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40 years ago in 1973
Dec. 15th, 2013 10:42 amA group of psychiatrists made a decision that seems so logical but was fought against hard. They declared that being a homosexual was not a mental disorder. It took them to the seventh edition of the second version of the DSM to put that in writing.
This is a very important point that is not talked about that much. Think about it, before that meeting, being a homosexual meant that one was mentally ill and should be treated as mentally ill. We talk about the closet but consider what life was like for people who were taught that being gay was being mentally ill. Psychiatrists were being taught in school how to treat gays for their “illness”. And that is what some uneducated, narrow-minded individuals hold up when they tout their system to get rid of the gay in people.
Personally, I am not a homosexual. I like men. I love my husband. I like looking at pretty men. I do have a lot of friends who are gay. I work in the entertainment industry which can be very gay at times. We use to have a saying around one of the theaters I worked, “Gay until proven straight.”
I have watched their lives change both good and bad with the times. They have rights that they didn’t have even five years ago. I am getting more wedding invitations from couples I have known as a couple for more than 30 years. The federal government recognized the rights of married couples no matter their sexual orientation. I know a couple of couples who have breathed a serious sigh of relief knowing that their partner could come and see them in the hospital. Now they had the same advantages as the straight married couples which is really all most of them wanted.
I know that there is still a long way to go but that one act of saying that being gay is not a mental illness changed the world for a lot of people and I think we need to recognize this and rejoice that we can get things right.
I am grateful for my gay friends esp. J & A.
This is a very important point that is not talked about that much. Think about it, before that meeting, being a homosexual meant that one was mentally ill and should be treated as mentally ill. We talk about the closet but consider what life was like for people who were taught that being gay was being mentally ill. Psychiatrists were being taught in school how to treat gays for their “illness”. And that is what some uneducated, narrow-minded individuals hold up when they tout their system to get rid of the gay in people.
Personally, I am not a homosexual. I like men. I love my husband. I like looking at pretty men. I do have a lot of friends who are gay. I work in the entertainment industry which can be very gay at times. We use to have a saying around one of the theaters I worked, “Gay until proven straight.”
I have watched their lives change both good and bad with the times. They have rights that they didn’t have even five years ago. I am getting more wedding invitations from couples I have known as a couple for more than 30 years. The federal government recognized the rights of married couples no matter their sexual orientation. I know a couple of couples who have breathed a serious sigh of relief knowing that their partner could come and see them in the hospital. Now they had the same advantages as the straight married couples which is really all most of them wanted.
I know that there is still a long way to go but that one act of saying that being gay is not a mental illness changed the world for a lot of people and I think we need to recognize this and rejoice that we can get things right.
I am grateful for my gay friends esp. J & A.
