06/20/2006
Pentagon Document Lists Homosexuality as Mental Disorder
Thirty-three years after the APA declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder, a Pentagon policy document about retirement and discharge policies classifies homosexuality with mental retardation and personality disorders.
The document was uncovered by the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Senior Research Fellow Nathaniel Frank said of the memo: "The policy reflects the department's continued misunderstanding of homosexuality and makes it more difficult for gays and lesbians to access mental health services."
Nine lawmakers sent a letter to Donald Rumsfeld on Monday calling for a full review of documents to ensure that no additional documents reflect this error.
Discharges based on the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy have risen 11% in the last two years. Aaron Belkin, director of the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military at UCSB, told the New York Blade that 40 percent of 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell' discharges are "service members using the policy as their get out of Iraq free card."
"'These patterns started showing up even before [Sept. 11, 2001],' he said. 'Now that there’s a war on, you could certainly hypothesize there are those who want to avoid the war.' He said accounts from discharged service members, lawyers and others show just 10 percent to 15 percent of 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell' discharges involve a gay service member’s involuntary discovery. Belkin said the remaining cases involve service members who seek discharge because they face abuse in their unit, or want out of the military. Researchers believe the number of those cases are equally split, but aren’t sure. Military experts and former service members said'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell' discharges include heterosexual men and women who pretend to be gay to escape the armed forces."
Pentagon Lists Homosexuality As Disorder [sf chronicle]
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Posted 9:39 AM EST by Andy Towle in Military | Permalink
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I spent 12 years in the Army and none of this surprises me. The idea that people pretend to be gay just to get out of their obligation is an old canard that they trot out without any substantiation. The reality is that when people come out in the military they face ostracism at best and violence at worst and only someone who is gay and desparately tired of the double life would risk it. A straight person would never take that risk.
When I was in the Army I was very closeted and conflicted and wanted to talk to a psychiatrist or psychologist or maybe a chaplain about it. I didn't dare, though because I knew if I admitted a "crime" like consentual sex with a man, or just admitted to being gay and not sexual, there would be no confidentiality and the shrink or chaplain would turn me in to my commander to be investigated and kicked out. Never mind that I was an officer with a fine record. I would have become just another fag to be thrown out with the trash.
Posted by: Sam Hawk | Jun 20, 2006 9:56:32 AM
i just can't see why a gay would be in the military, their too inteligent to be taking orders. if you want to sacrifice yourself for a good cause then do it in a country that believes in you and doesn't make excuses for what you are
Posted by: boofay | Jun 20, 2006 10:29:34 AM
i hate typing, the spelling is "intelligent"
Posted by: boofay | Jun 20, 2006 10:31:45 AM
It's also "they're", and the comma in the first sentence should be a period followed by a second sentence (or you could use a semicolon). I really should get some meds for this obsession with spelling and punctuation.
Posted by: Brian | Jun 20, 2006 11:08:16 AM
It amuses me no end that so many Americans seem to be befuddled over:
They're/Their;
Whose/Who's;
Its/it's;
You're/Your
Who/Whom
Folks - it's your FIRST language. OWN it!
Posted by: honey child | Jun 20, 2006 11:29:27 AM
Muchos Gracias Honey Child!
Posted by: Crixi VanCheek | Jun 20, 2006 1:18:03 PM
Crixi: It's "muchas," not "muchos." :^)
Brian and Honey Child: I'm with you; bad grammar, spelling, and punctuation are like nails on a blackboard.
Boofay: Thank you for your "I hate typing" comment! It allows me to give the benefit of the doubt to writers who use bad grammar, spelling, and punctuation, thereby obviating the need for meds.
Also, one reason that gay people might be in the military is that they might be from low socioeconomic classes and/or small towns where educational and professional opportunities are virtually nonexistent. A lot of people join the armed forces because joining is the only way to get an education and a ticket outta Dodge.
Sam Hawk: What an effing nightmare. I'm glad you're out of it.
Posted by: JOE 2 | Jun 20, 2006 2:16:01 PM
oh, boofay! oh, boofay!
Posted by: strikefour82 | Jun 20, 2006 6:20:44 PM
Using the Inquisition's condemnation of Galileo as a model, the Pentagon should reverse itself in 359 years. (Galileo dared to say the Earth revolved around the Sun and not the Sun around the Earth. He was found guilty of heresy in 1633, and the Vatican formally admitted it was wrong and Galileo was right in 1992).
Posted by: SteveXS | Jun 20, 2006 10:22:03 PM
oh gawd
Posted by: boofay | Jun 22, 2006 4:07:59 PM