Yesterday, as an example of the infringement on free speech, I briefly mentioned that homosexuality was considered a mental disorder by the psychologists until the homosexuals applied political pressure to change this definition without any scientific rationale whatsoever. At Outside The Beltway, a blogger named Anderson civilly questioned my assumption. I am capturing part of our exchange at the Roundtable because I expect this will come up again in future conversations. I have made minor edits to improve readability and to focus on this issue (we also disagreed on the religious aspect, but that is another topic).

Anderson responded The problem with the old psychological label was that *it* rested on “no scientific rationale whatsoever.” Once the shrinks were asked to quit ASSUMING homosexuality was a “mental disorder,” and to present evidence therefor, they changed their labeling.

I disagreed as the old psychological label firmly rested upon the APA definition of a mental disorder. In layman’s terms, the APA generally defines a mental disorder as a behavior that generally results in “significantly increased risk of suffering death, pain, disability” etc. If you [originally Anderson, but open to anyone] want me to provide references to the average life expectancy of an American homosexual, I’ll be glad to do so. I have gay friends who I do not expect to live to 40 - this is not a healthy lifestyle and most gays admit it. Whether or not they have a choice in the matter is a huge, long, complicated topic, but the question as to whether or not homosexuality meets the normal definition of a mental disorder (i.e., behavior that significantly increases risk of suffering death, pain, and/or disability) is an empirical question to which all evidence cries “YES”.

Anderson then stated (first sentence was originally mine with Anderson applying the bold):

generally results in "significantly increased risk of suffering death, pain, disability”

The bolded words refute your argument, I think. Though your references would be interesting.

Certainly, some gays (for ex.) engage in risky sexual practices. So do straights. But there is nothing about being gay, per se, that leads one to have anonymous unprotected encounters at highway rest stops, etc.

I disagreed with Anderson's last statement. If it were true, there should be no difference is behavior between straight men and gay men other than the target of their amorous affection. In which case, I would agree with Anderson. However, the facts do not lead to this conclusion. Here are a few quotes that support my case.

A 1997 article published in the International Journal of Epidemiology found that in one Canadian urban area, the expected life span for a homosexual man at age 20 was 8 to 20 years less than that for all men.

So the general case (homosexuality) leads to a significantly increased risk of death, pain, and/or disability (8 to 20 years of shortened lifespan).

The Centers for Disease Control reported last year that new cases of HIV among homosexual men rose for the third straight year. Homosexual men accounted for 42 percent of new HIV cases in 2000 and 60 percent of all cases among all men -- despite the fact that homosexual men make up no more than 1 to 3 percent of the population. Among all new cases heterosexuals accounted for 33 percent, injection drug users 25 percent. In addition, homosexual men account for two-thirds of new syphilis cases, the CDC reported this year.

Again, the general case (homosexuality) leads to a significantly increased risk of death, pain, and/or disability (vastly increased chance of catching HIV, syphilis, and other STDs).

I think it very clear that this meets the original APA definition – which is why homosexuality was originally classified as a mental disorder.

OK, I have spent some time looking up a few stats. If anyone still disagrees, provide some legitimate reasons why homosexuality does not meet the stated definition of a mental disorder. Or even find some statistics showing that gay men have the same number of sexual partners as straight men. That would go a long way toward refuting my argument. However, if the facts indicate that, in general, homosexuals have many more sexual partners than straight men, that would reinforce my case.

As always, comments are appreciated. Since they have just been fixed, let me remind people that comments will stay open for about two weeks. The two week limit is enough to give people the ability to provide feedback and still help me fight spam. Someday, I'll make the time to automate this process – in the meantime, I just close comments when I get around to it. I also want to thank Anderson again for being civil. Too many people have trouble disagreeing with someone about charged issues without resorting to personal insults, so I like to call attention to people who can politely discuss such issues.

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