On Saturday, March 1, 2025, the Houston Eating Disorder Specialists (HEDS) organization was scheduled to hold a seminar entitled, “The Ethics of Modern Eating Disorder Care … Exploring Nuances and Opposing Perspectives.” [Stay tuned for irony in its most quintessential form.]

A few of the topics to be covered included “Healing Beneath the Surface: Psychedelics and Eating Disorder Recovery” and “GLP medications & Body Autonomy: Considerations for HAES providers.”

To conclude the day, Gloria Lucas was scheduled to make a keynote presentation. And that is when life, social injustice and radicalism got in the way, the wheels came flying off and the car went soaring off the cliff Thelma & Louise style.

Now, I have not met nor spoken with Ms. Lucas. I don’t believe I have read any material authored by Ms. Lucas. I have no opinion about Ms. Lucas.  But apparently many people in the eating disorder community do have an opinion. Boy howdy do they!

Apparently, quite a bit of the vitriol directed at Ms. Lucas is focused on that incredibly crucial, foundational, all-encompassing eating disorder issue … the current war in the Gaza Strip and whether you are an “anti-Semite.”

Admittedly, I am not nearly erudite enough to be able to connect the dots between our loved ones who are suffering and dying from eating disorders and the hate filled diatribe that has been going on for thousands of years in the Middle East. But there must be some connection!

Surely eating disorder professionals would not place importance and emphasis on their views about who is being oppressed half a world away over the needs of their patients! Surely, we can all agree that the care and treatment of people who are suffering, people with whom we can have a direct impact predominate over our social injustice views! 

Yeah!

Uh … No.

Again apparently, a number of treatment providers view Ms. Lucas as ill-informed. The term “anti-Semite” has been directed toward Ms. Lucas. Come on now people! Where is the compassion and understanding? Perhaps Ms. Lucas simply now identifies as a Palestinian. [As an aside, I cannot take credit for that astute observation.]

Her selection as a keynote speaker addressing the topic of … well, we don’t really know since the topic is not listed, raised quite a bit of angst and consternation. So much so that a petition, (No, not that! A petition!) was started demanding that Ms. Lucas be removed as the keynote speaker.

In one of the closed Facebook groups, the following exchange took place:

From XXX-CT: “what a world we inhabit nowadays that has somehow dragged eating disorders into this.”

Lucas (Keynote speaker) response: “XXX-CT… Eat my ass.”

Allegedly, Ms. Lucas also stated that a group of people are, “fake ass liberatory eating disorder professionals.”

Now, I am not exactly sure what a “fake ass liberatory eating disorder professional” is. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? However, Ms. Lucas’ repeated use of the word “ass” is curious. Perhaps Ms. Lucas actually now identifies as a Palestinian ass.

Finally, this tempest in a tea pot began swirling with such great fervor that bold, direct action needed to be taken. So, HEDS made the difficult, if not responsible decision to replace Ms. Lucas with another speaker. After all, eating disorders should not be subject to the whims of a controversial person with no degrees and no licenses, speaking for 90 minutes about an undisclosed topic to a crowd measuring in the tens. And the needs of HEDS members and the expectations of sponsors and exhibitors must come first. As Commander Spock once said:

And so, Ms. Lucas was replaced, and the show must go on.

Ok… I jest. Au contraire Pierre!

HEDS made the decision to stick with Ms. Lucas as a keynote speaker on the topic of … well, who knows. And the outcry grew louder.

Finally, HEDS made the decision to cancel the entire seminar/conference. I believe just two days before the event.

Reportedly, HEDS cancelation notice included this remark: “Our priority is the well-being and security of everyone involved, and after careful consideration, we feel it is not possible to ensure a safe and respectful learning environment for the conference at this time.”

So, the presenters who presumably spent hours in preparation are out of luck.

The exhibitors, some of whom came in from out of state and who contributed financially are out of luck.

The persons who planned and paid to attend are out of luck.

The sponsors, some of whom are Equip, Monte Nido, Laurette, Center for Change, Within and even one named, “Sorry No Image Available” …

But HEDS lacked the awareness to understand that whereas, its sponsors on the surface are eating disorder organizations, most of them are owned by private equity companies or corporations. These entities look for a return on their investment of money, effort and time. In choosing a clearly unqualified person to be their keynote speaker to speak on whatever topic that person chose, HEDS wasted all three elements. So, the question HEDS needs to ask itself  is, why do they realistically believe that any of these sponsors will ever support their organization again?

Just when you think the eating disorder community has hit an all time low, it doesn’t disappoint and sinks to an even deeper level of ridiculous pandemonium in the sandbox.

HEDS chose a path of supporting one speaker and her echo chamber followers. In doing so, it turned its back on the eating disorder community. HEDS’ message is, “Our social injustice clown show is more important than educating professionals or helping treatment providers or saving lives!”

And perhaps, seeing the escalating controversy and unpopularity of her speaking, Ms. Lucas could have said, “I must always place the needs of the community above my own ego. I see that I am too controversial for this particular function and I must respectfully withdraw from participating. I look forward to reaching a deeper understanding with everyone in the community with the hope that we can strive forward together so that we can accomplish our shared goal, that is, helping as many people as we can and saving as many lives as we can.”

Yeah… right.

Sometimes the jokes just write themselves. A conference entitled, “The Ethics of Modern Eating Disorder Care: Exploring Nuances and Opposing Perspectives” fell flat on its face before it even started because HEDS could not and did not embrace opposing perspectives. Irony … they name is HEDS.

It seems like the only positive aspect that came out of this clown show was that HEDS did not list Acadia Healthcare as a sponsor.  Then again, perhaps Acadia Healthcare, with all its corruption and vice, looked upon HEDS as being beyond redemption and wanted nothing to do with them. And wouldn’t that be something.

Happy 2025 Eating Disorder Awareness Week!