Cultural Crossroad II - Social Relevance: The DSM II and Gay Liberation

Why It's Important to Write About This Topic

Next...I will make a small snapshot of the interplay of homosexuality and the culture and its interplay with the church. I will demonstrate how sexual immorality in general is forcing itself on or into the culture. Because of this fact, by default it is slowly forcing itself into the church as the church has a symbiotic relationship with the culture. 

Contrary to the idea that I am trying to single out homosexuality from other sins and demonize it, one of the main underlying threads that will work its way through this paper and form in my synopsis/conclusion is that homosexuality is indeed just like other sins (especially sexual ones) and should not be looked at any differently (1 Cor 6). I actually will go through great pains to show that I am not deliberately singling out homosexuality in this paper or demonizing it, merely accentuating how it is become a cultural juggernaut by force of will. Conversely, I will inevitably show the fact that homosexuality and proponents of it are "singling themselves out" by forceful if not outright militant behavior by forcing themselves on the culture and subsequently the church that is the issue. Tolerating the sin(s) in the culture is now not enough, it has to be approved of (which many in the church are doing en masse). Unlike adultery, to speak out against homosexuality is now becoming a cultural taboo where speaking out against other sins is not (yet). This is biased or preferential treatment. So much so that the lex terrae (law of the land) is now beginning to be shaped to prevent people from speaking negatively of homosexuality. To speak against this sin is now being framed as illegal in some cases if not officially, definitely in a informal or de facto (default) situation. It is the fact that it is being accepted into the church without repentance is what makes this issue a theological problem and is primarily why I write on it.

Based on observations and studies of media like the Internet and television it has become very evident that the modern culture has become nurturing environment for the acceptance of the sin of homosexuality as an “alternative lifestyle.” So much so that the American Psychiatric Association gave in to cultural pressure by eliminating homosexuality per se as a mental disorder and replaced it with a “sexual orientation disturbance” section in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Version II (DSM-II) in December 1973 (Spitzer 380). There had been considerable controversy on whether or not homosexuality should be classified as a mental disorder. In 1973 the Board of Trustees of the American Psychiatric Association voted to eliminate homosexuality and substitute a new category Sexual Orientation Disturbance.

The rationale behind this move was that homosexuals were able to function socially and occupationally with no impairment or disturbance nor did they manifest any obvious signs of psychopathology, therefore it was reasoned that their condition could not be viewed as a disorder. Furthermore, the definition of the category used to diagnose homosexuality required that it be compared to a normal sexuality to act as a known benchmark or norm. The benchmark previously used for normal was heterosexuality. Because homosexuality was now considered an independent functional norm and not a disorder, it no longer needed to be compared to the heterosexuality and a deviation from it. Homosexuality had therefore been totally reclassified as an acceptable sexual practice that did not create social or occupational impairment (Spitzer 380).

It should also be noted that these changes happened not long after/during the Gay Liberation Front movements of the culture in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s that were instigated by incidents like the Stonewall Riots of 1969 in New York City. The motives behind the Gay Liberation Front are clear spelled out in the Gay Liberation Front: Manifesto. The manifesto is a document reciting instances within the culture that they claim have oppressed homosexuals. Within this manifesto are blatant statements about how organizations like the church and psychiatric community in general are hostile towards homosexuality.

It follows that if homosexuals wish to be liberated from this societal "oppression", it was/is the stated long term aim of Gay Liberation to…

“…rid society of the gender-role system which is at the root of our oppression. This can only be achieved by eliminating the social pressures on men and women to conform to narrowly defined gender roles.” (Halsall-Gay Liberation Front: Manifesto)

They also stated a list of demands and drew up what amounts to a campaign to achieve the ends stated within their manifesto. It includes actions such as a desire…

“…that psychiatrists stop treating homosexuality as though it were a sickness, thereby giving gay people senseless guilt complexes.” (Halsall-Gay Liberation Front: Manifesto)

-And-

“…that all discrimination against gay people, male and female, by the law, by employers, and by society at large, should end.” (Halsall-Gay Liberation Front: Manifesto)

-And-

“...that sex education in schools stop being exclusively heterosexual” (Halsall-Gay Liberation Front: Manifesto)

It is quite possible that some of these social pressures would be not only be brought to bear on the church but also the psychiatric establishment (noted above) and even the educational system which gay people have clearly stated has oppressed them in some manner. It is not hard to conclude that some of the reasoning behind removing homosexuality from psychiatric diagnostic manuals finds some of its impetus in the culture and the homosexual community and pressure that was brought to bear on the medical establishment in the decade before and after its decision to change in 1973.

Subsequent editions of the DSM like the DSM-IV have since completely discarded what were considered “sexual orientation disturbances” that had previously been in the DSM-III (1986) version (Spitzer 380). The most recent version DSM-IV is utterly devoid of reference to homosexuality as a disorder so I have not even cited it because I have no purpose for doing so. The “sexual orientation disturbance” section in the DSM-III contained the last known mention of homosexuality as a mental disorder (Spitzer-Appendix C). 

Without getting into the nuances of why, it will suffice to say that this is documented systemic evidence that the modern culture of the last few generations is leaning away from considering homosexuality a sexual psychological/physical anomaly or as a Christian would say: a sexual immorality or sin. Sin which like all others sin will invariably keep us from holiness and the Kingdom of God.