I do have some major questions about some of the endorsed positions of the American Psychological Association, when you consider that health care professionals have a suicide rate about 6 times the national average. That alone speaks volumes about their accepted practices. Doctor, heal thy self.

I think the legitimizing of homosexuality and removing it from the list of psychological disorders is a mistake, and there are literally millions who hotly dispute that homosexuality is a healthy and natural psychological condition.

There are many who still think of homosexuality as a treatable mental illness. The fact that many do not seek treatment simply proves that they do not want to change. Which is equally true for many compulsive gamblers, drug and alcohol abusers, and those suffering from other compulsive disorders.

That does not change the fact that many others offer therapeutic treatment for homosexuality, and that many seek out and change their lives for the better with this treatment.

Some examples:

"Psychology Today Editor defends Reorientation Therapy"
http://www.narth.com/docs/defends.html

"Sexual Reorientation Treatment supported in Journal of Marital and Family Therapy"
http://www.narth.com/docs/jmft.html

The front page of NARTH's website makes clear that many mental heath professionals --who don't think homosexuality is a disorder-- feel similarly about pedophilia exhibitionism, fetishism, transvestism, voyeurism, and sadomasochism, and are actively seeking to remove their status as disorders as well:
http://www.narth.com/

In particular this article:
http://www.narth.com/docs/debate2.html
quote:

In a second article in the Archives, "The Dilemma of the Male Pedophile," Gunter Schmidt, D. Phil., makes a sympathetic case for the pedophile who, Schmidt says, must "remain abstinent for significant periods of time" and "lead a life of self-denial at significant emotional cost."

Schmidt calls for a new, "enlightened discourse on morality" with the recognition that "in view of the pedophile's burden, the necessity of denying himself the experience of love and sexuality," he deserves society's respect.

Furthermore, Schmidt argues, molested children do not always appear to be harmed. A 1998 study by Bruce Rind, he notes, found that many boys grow up to have positive or neutral memories of their man-boy sexual experiences.
Kind of makes you want to vomit, doesn't it?

The state of the APA is wonderfully summed up in this article:

"American Psychiatric Association Symposium Debates Whether Pedophilia, Gender-Identity Disorder, Sexual Sadism Should Remain Mental Illnesses"
http://www.narth.com/docs/symposium.html
quote:
"And," [Dr.] Nicolosi added, "we must agree on those things that genuinely enhance human dignity. It's a measure of how low the psychiatric establishment has sunk, that it would even debate the idea that pedophilia, transvestism, and sado-masochism could ever be expressions of true human flourishing."

Psychoanalyst Johanna Tabin, Ph.D., of NARTH's Scientific Advisory Committee, also commented on the A.P.A. symposium. "If the arguments prevail that are given for ignoring these psychological problems, then suicide attempts must be considered normal when they are desired by the participants. And what about the sociopath, who--having no conscience--feels quite content with himself?"

"Uncommon 'common sense,' " Dr. Tabin added, "is sure to reassert itself--but in the meantime, the mental health professions are failing many suffering individuals by rigidly adopting political correctness as the guide as to when people need help.

"And the saddest thing about the current climate," she added, "is that people who ask for help because they are not at ease with homosexual impulses, right now are frequently forbidden to obtain it."

I also think this below linked study, among many others, shows a clear desire to enhance the lives of homosexuals, through treatment. And details of the study make clear the nature of the disorder, compassion for gays, and desire for them to live more full lives:

"Research summary, Lawrence J.Hatterer, Changing Homosexuality in the Male"
http://www.newdirection.ca/research/hatterer.htm