Gay health removed from government website

By Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk • March 3, 2006 - 0:00

The page, ran by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA), discussed safer sex and the impact of discrimination as well as drug abuse

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A US gay rights group is accusing the government of bias towards christian groups after it removed gay health information from its website following anti gay groups complaints.

The Family Research Council (FRC), a Judeo-Christian group which promotes marriage and family as the centre of society, encouraged its members to complain to the Department of Health and Human Services over a web page they believe contains destructive behaviour and biased views. Within two weeks the material was removed.

Lesbian and gay activists are outraged at the departments willingness to comply. The Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) called the FRC extremists. PFLAG Executive Director Jody Huckaby called the FRC "another radical extremist group, making demands on the government to do things according to their theocratic ways."

He told the NewStandard, "By taking information off the website, it's not going to make our loved ones go away. And what a lot of these groups want to see happen is have us disappear."

The page, ran by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA), discussed safer sex and the impact of discrimination as well as drug abuse. The FRC disapproved of the way the site presented the information in a non-judgmental manner, "rather than warning that homosexual conduct is itself a significant health risk."

Mr Huckaby added, "It greatly troubles us that the government would respond to this kind of group, completely leaving out the important health information that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people need."

"When a gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender person's quest for objective government health information leads only to a blank page, he warned, "it sends the message that you're not important, and quite frankly, maybe you shouldn't exist."

However, the department says it removed the page as part of routine website maintenance.

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