By Gudrun Schultz
WASHINGTON, D.C., June 29, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Pentagon issued a statement on Wednesday retractingÂits classification, in a military document, of homosexuality as a mental heath disorder, after the American Psychiatric Association and several homosexual activist groups objected.
In a document outlining policy for discharging or retiring service members because of physical disability, “homosexuality” was included in a list of “certain conditions and defects of a developmental nature…[that] do not constitute a physical disability.” Other elements on the list included sexual gender and identity disorders, personality disorders, mental retardation, and alcoholism.Â
“Homosexuality should not have been characterized as a mental disorder in an appendix of a procedural instruction,” the Pentagon statement said. “A clarification will be issued over the next few days.”
The statement pointed out, however, that the disputed classification was found in a minor listing that would have no effect on the current situation regarding homosexuality in military service.
“Notwithstanding its inclusion, we find no practical impact since that appendix simply listed factors that do not constitute a physical disability, and homosexuality of course does not,” the statement said.
The official Pentagon policy forbids military from questioning service members about their sexual orientation, but states that service members who openly declare they are homosexual and who engage in homosexual activity must be discharged from service.
The American Psychiatric Association lambasted the Pentagon for retaining a mental health classification for homosexuality that the APA discarded over thirty years ago.
“Based on scientific and medical evidence the APA declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder in 1973 – a position shared by all other major health and mental health organizations based on their own review of the science,” said James H. Scully Jr., head of the APA, earlier this month.
The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), however, has accused the APA of allowing homosexual activists to dictate changes to the classification of homosexuality.
A recent report by leading psychiatrist Dr. Jeffrey Satinover charged the APA, the American Psychological Association and the National Association of Social Workers with succumbing to the demands ofÂhomosexual activists by supporting the ‘normalcy’ of homosexuality, despite evidence linking homosexuality with mental health problems.
“The APA’s decision to remove homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders was presented to the public as based upon a solid scientific foundation, though this foundation was in fact lacking,” wrote Dr. Satinover.
See related LifeSiteNews coverage:
Homosexuality a Psychological Disorder: Pentagon Document
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06062008.html
NARTH Report Shows Gay Activist Influence on Mental Health Organizations
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/feb/06020902.html
APA Ignored Evidence that Homosexual Behaviour is Part of Psychiatric Disorder Says Noted Psychiatirst
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jul/05072502.html