rue in the scientific fieldof psychology. The vote upon the question of whether homosexuality ought to be considered amental disease was put before the American Psychiatric Association in 1973. Thesubsequent decision to remove homosexuality from the DSM-IV list of disorders broughthuge political conflict. "The status of homosexuality is a political question, representinga historically rooted, socially determined choice regarding the ends of human sexuality"(Bayer, 185). The discussion by Bayer goes on to reveal many more importantsociological issues including how the formulation of homosexuality as a psychological"disorder" forced the APA to look at how social values influence psychiatry. Bayer citesPeter Sedgwick's essay, "Illness - Mental and otherwise." He credits the antipsychiatristswith having made it clear that "mental illness is a social construction," and that"psychiatry is a social institution incorporating the values and demands of its surroundingsociety" (Bayer, p. 193). Some would even go so far as to say that "all concepts of health and disease areinformed by human values" (Bayer, p. 193). These values are what serve to help definethe concepts of disorders and illness. Bulimia - it's an eating "disorder." Or is it society'spressure for women to look like thin and beautiful models? Homosexuality - it' s amental "disease." Or is it simply exhibiting another form of sexual behavior? If it is avariant of sexuality, we know from NARTH, it certainly isn't "normal." However,"Normality and health cannot be understood in the abstract, rather they depend on culturalnorms, society's expectations and values, professional biases, individual differences, andthe political climate of the times" (Bayer, p. 182). This is why tradition has been able toclassify a broad range of behaviors as warranting clinical attention. "Along with otherforms of sexual deviance [transvestism] has been medicalised, treated as if ab...
