by same-sex parents, research that led to legal permission for same-sex couples to adopt children and eventually to the U.S. Supreme Court cases allowing same-sex marriage. The American Psychological Association has also taken a clear stand against forms of therapy to change an individual’s sexual orientation based on evidence that it is ineffective and often harmful. Psychologists have also had an important role in removing the medical classification of same-sex sexual attraction — homosexuality — from the international listing of diseases, which has had a world-wide effect to destigmatize LGBTQ+ persons.
Today psychologists support LGBTQ+ issues through many kinds of research in a wide variety of fields including human factors, community planning, education, counseling and psychotherapy.
