Aineo wrote:Gay activists contribute to the teen suicide rate with their propoganda that sexual orientation is innate, unchangeable, and immutable. So this arguement goes both ways.

As to the Netherlands study the fact the Netherlands is one of the most liberal societies in Europe makes your appeal to a bad environment mute.

Making the statement the APA established that there is no difference gays and straights before the executive committee made there decision is ludicrous unless you can cite the studies used by the APA, and the truth is you can't because the decision was based on activist pressure, not data. This also flys in the face of what other gay supporters have posted concerning physical differences in the brains of gay and straight men. So either there is a no difference or there is, which is it?

In December 1973, the American Psychiatric Association's Board of Trustees deleted homosexuality from its official nomenclature of mental disorders, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Second Edition (DSMII). The action was taken following a review of the scientific literature and consultation with experts in the field. For a mental condition to be considered a psychiatric disorder, it should either regularly cause emotional distress or regularly be associated with clinically significant impairment of social functioning. These experts found that homosexuality does not meet these criteria.

The Board recognized that a significant portion of gay and lesbian people were clearly satisfied with their sexual orientation and showed no signs of psychopathology

When the DSMIII was published in 1980 homosexuality was not included although "ego dystonic homosexuality" was recognized as a category for people "whose sexual interests are directed primarily toward people of the same sex and who are either disturbed by, in conflict with, or wish to change their sexual orientation."

When the DSMIII was revised in 1987, "ego dystonic homosexuality" was deleted as a separate diagnostic entity because "In the United States, almost all people who are homosexual first go through a phase in which their homosexuality is ego dystonic."

1. Homosexuality refers to an interest in sexual relations or contact with members of the same sex. Some experts
in our field believe that predominant or exclusive homosexuality is pathological; other experts believe it a
normal variant.
2. A significant proportion of homosexuals are apparently satisfied with their sexual orientation, show no
significant signs of manifest psychopathology (other than their homosexuality, if this is considered by itself
psychopathology), and are able to function quite effectively. These individuals may never come for treatment,
or they may be seen by a psychiatrist because of external pressure (e.g., court referral, family insistence) or
because of other problems requiring psychiatric help (e.g., depression, alcoholism).
3. A significant proportion of homosexuals are quite bothered by, in conflict with, or wish to change their sexual
orientation. There is debate within our profession as to why this is so. Some argue that it is an inevitable result
of the underlying conflicts that cause homosexual behavior in the first place, while others argue that it is derived
from a host of social and cultural pressures that have been internalized. Nonetheless, some of these individuals
come voluntarily for treatment, either to be able to accept their sexual feelings towards members of the same
sex, or to increase their capacity for sexual arousal by members of the opposite sex.
4. Modern methods of treatment enable a significant proportion of homosexuals who wish to change their sexual
orientation to do so. At the same time, homosexuals who are bothered by or in conflict with their sexual
feelings but who are either uninterested in changing, or unable to change, their sexual orientation can be helped
to accept themselves as they are and to rid themselves of self-hatred.

Decisions about the labeling problem in DSM-II require an understanding of the function of a manual of mental
disorders. Its purpose, as its name clearly implies, is to list and define mental (psychiatric) disorders. Its purpose is
not to list and describe all of the forms of human psychological functioning which are judged by the profession or
some members of the profession as less than optimal. Nor is its purpose to imply certainty about the nature of
conditions when there is not a consensus in the profession.