Pubdate: Wed, 26 Jun 2002 Source: St. Petersburg Times (FL) Copyright: 2002 St. Petersburg Times Contact: http://www.sptimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/419 Author: Richard Bradbury TAKING RESPONSIBILITY To the editor: I am not surprised by the letter on June 14, Learn to take responsibility. I agree with David Laird that he was on staff while I was client in Straight and at one point he was also a client. In fact, he has omitted his full role. While in the "program" I was called on to give a confession by Mr. Laird. I was giving a confession about being molested when I was 13 years old. I was describing the incident in detail and was very upset. Mr. Laird interrupted and stated: If you leave the program all you'll be is "gay," is that what you want? He continued, calling me a number of other unprintable names and making unprintable statements, and then he asked the group to confront me. He called on male and female clients to continue this confrontation for several minutes and in the same manner. Why would Mr. Laird act this way? Because while a teenager in the program, Mr. Laird was taught to treat the clients this way. Mr. Laird was treated in this manner and in fact, worse while a client in the Straight program. I witnessed the mistreatment of him. While a staff member, Mr. Laird had no degree in counseling. His only qualification to be a staff person was the fact that he graduated from the program. But I can understand Mr. Laird. I, too, was a staff member at Straight and had no college degree. Why? Because after 17 months of being in the Straight program and being beaten, sexually abused, and hardly fed, I was convinced by them (i.e. staff, Mr. Laird) that I deserved this treatment and that it was for my own good and that I should also treat others this way because they need it too so they could get "straight." Understand, I had no drug problem before being falsely imprisoned at Straight. My life was good! I worked hard for eight years and closed Straight because I do take responsibility, not only for my own actions but also for those of others. I used my own time and money to eliminate the Straight fraud and child abuse centers. I am proud of my work. I am not surprised that when I spoke of something in a personal nature about myself that Mr. Laird would choose to attack me personally. It is just the training he received while on staff. RICHARD BRADBURY Tampa - --- MAP posted-by: SHeath(DPFFlorida)