Is Homosexuality a Mental Disorder?

A few days ago, a topic was discussed on a program. The topic was about the City of Houston issuing subpoena’s to five pastors requiring them to turn over any sermons, notes and communications regarding homosexuality. I was just beginning to write here about that when the program I was listening to brought it up, so I stopped writing it. All of a sudden, it took a weird turn.

                           

A caller to the program said that the DSM had found that homosexuality was a mental disorder. He was starting to say something else but the host cut him off and said that the DSM had changed their position and decided that it wasn’t a mental disorder. The gentleman again started to say something and was again interrupted. This happened three or four times. The caller even mentioned that he was being interrupted and hadn’t finished saying what he wanted to say. A comment was made even by my daughter about how she didn’t know what the man was going to say because he was being repeatedly interrupted.

I had no idea what or who the DSM was, and naturally didn’t know what the caller was about to say. So, during the commercial break, I did a quick search and found out that the DSM is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. It’s published by the American Psychiatric Association.

Apparently, sometime in the 1950’s they determined that homosexuality was a mental disorder. I can’t even pretend to understand how they came up with that diagnosis. However, in 1970, gay activists protested the APA’s convention in San Francisco. They continued to pressure the APA over the next couple of years and in 1973, the APA held a vote on their determination of homosexuality being a mental disorder.

Personally, I’m not a big fan of psychiatry, but I would think that they would have a medical basis or scientific basis for any position they take. Something more tangible than “feelings” because everyone has different feelings about different things. After all, they are called “doctors”. This decision however, seems to be based solely on political pressure. I have seen no full research that definitively says that homosexuality is a mental disorder but I also see no full research that says it’s not a mental disorder.

I’m leery of anything put out by the science community mainly because of Global warming which has been changed to Climate Change since they got caught fudging the numbers and allowing political correctness or pressure. Or even a more current example of Ebola and the constant changing of stories by the CDC and the politicians.

At this point, it seems the only thing certain about homosexuality is what each person thinks is the cause or desire of the homosexual person…in other words an opinion that everyone has. Nothing seems to be factually based. People base their ideas of homosexuality on how they were raised, or their religious beliefs or maybe even their own sense of the topic or their own desires.

I may challenge your opinion and always hope my opinions are challenged but I’ll not cut off your opinion which is why I always end these writings with…..

Your comments are welcome.

Brett