WHITE PLAINS — The president of the American Medical Association this week defended a decision by New York Medical College to ban a gay students group from campus, calling it a decision by a private institution to uphold its standards and likening it to Brigham Young University's decisions to ban Coca-Cola from campus and to suspend four athletes accused of raping a 17-year-old girl.
AMA President John Nelson's comments, which he made in an interview before addressing the Westchester County Medical Society on Thursday night, follows more than a month of harsh criticism of the college's action from political, educational and medical leaders in Westchester.
Nelson said doctors should treat gays "with dignity, with respect and with absolute confidentiality" and said the AMA would be concerned if New York Medical College were graduating students "with clinical biases that might affect the way they practice medicine." But he added he has no reason "to believe that that's the case" and said the right of gay students to organize at the college should be balanced against the right of a private institution to set and enforce its own policies.
The Valhalla college is affiliated with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York and has said it banned the group because it conflicted with the college's "Catholic traditions." Brigham Young University is a Mormon institution. The Mormon Church, like the Catholic Church, believes homosexuality is a sin.
Nelson said he was speaking for the AMA, not as a Mormon.
"If you own a business or if you have a private entity, and there are rules for membership there, you have to follow the rules or you can't be a member. For example, if you come to Brigham Young University, where my children happen to go to school, there are certain things you do not do, among which is, you do not drink Coca-Cola on campus because that's against the rules. ...
"As a matter of fact, BYU struggled this year in their football team because there were allegations of some sexual misconduct by the part of some of the students. Before it even (got) to court, they said, 'You're off the team. We'll deal with that, we'll deal with the other issues later. If you're found to be (innocent), we'll bring you back on.' The point is, you have to follow the rules."
Gay doctors and advocates yesterday criticized the analogies Nelson used to defend the medical college.
"They're trivializingly offensive," said Dr. Jane Petro, a Mount Kisco plastic surgeon. "They ignore the fact that on one hand, you're talking about a part of a person's core identity, and on the other hand, you're talking about acts that are by choice, which would be drinking a Coke, or illegal, which would be sexual assault. Homosexuality is neither a choice or illegal."
Petro also said she believes the medical school's ban on the gay student group runs afoul of the AMA's policy on homosexuality, which states that educating doctors about the particular medical needs of the gay community should begin in medical school. The AMA has 250,000 members.
Dr. Joel Ginsberg, executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, also criticized the analogies Nelson used to defend the medical college.
"The fact that he's equating the educational activities of this student organization with drinking Coca-Cola or sexual misconduct is disheartening," Ginsberg said. "We would welcome the opportunity to have a discussion with Dr. Nelson about these issues so he can better understand the gravity of the situation."
Asked yesterday to respond to the criticisms, Nelson said the analogies were "absolutely correct" and offered another one.
He noted that the University of Alabama dismissed football coach Mike Price in May before he coached a single game because he failed to live his "personal and professional life in a manner consistent with university policies," including a night spent at a topless bar.
"He violated the standards of the University of Alabama, and he's gone," Nelson said. "And that's a public institution."
In Westchester, the medical college's decision to ban the group — Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender People in Medicine — provoked a chorus of criticism. County Executive Andrew Spano condemned it, county Health Commissioner Joshua Lipsman resigned from the college's unpaid faculty, Pace University announced it may end a joint degree program with the college, and the county Human Rights Commission is investigating whether the school's tie to the archdiocese is strong enough to shield it from county anti-discrimination laws.
Joshua Sahara, a second-year medical student who was president of the group until it was dissolved, did not return a phone call yesterday.