Once again, the Department of Defense doesn't get it -- and they have no desire to listen to those who do. Despite the fact that experts in the mental health field don't classify homosexuality as a mental illness, the military now does. From the AP:
A Pentagon document classifies homosexuality as a mental disorder, decades after mental health experts abandoned that position.
The document outlines retirement or other discharge policies for service members with physical disabilities, and in a section on defects lists homosexuality alongside mental retardation and personality disorders.
Critics said the reference underscores the Pentagon's failing policies on gays, and adds to a culture that has created uncertainty and insecurity around the treatment of homosexual service members, leading to anti-gay harassment.
Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Jeremy M. Martin said the policy document is under review.
With the current "don't ask, don't tell" policy, it's acceptable for actively GBLT people (as long as they're ready lie about their lifestyle) to serve in the military and even die for their country. For the government to establish policy that classifies this, or other consensual adult lifestyles, as a mental aberration is absolutely absurd.
To be fair, recent studies have shown that homosexuals' brains respond to pheromones of the same & opposite sex similarly to heterosexual members of the opposite sex; classifying an abnormal brain response to chemicals as a mental illness does not seem unreasonable.
One must also take into account the "politically correct" leanings of mental health professionals; they could be taking a stand on a politically charged issue independent of the data.
The DOD is likely a lot closer to the truth than the PC crowd. The "don't ask, don't tell" policy is a joke that isn't funny. The US Military needs to rid itself of all PC crap and social experiments and get down to the business of being purely a fighting machine.
Sure it does, Mark. You dont find something disturbing about trying to say one is mentally defective because he chooses to have sex with someone you and I wouldnt?
Personally, I think the so-called "mental health professionals" are the ones that are defective. They always seem to have the answers for everything yet for all the answers they have, no one seems to get any better. It takes a real character to think that one knows how to classify everyone else's behavior and is entitled to make such decisions.
Mark,
Mental health professionals define a mental illness as a mental condition which (1) causes you considerable suffering and/or (2) causes another person considerable suffering. Homosexualism, as much as heterosexuality, does not have the potential to harm anyone "per se". I really don't know why any behavior ought to be considered a disease if it doesn't hurt anyone. I see it as comon sense, instead of "political correctness".
If anything, these criteria resemble me the libertarian principle that you can do whatever you please, unless it hurts another person.
Your stance that homosexuals are sick because they react differently than heterosexuals on a given matter could still be argued even if one doesn't find significant differences between homosexuals' and heterosexuals' brains: because they react differently to the same object, and, thus, there must be a physiological or neurological difference between them.
I see as correct the statement that heterosexual behavior IS the norm, but to argue that, because of the previous statement, homosexualism is a disorder, instead of a statistical abnormality (ie., a paraphilia), is a non sequitur.
To be fair, recent studies have shown that homosexuals' brains respond to pheromones of the same & opposite sex similarly to heterosexual members of the opposite sex; classifying an abnormal brain response to chemicals as a mental illness does not seem unreasonable.
One must also take into account the "politically correct" leanings of mental health professionals; they could be taking a stand on a politically charged issue independent of the data.
Posted by: Mark at June 21, 2006 08:56 PM