Psychiatrists, in a Shift, Declare Homosexuality No Mental Illness
Just like that: *SNAP!* Homosexuality became permissible in society and oddly 'legal.'
Thus, solidifying man's control over humanity, because humanity decides what is classified right and what is wrong, too!
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
By Richard D. Lyons Special to The New York Times
- Dec. 16, 1973
WASHINGTON, Dec. 15—The American Psychiatric Association, altering a position it has held for nearly a century, decided today that homosexuality is not a mental disorder.
The board of trustees of the 20,00D‐member group approved a resolution that said in part, “by itself, homosexuality does not meet the criteria for being a psychiatric disorder.”
Persons who are troubled by their homosexuality, the trustees said, will be classified as having a “sexual orientation disturbance” should they come to a psychiatrist for help.
“We will no longer insist on a label of sickness for individuals who insist that they are well and demonstrate no generalized impairment in social effectiveness,” the trustees said.
The trustees defined “sexual orientation disturbance” as a category for “individuals whose sexual interests are directed toward people of their own sex and who are either disturbed by, in conflict with or wish to change their sexual orientation.”
The semantics of the resolution and exactly how it differed from the association's previous position were challenged by reporters during a news conference at A.P.A headquarters. But association leaders insisted they had not given in to Aressure from homosexual groups and that the difference in position was indeed real, rather than imaginary despite the apparent vagueness of their resolution.
Dr. Robert L. Spitzer, who is a psychiatrist at the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, explained that “we're not saying that homosexuality is either normal or ‘abnormal.’”
Many psychiatrists have held a traditional view of homosexuality as being a disease and regarded the best method of treatment as being an attempt to convert a homosexual to heterosexual behavior. If this occurred, the patient was considered “cured.”
But the effect of today's action here would be to put psychiatrists on notice that some homosexuals—the exact number is not known—have adjusted to their sexual status and do not wish to change.
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According to Dr. Spitzer, this would mean that many more homosexuals who need psychiatric help for reasons other than homosexuality would seek professional help because the homosexuals would know that the psychiatrists would not necessarily try to “cure” them by converting them to heterosexuality.
Deplore Discrimination
In a related action, the association's trustees adopted a resolution deploring discrimination against homosexuals in the fields of housing, employment and licensing.
Further, the board of trustees said it “supports and urges the enactment of civil rights legislation at local, state, and Federal levels that would insure homosexual citizens the same protections now guaranteed to others.
In addition, the board said, “The A.P.A. supports and urges the repeal of all legislation making criminal offense of sexual acts performed by consenting adults in private.”
Such laws exist in 42 states and the District of Columbia, according to the National Gay Task Force, a New York‐based homosexual activist group.
The group hailed the association's action as “the greatest gay victory,” adding, “The diagnosis of homosexuality as an illness has been the cornerstone of oppression for a tenth of our population.” The fraction has been set far lower by other estimates.
Self‐Appraisal
The group said in a statement that linking homosexuality to mental illness “has forced many gay women and men to think of themselves as freaks.”
“It has been used as a tool of discrimination in the private sector, and in the civil service, military, Immigration and Naturalization Service, health services, adoption and child custody courts,” the statement added.
Dr. Alfred M. Freedman, president of the A.P.A., noted that the association's official list of mental disorders had classed homosexuality as a “sexual deviation” along with fetishism, voyeurism, pedophilia, exhibitionism, and others.
He said that whether homosexuality belonged there had been the subject of increasing debate, “fanned by the organized homosexual community, which has vigorously protested the prejudice that derives from classifying their condition as a mental illness.”
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 1973—The American Psychiatric Association, altering a position it has held for nearly a century, decided today that homosexuality is not a mental disorder.
This is not a new article or news account in any significant way. What it is. My attempt to go back into the nation's "psyche" and locate where this oppression and release of homosexuals came from and observe how easily it was 'dismissed' in 1973.
Humanity decides what is classified right and what is wrong.
We need to get clear on specific human classifications as being decisions from the minds of humans (men) and done so for any number of subjective reasons. Evidently for centuries there was never any scientific facts leading our society (world society) to jeopardize the lives of homosexual men and women. All of the wasted potential lost to the world because of bigotry, and its 'cousin' involuntary Ignorance.
#FlashbackFriday -- Today in 1973, the APA Removed Homosexuality From List of Mental Illnesses
by Allison Turner • December 15, 2017
Forty-four years ago today, the American Psychiatric Association made history by issuing a resolution stating that homosexuality was not a mental illness or sickness.
Forty-four years ago today, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) -- the largest psychiatric organization in the world -- made history by issuing a resolution stating that homosexuality was not a mental illness or sickness.
This declaration helped shift public opinion, marking a major milestone for LGBTQ equality.
The resolution stated, “We will no longer insist on a label of sickness for individuals who insist that they are well and demonstrate no generalized impairment in social effectiveness.” The statement continued to say the APA supports “civil rights legislation at local, state, and Federal levels that would insure homosexual citizens the same protections now guaranteed to others.”
Now, more than 40 years later, LGBTQ advocates are still fighting to achieve that reality. Despite significant steps forward, 31 states still lack clear, fully-inclusive non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people, meaning that LGBTQ people are at risk of being fired, denied housing, and denied services for who they are or whom they love.
That’s why HRC is fighting to pass The Equality Act, which would provide consistent and explicit federal non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people across key areas of life, including employment, housing, credit, education, public spaces and services, federally funded programs and jury service.
In recent years, the APA has continued to advocate for LGBTQ people, including forcefully opposing the dangerous practice of so-called “conversion therapy” and opposing the Trump-Pence Administration’s ban on qualified transgender people serving in the military.
People did this and people "undid" it, too!
“The oppression of gay people starts in the most basic unit of society, the family, consisting of the man in charge, a slave as his wife, and their children on whom they force themselves as the ideal models. The very form of the family works against homosexuality.”
~ Coming out : homosexual politics in Britain from the nineteenth century to the present Jeffrey Weeks, 1977, London ; New York : Quartet Books, p. 196.
Let's have a penetrating discussion about the 'problem' or state of play of male homosexuality. Conservatives: Are male homosexuals 'man' enough for you?
Penetrating, I get it CB, good one.
What's the problem?
I don't know what 'man' enough for me means.
Collectively do libertarians, assuming you are one, have a political (like/dislike) for male homosexuals? If not, why support the republican party which has a big problem with male homosexuality - politically and religiously?
What does the expression: "Be a man!" mean to you?
I’m not a libertarian and I don’t know what having a “political (like/dislike) for male homosexuals, mean,
I don’t support either Party, just candidates.
Be yourself. Self-sacrifice for your loved ones. That really applies to both genders.
Wow. Nice straddling the fence without falling off it. Does "be a man" also mean bearing children for the state and separately the church (if one is a member), in you opinion? Curious.
Now I don’t owe the state or a church any children.