Why was homosexuality classified as a disease?

Answer 1

Until the middle of the 19th century, most Westerners thought of homosexual acts as "sins" which could corrupt anyone. In 1864, Karl Heinrich Erlichs published a pamphlet in Germany putting forth the theory that homosexual men were actually a "third sex". (He called them "Urnings" because they were supposedly under the influence of the planet Uranus.) Although Erlichs' theory eventually collapsed under its own weight, it left people thinking of homosexual people, as well as homosexual acts.

Research into human psychology naturally extended to human sexuality. Although Freud did not think of homosexuality as a disease, both homosexual people and the general population found reasons to do so. If homosexuality was a disease rather than a sin, it could not be criminalized. And if it was a disease, it could be cured. Kraft-Ebbing included it as a pathology in his "Psychopathia Sexualis" (1906).

This misconception of homosexuality began to fall apart with the publication of the Kinsey Report on the Sexual Behavior of the Human Male in 1948, which determined that almost a third of the 12,000 men interviewed had at least one homosexual experience to orgasm. But it wasn't until the 1960's that the DSM (a standardized description of the symptoms of psychological disorders) dropped "Homosexuality" from its list of psychological diseases. It is only now, at the beginning of the 21st century, that this understanding of homosexuality is filtering into general understanding.

Christian dogma would have you believe it's a 'sin'. But that's just their interpretation of The Bible. Next time you hear someone spout that, ask them why in the ancinet Hebrew Bible, there is no mention of homosexuality or even a word for it. Then ask them why they choose that tired old passage in Leviticus to demean homosexuals. Why not the part about shellfish, women menstruating or weaving cotton & wool together. Finally, ask the New Testament people why Jesus, who talks about all sins, NEVER mentions anything about homosexuality. Did he forget....I think not. Ignorance is picking 'groups' of people to vilify....look at history. Any rise of a country through religion involved a scapegoat 'group' of people. Modern day Fundamentalist Christian have picked gays as their scapegoat. Is it working for them, I should think not....if anything, it's working against them.

Classifying it as a disease was an easy way to get researchers to vilify homosexuality. All that has been reversed except with certain Christians. As a point of fact, the DSM II didn't drop homosexuality as a 'disease/disorder' until '72. I know because I was a Psych major when it happened....it was a HUGE statement at the time and with the help of people like Harvey Milk, the gay community stepped out of the shadows for the very first time in modern history.