 |
 |
| Donald Blanchon, the new executive director of Whitman-Walker Clinic, stunned employees when he announced last week that Roberta Geidner-Antoniotti, the chief operating officer, and Dr. Philippe Chiliade, the medical director, ‘are no longer with the clinic.’ (Photo by Janelle Zara) |
|
|
| | |
| |
|
|
| | |
HOME > NEWS > LOCAL
By: LOU CHIBBARO J COMMENTS
 
continued...
Chiliade also came at a time when some Clinic employees raise questions about a decision earlier in the year by the head of the Clinic’s Addiction Services division to hire a drug treatment counselor who admitted having religious-based reservations about homosexuality.
Clinic sources said the counselor in question, who is heterosexual, told Addictions Services interviewers during his job application process that deeply held religious beliefs led him to conclude it would be a sin for anyone to have sexual relations outside of marriage, according to three people with knowledge of the counselor’s hiring.
“This is someone who was hired to provide counseling to mostly gay men with substance abuse problems,” said one of the people familiar with the counselor. “He happens to be a very nice man and has the technical qualifications for a counselor. But there’s some serious questions about whether he has the personal sensitivity to work with gay men who may be grappling with issues of sexuality.”
The Clinic sources declined to reveal the name of the counselor.
The three individuals cited by the Clinic sources as participating in the job interviews with the counselor all declined comment on the matter.
Practicing psychologist David Schwartz, who serves as a Clinic volunteer to help supervise its counselors and therapists, said that as a general principle, people with deeply held negative convictions about homosexuality raise tremendous concerns about their ability to work in positions as counselors or therapists with gay clients.
This is especially pertinent for clients with crystal meth problems, Schwartz said, where a person’s sexual orientation is related to their substance abuse addiction.
The decision to hire the counselor came before Blanchon assumed his post as executive director, the sources said.
Blanchon said neither he nor Amy Bullock Smith, director of the Addiction Services division, could comment on the decision to hire the counselor in question because it was a personnel matter that must be kept confidential.
“As an organization that serves the LGBT community, we’ve got to be sensitive to the fact that we need culturally competent staff,” Blanchon said. “I think that’s probably the greatest challenge in hiring for us.”
Blanchon said the Clinic is bound by legal requirements, including non-discrimination laws, to give both gay and heterosexual applicants a fair and equal opportunity to compete for jobs at the Clinic.
“I also want you to know that it’s management’s responsibility to hire and recruit
| 
