Was the APA right to declassify homosexuality as a psychiatric disorder?

Homosexuality was dropped from the American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic manual for a number of reasons. A number of these reasons were pragmatic. A number were political. Homosexuality was difficult to treat. Homosexual patients showed little motivation to change. They were not experiencing any great distress or discomfort related to the way that they lived. They lived in their own subculture that reinforced not only their homosexual activity but also their attitudes toward that activity. Most of the problems they experienced were associated – or so it was thought – with the social stigma associated with homosexuality. They were not a burden to society, it was argued. For example, they were able to hold jobs and to make an economic contribution to society. Nor did they present any discernible threat to society. The American Psychiatric Association was also under pressure from activists in the homosexual community and those sympathetic to the homosexual community both in and outside its own membership. Until that time homosexuality was classified as a form of deviant sexuality with voyeurism, fratturism, incest, paedophilia, fetishism, masochism, and sadism. Many psychiatrists and psychoanalysts protested its declassification.

Looking back over the past few years one must question the wisdom of that decision. The notion that homosexuality is not harmful to society cannot be supported by what has happened in those years. Homosexuality in contemporary America goes far beyond what two consenting adults do in their bedroom. It involves an aggressive political and social movement set upon changing the moral character of the American people and denying basic liberties to conservative Christians. It includes the unsavory side of the homosexual life style that the homosexual community would like to keep from public scrutiny – the partner abuse, the rampant promiscuity, the multiple sex partners, the high rates of sexually transmitted diseases and other health problems related to the homosexual lifestyle and the shortened life expectancy among homosexual men, the sexual exploitation of runaway adolescents, and the trafficking in young boys for sex.

Homosexuality and homosexual activism have been a leading force in the attack upon traditional family values in this country. It has contributed to the erosion of the nation’s moral values. It has created deep divisions in a number of the mainline churches. Evangelical Christians have been vilified for believing the pure teaching of the Bible and have been unfairly labeled bigoted, narrow-minded, and "homophobic." It has driven a radical revision of theology in the Episcopal Church, leading to its departure from a classical historical understanding of Biblical Christianity and its adoption of what can be only described as heretical beliefs. It has divided dioceses, parishes, and families.

Homosexuality and homosexual activism threatens the rights of Americans to freedom of religion and freedom of opinion and speech. It has led many confused young people to experiment with sexual behavior that is physically and psychologically harmful to them and has exposed them to life-threatening sexually transmitted diseases. It has also led to their sexual exploitation by older homosexuals.

For many American Catholics the sexual abuse of children by unprincipled homosexual priests has greatly damaged their faith. Both inside the United States and outside it the disclosure of homosexual activity among priests and between priests and young people have caused Catholics to leave the Church. To maintain that homosexuals present no threat to society as the American Psychiatric Association naively did is to ignore the social and cultural dislocation that has followed in the wake of its decision.

For a group that comprises something like 2 to 3 % of the population, homosexuals have had a disproportionately large negative influence upon American society in the past few years. The ability of homosexual activists to garner the support of social liberals in government and the Church as well as in the media, academia, and the entertainment industry - the shapers of popular culture - may account for this influence. They have been successful in portraying themselves as a marginalized minority and eliciting the sympathy of these socially liberal elements. They represent their cause as a struggle for civil rights and social justice. In reality it is a struggle over who defines homosexuality and homosexuals and the place of homosexuals in society and the Church.

While the Supreme Court’s decision to decriminalize homosexuality has generated something of a backlash against the so-called "gay rights" movement, that movement has gained enough momentum as a political and social movement where it will continue to radically alter the face of American society. The Church will be faced with the challenge of remaining faithful to Biblical teaching in an environment which is likely to be increasingly hostile to that teaching.

The conflict in the Church over homosexuality, homosexuals, and the place of homosexuals in the Church is an unfortunate distraction from the work of the Church – that of making disciples of all peoples. However, the solution to this problem is not to abandon the teaching of the Bible and to accommodate the changing values of the culture. A highly secularized Church that is barely distinguishable from the culture will not be effective in reaching the lost. Rather we must reaffirm what the Bible teaches. This may involve taking an unpopular position in our diocese or parish. It may entail forming new Bible-believing Christian fellowships to replace existing churches, seeking the oversight of an orthodox global South bishop outside of the United States, and eventually establishing a new Anglican province in North America.

Let us not forget the spiritual warfare dimension of this conflict. The powers of darkness seek to prevent the unbeliever from believing in Jesus Christ and the believer from growing spiritually and being an effective witness to Christ. The homosexual issue is doing both in the Episcopal Church and in other mainline denominations. Fallen, sinful human nature always is trying to justify itself. At the heart of the conflict is unsurrendered sin – patterns of sin in the lives of homosexual men and women that they refuse to surrender to God, that they are holding back from Him. Unrepented sin draws the powers of darkness like garbage attracts rats and flies. They will exploit this sin to keep the unbeliever from moving Christ-ward and the believer from becoming a fully functioning disciple of Christ. Once they have gained a foothold, they will not relinquish it until the sinner turns away from his sin. Persistence in sin leaves the door wide open to them and their influence not only in the life of the sinner but also that of the Church.

Whatever the challenges we face, let us see them as opportunities to faithfully serve God. Let us seek Him daily in prayer, asking Him for grace and courage to endure. Let us not loose heart. We are not the first disciples of Christ who have been the object of animosity and misunderstanding from an unfriendly world. As the apostle Peter encouraged the readers of his first epistle to do, let us trust in the Lord. He will eventually deliver us.