Has The American Psychiatric Association Gone Insane?

By Rev. Louis P. Sheldon
Chairman, Traditional Values Coalition

For Publication On Or After
June 1, 2005

Washington, DC – A little more than a week ago, the delegates to the American Psychiatric Association (APA) convention in Atlanta voted to endorse homosexual marriage. They claim they did so in order to promote the “mental health” of homosexuals. The APA vote is to be finalized before the board of trustees in July of this year.What about our mental health? Do the majority of Americans who think homosexuality is abnormal have to bow to the wishes of a small fraction of the population who engage in sodomy? Must the institution of marriage be redefined to cater to the sexual desires of these troubled individuals? I think not.

This latest action by the American Psychiatric Association makes one wonder if the leadership of this organization has gone insane. Or has the APA become a total captive of homosexual activists within the group who are driving a political and cultural agenda?

The APA’s removal of homosexuality as a mental disorder from the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders” (DSM) in 1973 is considered by homosexuals to be a watershed event that has helped normalize homosexual behavior here in the United States and throughout the world.

The ugly truth, however, is that the removal of homosexuality from the DSM had nothing to do with sound science or rational thought. It was the result of homosexual aggression within and outside of the organization. The removal was a political act, not one based on a dispassionate study of the serious dysfunctional characteristics of homosexual behavior.

But, don’t take my word for it. Pro-homosexual author Dr. Ronald Bayer chronicled this ugly history in his 1981 book, “Homosexuality and American Psychiatry: The Politics of Diagnosis.” In it, Bayer describes how aggressive homosexual activists terrorized various APA conventions prior to 1973 and how homosexual activists inside the organization worked to subvert the organization.

Dr. Jeffrey Satinover, author of “Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth” has also described how closeted homosexuals inside the APA were influential in getting homosexuality removed as a serious mental condition.

Dr. Charles Socarides, who has repeatedly warned about the social consequences of normalizing homosexuality, outlined what occurred in 1973 in his essay, “Sexual Politics And Scientific Logic: The Issue Of Homosexuality.” According to Socarides, the removal of homosexuality from the DSM “created injustices for the homosexual as it belied the truth that prevented the homosexual from seeking and receiving psychoanalytic help.”

Study after study over the past thirty years has shown that the person who engages in homosexual conduct suffers from high levels of mental problems, substance abuse, and life-threatening venereal diseases, including HIV. This is consistent even in “gay-affirming” environments like San Francisco and The Netherlands.

Moreover, homosexual households are notoriously unstable, violence filled, and unsafe for children. Dr. A. Dean Byrd, the head of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality’s Scientific Advisory Committee has just published a lengthy study showing the serious problems within homosexual households and the impact this has on children.

In “Gender Complementarity and Child-rearing: Where Tradition and Science Agree,” Dr. Byrd observes: “Historical and current research provides significant concerns about the mental health, physical health and longevity of homosexuals individuals, as well as stability of homosexual relationships.” He concludes that homosexual households pose a serious and unnecessary threat to the well-being of children.

Frankly, the APA’s most recent decision on homosexual marriage is just one more example of this organization being used for political purposes by homosexual activist organizations. The APA’s leadership should be embarrassed and ashamed for allowing it to be a pawn of individuals who believe that engaging in anal sex is somehow equal to traditional marriage. Any rational person can understand the difference. The APA apparently has lost its ability to think rationally on this issue.

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