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Pentagon Document Classifies Homosexuality as Mental Disorder

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GrnMarvl14

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Original article.

WASHINGTON — 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.

The Pentagon has a "don't ask, don't tell" policy that prohibits the military from inquiring about the sex lives of service members but requires discharges of those who openly acknowledge being gay.

The Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military, at the University of California at Santa Barbara, uncovered the document and pointed to it as further proof that the military deserves failing grades for its treatment of gays.

Nathaniel Frank, senior research fellow at the center, said, "The policy reflects the department's continued misunderstanding of homosexuality and makes it more difficult for gays and lesbians to access mental health services."

The document, called a Defense Department Instruction, was condemned by medical professionals, members of Congress and other experts, including the American Psychiatric Association.

"It is disappointing that certain Department of Defense instructions include homosexuality as a 'mental disorder' more than 30 years after the mental health community recognized that such a classification was a mistake," said Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass.

Congress members noted that other Pentagon regulations dealing with mental health do not include homosexuality on any lists of psychological disorders. And in a letter to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Monday, nine lawmakers asked for a full review of all documents and policies to ensure they reflect that same standard.

"Based on scientific and medical evidence the APA declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder in 1973 — a position shared by all other major health and mental health organizations based on their own review of the science," James H. Scully Jr., head of the psychiatric association, said in a letter to the Defense Department's top doctor earlier this month.

There were 726 military members discharged under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy during the budget year that ended last Sept. 30. That marked the first year since 2001 that the total had increased. The number of discharges had declined each year since it peaked at 1,227 in 2001, and had fallen to 653 in 2004.
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Can't say this surprises me. Which is sad. And this is JUST the Pentagon (as far as we know), but...the fact that it's equated with mental retardation is just...horrible. Even if it is just the military. But I love that I found this on FoxNews. Just adds an element to it.
 
Gays shouldn't be in the military. And as far as disorder goes:

#
# An ailment that affects the function of mind or body: eating disorders and substance abuse.

It shouldn't be listed as a "disorder", but I'm certainly not up in arms over it.
 
And why shouldn't gays be allowed to fight for their country?
 
Better, open sexuality of any sort should be banned entirely from the military. Removes all tension between members of the Army, regardless of gender or preference.
 
So you want to neuter all the men?
 
I don't believe it's a fair exchange to have 10,000 soldiers have to shower and be close to, say, 500 gay men interspersed among them. In exchange for allowing the gay guys to fight, you have 10k guys who will not be at the top of their ability.
 
Is that really the best you can come up with, Mozz?

Frankly, I think this takes the cake for stupidest argument from Mozz to date. As an argument against gays being allowed in the boys room in school, I can sort of see it, but as an argument concerning the military?
 
:shrug: I'll let the rest of this thread/forum be a lefty circle jerk. Ja.
 
I think it gives insight into the mind of Mozz - that the first example to come to his mind is that suggests to me that...
 
I don't believe it's a fair exchange to have 10,000 soldiers have to shower and be close to, say, 500 gay men interspersed among them. In exchange for allowing the gay guys to fight, you have 10k guys who will not be at the top of their ability.
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The very prescence of homosexual men sucks the masculinity out of big, strong, he-man soldiers.

And I guess being around lesbians makes women less able to clean houses, and take care of chillun's, eh Mozz?
 
Homosexuality is sexual attraction to members of the same gender (as you all know) and with a gay soldier, considering a far greater proportion of the army are men, they will most likely be too distracted to carry out their duty. The military seeks nothing less than "perfection".
 
Homosexuality is sexual attraction to members of the same gender (as you all know) and with a gay soldier, considering a far greater proportion of the army are men, they will most likely be too distracted to carry out their duty. The military seeks nothing less than "perfection".
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It didn't seem to hurt the military of Ancient Greece. If anything, it boosted their morale and made them more effective since they weren't constantly longing for women and leave and visits home. It also made them more concerned about their fellow soldiers and made each group tighter knit.
 
Funny you ask me to provide links backing up my statements, but don't provide any proof of your own arguments that homosexuals couldn't perform as well in the military as heterosexuals. Or ask Ben Kenobi to provide evidence of the same. I notice that Mozz always asks liberals for links of studies, but rarely provides citations to his own arguments, usually popping into post some blithe statement - only asking for verifications from other people. If your arguments are well enough to be taken at face value, how come liberal arguments aren't?

Anyways:
http://members.aol.com/matrixwerx/glbthistory/thebes.htm
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/pwh/sacredband.html
http://www.answers.com/topic/sacred-band-of-thebes
http://rowan_oak0.tripod.com/thebes.htm
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1:159...ed+Band+of+Thebes~R~+(h.html?refid=ency_botnm
http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Theban_Sacred_Band
 
So you have one group of 150 pairs of man/boy lovers. Yeah, that's pretty much the same as having 5-10% queer out of an army of hundreds of thousands of men. I assume everything would be better if they were all gay, natch?

And I wonder why people on the same side of an argument don't demand citations... Hrm... :rolleyes:
 
I quote Bill Hicks on this matter:

'Anyone DUMB enough, to wanna be in the military, should be allowed in. End of argument.'
 
divide and conquer eh?

So women shouldn't be allowed in because it would sap the strength and focus of all the hetero men? Seems like you have a low opinion of the morale of the heterosexual men in this country.

Since we take into account there are women in our little perfect all-hetero fighting force...we assume there are the heterosexual men repressing themselves against the women and vice versa, therefore, wouldn't the homosexual men have the capacity to do the same? Egads, does no one have a sense of decency? There are nicer places to be paranoid about sexual attraction from other males besides Iraq. Just like there are nicer places to meet men then while you happen to be climbing a 50-foot rock wall in 30 seconds with one.

Since the women MUST be causing a similar effect, they must all be removed. Nothing but 100%-all-beef-'Merican-mainly-white-men in the military rargh.

Slippery slope here. I would think with machine gun fire and tanks and things blowing up near you, that there's more to be worried about than wondering if Kyle was rubbing up against you because it was tight quarters or he was gay. Of course, if it was a woman you might stop and wonder if she likes you. Providing that same momentary diversion we're all afraid of in a combat situation. Though given the said situation, I don't think anyone would be looking for some love in the desert while you're on a mission. I'd be more concerned about my next leave date, and watching out for the other men/women in my unit, not about what I might view in the shower area. Difficult to believe but it's true, we don't always crave sex like the media believes.

Contrary to popular belief, gay men don't really persue straight men, your argument stems from a social construct of insecurity to justify unnecessary exclusion.

Hetero men can kindly say "Thanks, but I'm not interested in men" to the unwanted interest, or "Fuck off you goddamn queer" as they are wont to say. Either way, the message gets across in the first try. Also, given a war-time situation, I'm sure gay soldiers would be far more concerned (not in love with, concerned) about their fellow soldiers' safety during a mission, and not operating in a constant unbreakable state of infatuation.

The "no-gheys in the boyz-club military" rule, is fine by me. You won't see my pale ass in the military even if it became legal. I mean, since I eat everything that Michael Moore says with a sugar-coated spoon like every good lefty should *note: <b>sarcasm</b>*. The army is for the poor, ugly kids.

It's upsetting to know that the confidence and focus level of the troops basically hinges on making sure that they don't feel like somebody in their unit "likes" them. These guys can drop out of helicopters, planes, storm through cramped caves and dark buildings looking for terrorists under fire, but someone who slaps their butt and likes it, will bring it all tumbling down?

Suddenly I don't feel safe...oh wait I never did.
 
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