Ask Your Doctor

We saw recently that the Founder and Chairman of the American Family Association, Donald E. Wildmon himself, has been sending around a newsletter trying to get people to submit affadavits undermining the Montgomery County Public Schools' recent decision to pilot test and implement a new sex-ed curriculum. At the heart of the message was this statement:

CRC's representative on the CAC, who is also an infectious disease physician, repeatedly insisted that the curriculum include the health risks of homosexual sex as stated by the Centers for Disease Control and the U.S Surgeon General. Her requests which were backed by a petition signed by 270 local physicians were NOT included.

The CRC has made the signatures of those physicians public, at least a lot of them.

These are doctors at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in Rockville, who signed a petition asking, according to the American Family Association, for the curriculum to include some statements from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the risks of "homosexual sex," and a quote by a Surgeon General. The Surgeon General's quote, which, by the way, doesn't mention homosexuality, is one made by C. Everett Koop, published in 1991 when he was no longer Surgeon General.

We know the CRC. There are two main reasons they would like to include these statements. The first is just the usual, it makes gay people look bad. They associate anal sex (which is really what these statements are about) with gay men, even though anal intercourse is overwhelmingly practiced by straight couples (about 40 percent of American adults have had anal intercourse with an opposite-sex partner). They want to include statements about anal sex in the curriculum, hoping to associate that behavior with male homosexuality in students' minds. At this point, the curriculum does not teach anything about male or female homosexual sex practices. It is about sexual orientation, about emotions and attraction and romantic feelings, besides discussing issues regarding bullying and harassment, etc.

The second reason is somewhat more benign, but misguided. The theory, as I understand it, is that if students are warned about the "risks of homosexuality," they will choose not to be gay. Then they won't get AIDS and die. You laugh, but they have actually made this argument in legal documents, and continue to make it. They have said, in plain language, that the school board will be responsible when former MCPS students start dropping like flies.

So, we wonder, who are these Shady Grove doctors who support the inclusion of this statement by Ronald Reagan's former Surgeon General? Who are these doctors that want to teach Montgomery County students about anal intercourse? What motivates them? What do they have against gay people, and how do they deal with those issues in their practice?

Here are the names that the CRC has made public, as well as we could make them out. The CRC didn't distribute the first 75 or (if they're telling the truth about the number of signatures) the last 64 or so; there are some repeats, and some were just plain illegible. Remember, these are doctors, this is their handwriting. They signed and then printed their names, and even then, it is likely that some of these below are misspelled.

If you see your doctor's name here, do us a favor, OK? Ask them why they signed this petition supporting the anti-gay, anti-Montgomery-County Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum. Ask them why they're helping the radical group sue the county.

Just for fun, ask them if they have any idea which Surgeon General made that statement about anal sex being too dangerous to practice, or in what decade. Just spring that one on them -- I am curious to know if these guys even know what they signed, or if they'll just sign any statement that seems to oppose "homosexual sex."

Now that Montgomery County has adopted a new comprehensive and inclusive sex-education curriculum for 8th and 10th grade, ask these doctors why they are helping the CRC, and now the American Family Association, sue the county to block it.

Then tell us what they say.

Here are the names that the Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum gave out:

72-75. Illegible
76. Truong Gao
77. Illegible
78. Natasha Haag, MD
79. Eric J. Park
80. Kritis Dasgupta, MD
81. George Conrad, MD
82. Frank Seinshein, MD
83. Stephen Epstein, MD
84. Illegible
85. Miruid Khianey, MD
86. Ernest D. Hanowell
87. Lisa Zheng, MD
88. Joel H. Barton, MD
89. Richard O. Odero or Odeso ??
90. Catherine M. Chura
91. John G. Lodmell
92. Heather Schwartzbauer
93. Rahul Gicotra
94. Hubert Leveque
95. John McNeil
96. Illegible
97. Alok Mathur
98. David Charles, MD
99. Kewal K. Sherma, MD
100. Shubir Sofat, MD
101. R. Marshall Ackerman, MD
102. A. Mendhiratta, MD
103. C. Long, MD
104 – 106 Illegible
107. E. Smith, MD
108. Irving Mizus, MD
109. L. Boynes Sindass, MD
110. George Yeh, MD
111. David Miller, MD
112. David Plotkin, MD
113. Kazam, MD
114. Benjamin Edinger
115. Greg Kankanion, MD
116. Illegible
117. Kaldun Nossuli, MD
118. Niz Maruf, MD
119. Illegible
120. Alan Chanales, MD
121. John Melnick, MD
122. Pankaj Lal, MD
123. Isabelle Hertig, MD
124. Illegible
125. John J. Shigo, MD
126 – 127. Illegible
128. Maheteme Beyeh, MD
129. Illegible
130. Charles Tuegel, MD
131. Godswill O. Okoji or Okosi, MD
132. Denis O’Brien, MD
133. Arnold G. Levy, MD
134. Illegible
135. Peter B. Sherer, MD
136. Illegible
Dennis Winters, MD (DUPLICATE of 144 below)
Daniel Laar, MD (DUPLICATE of 145 below)
Mary Rubin, MD (DUPLICATE of 147 below)
G. A. Wright (DUPLICATE of 148 below)
137. Andrew Bender
138 – 139 Illegible
140. Thomas T. Odan or Odar, MD
141. Holly Korsvik-Wysocki, MD
142. Barry J. Levin, MD
143. Yao-Yao Zhu, MD
144. Dennis Winters, MD
145. Daniel Laar, MD
146. Illegible
147. Mary Rubin, MD
148. G. A. Wright, MD
149. Stephen Vaccarezza, MD
150 - 151. Illegible
152. Barry Aron, MD
153. Lawrence Murkowitz, MD
154 – 157 Illegible
158. R. Larkin, MD
159. Illegible
160. Bennett Morrison, MD
161. Michael Baldousky, MD
162. Jonathan Klontz, MD
163. Illegible
164. Robert Fox, MD
165. Clyde Pray, MD
166. Illegible
167. Brett Gamma, MD
168. Jeff Briggs, MD
169. Jeff Cutler, MD
170. Scott Shawen, MD
171. Albert V. Porambo, MD
172. S. K. Mathur, MD
173. Kevin G. Schwartz, MD
174. J. G. Reilly, MD, PhD, FACP
175. Illegible
176. Heather Lorenzo, MD
177. Matt Poffenrok, MD
178. Nimesh S. Shoh, MD
179. Brian Carpenter, MD
180. Illegible
181. John Wallmark, MD
182. Wayne Bernstein, MD
183. Paul Zuckerman, MD
184. Byoung K. Lee, MD
185. Matthew C. McAndrew, MD
186. Michael K. Das, MD
187. Joseph Kaplan, MD
188. Matthew J. Connolly
189. Mukemil Abdella
190. Joshua Katz, MD, FACS, FAFCRS
191 - 192. Illegible
193. Arijit Dosgupta, MD
194. Illegible
195. Jocelyn Kouatchou, MD
196. Manish Agrawal
197. Illegible
198. Monique Goma, MD
199. Shyam Parkuie, MD
200. Illegible
201. Kathy Mesbahi, MD
202. Michael Goodman
203. Herbert Juarbe
204. Barry Greene, MD
205. Brandon Falk, MD
206. Fisehatswin Mehari, MD