The Old Psychiatry

It is a sad fact that past theories in some areas of psychiatry and psycho analysis have contributed to social oppression. It has been well said that Freud did not deserve the later followers who used his name. Beyond bizarre extrapolations of his theory, Freud maintained a positive and humane view of sexual variation. He stated that if it were not for social and cultural prohibitions, he saw no reason why homosexuals could not be healthy and productive members of society.

There was, however, an unfortunate tendency for some psychiatrists, and psychoanalysts especially, to inherit the priestly function of taboo enforcement. Menninger, for example, described homosexuality as "high in the kingdom of evil" and stated that he could not bring himself to "condone it." If, as the good doctor supposed, homosexuality is an illness, how does one "condone" or condemn?

This moralistic tone seems ludicrous to a sophisticated reader informed by modern attitudes toward sexuality, but the outcomes of stereotyped mass diagnosis of a vast array of humans are far from humorous. The development of some therapeutic systems as agencies of sexual and social conformity has been related by C.A. Tripp in his book The Homosexual Matrix and others as essentially an expression of Judeo-Christian taboo. The an expression of Judeo-Christian taboo. The ancient term "faggot" (a bundle of sticks, kindling or firewood) was historically associated with homosexuals being burned at the stake, along with such other dangerous social deviants as witches, heretics and Jews.

In certain periods, the Inquisition considered homoerotic activity as prima facie evidence of demonic possession. These good Christians also possessed effective therapies with which to exorcize sexual demons; however, rather than such clumsy jargon as "behavior modification," they (like the Gestapo) employed more forthright terms ... and methods.

Several major psychologists deny that homosexuality should be a subject of abnormal psychology, seeing it instead as an appropriate area for social psychology. Gay people are indistinguishable from heterosexuals on any available valid measure of personality. The once popular opinion that homosexuality is a pathological condition, or even associated with such broad labels as "neurosis" or "malad-justment," is heavily contradicted by psychological evidence.

In 1957, Evelyn Hooker reported that three psychiatrists could not distinguish differences among 30 matched pairs of gay and straight men, as manifest in Rorschach tests. Miller and Hannum found no differences in MMPI scores (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory), between matched groups of heterosexual and homosexuals in a 1963 study. William Horstman found similar lack of difference in MMPI scores nine years later. Mark Freedman reported similar outcomes in lesbian response to the Eysenck Personality Inventory. Using similar personality measures, Siegelman (1972) found no significant differences, and C.G. Watson found no evidence for the paranoia hypothesis in homosexuality. Research by Brenda Dickey found the sexual role-conflict model to be unsubstantiated.

The psychiatric and therapeutic assault on sexually variant people is an ugly embarrassment to modern psychology. It is unnecessary to provide a lurid detailed account of past therapeutic attacks upon individual dignity. It is sufficient to state for the record that these forms of therapeutic aggression have ranged from psychic attack (i.e., deliberate attempts to increase guilt, lower self concept, etc.) through varieties of chemical and electrical aversive conditioning, to actual cases of brain surgery and legal castration. The record of these abuses of clinical psychology and psychiatry is thoroughly documented by Tripp and Nicholas Kittrie, author of The Right To Be Different. The evidence indicates a more appropriate target for the term "perversion."

As so often in the history of oppression, there has been a tendency to blame the victim. Several of the anti-homosexual psychiatrists, such as Bergler, Beiber and Hatterer, have described homosexuals as "exquisite injustice collectors." Considering the evidence, this process has not required a great deal of effort on our part--injustice in several forms has occasionally come around and collected us.

The future is far more important and promising for Gay people than the past, but the record deserves a clear reading. A brief review of past inhumanity also indicates why snide jokes and clever ridicule can ultimately have very ugly results. This is also why many people may find anti-homosexual humor less than funny. In a similar way, Black people tend to react to "jokes" about slavery, and Jews to "humor" about ovens.

Interested readers may refer to a recent fascinating history of Gay people in America by Jonathan Katz, and a more comprehensive analysis of the subject by Wainwright Churchill (1967, new edition 1976). In Male Homosexuality: A Cross-cultural and Cross-species Investigation, Churchill presents considerable evidence that homosexual and bisexual variations are biological traits in humans and higher mammals.

There is no great need to dwell on past bigotries, nor do most of us believe that heterosexuals bear some kind of collective guilt. What we do ask of you is an intelligent understanding of human variation, and advise in a friendly way that you accept and ennoble sexual love in yourselves and others as an intrinsic human quality in and of itself. We find that straight folks who love and accept their sexual selves are rarely a threat. Sexual fear and superstition has often been related to oppression of other kinds: consider the weird mythologies among some white people about Black sexuality.

The Progressive View in Modern Psychology

A dramatic transformation of professional perspective in both psychology and psychiatry has occurred in recent years. A vestige of the anti-homosexual judgment remains among some psychoanalysts and those influenced by the field. Like battleship admirals, certain analysts have far too much of their professional lives (and profits) invested in obsolete ideas and notions.

The American Psychological Association has made an official statement of considerable significance in denying that homosexuality is an illness or pathological disorder. The American Psychiatric Association has made a similar supportive resolution.