Homosexuality Is A Mental Disorder

Thanks for your response.WIKIPEDIAGenerally associated with distress or disability.Con concedes that the magnitudes of the correlations with homosexuality are not weak (comorbidity, suicide risk, and HIV risk). However, he says that there are "too many intermediary casual factors" between the correlations and homosexuality itself for them to be used to demonstrate homosexuality as being associated with distress.His primary argument in defense of this claim is an attempted refutation by logical analogy. He compares the correlation of pirate population and global temperature with the correlation of homosexuality and comorbidity, suicide risk and HIV risk. This analogy is illogical because it is obvious hyperbole, and Con even concedes its extreme nature. In Con's own words, "nobody in all seriousness claims that average temperature is generally associated with the number of pirates in any way." He's right, nobody is associating pirates with temperature. But reputable experts are associating homosexuality with distress. According to Gary Remafedi, M.D., of the University of Minnesota Department of Paediatrics, there "is evidence of a strong association between suicide risk and bisexuality or homosexuality [...]" (4) Also, John Bailey, PhD, in his commentary on a couple meta-analytic studies, says "These studies contain arguably the best published data on the association between homosexuality and psychopathology, and both converge on the same unhappy conclusion: homosexual people are at a substantially higher risk for some forms of emotional problems, including suicidality, major depression, and anxiety disorder." (1)Con points out that the study which found a 700% higher chance of suicide in homosexuals versus heterosexuals relied on a sample of only males from high school. Although the magnitude is not as large, a significantly high risk of suicide is still demonstrated through other studies. According to the U.S. government, homosexual youths are twice as likely as heterosexuals to attempt suicide. (2) This report is consistent with the findings of Stephen T. Russell, PhD and Kara Joyner, PhD, who found that homosexuals of both genders are 200% more likely to attempt suicide. (3)Con argues against my use of the word 'associate.' According to Google Dictionary (Con's source), the 2nd definition of 'associate' is:"Connect (something) with something else because they occur together or one produces another"Obviously, I do not need to prove that homosexuality produces distress to satisfy the Wikipedia definition. Notice the word 'or' in the definition; the word does not separate the sentence into two individual definitions, because the entire sentence is labeled as definition 2 by the source itself. I only need to prove that homosexuality occurs together with distress to satisfy the definition, and thus, the Wikipedia criterion.According to a Switzerland study, almost 2/3 of homosexual men are "affected by psychiatric morbidity with new evidence for comorbidity, subthreshold disorders, and low levels of awareness of psychiatric disorders and their treatment. This population needs to be a priority in psychiatric epidemiology and mental public health." (11)Not considered part of normal development.Con admits that his own source shows that most people oppose gay marriage.Con goes on to say that his poll shows that the majority of Americans favor the law recognizing homosexual relationships, but the fact remains that the law itself does not recognize homosexual relationships. Interestingly, the survey claims to have relied on a sample of registered likely voters, but these supposedly likely voters have failed to vote for legal recognition of homosexual relationships. Given this fact, Con's inference of the poll must be considered wrong.Con claims I asked for the names of states where gay marriage is legal. I didn't; I asked for one state. I cannot be expected to debate the culture of 9 states in one round! Besides, federal law trumps state law, and federal law does not recognize gay marriage (5) and explicitly says states don't need to recognize them, either. (6) Con encourages me to address this criterium with a broader view; very well, I shall address it with the broad view of the entire world. Out of nearly 200 countries, only 11 recognize gay marriage, or less than 7%. Even with the view Con suggests, homosexuality is not generally considered normal. (7) Con's assertion that ancient cultures recognized homosexual relationships is irrelevant; the criterion says "is considered normal" not "was considered normal a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away."BRITANNICAIllness.Pregnancy is not an illness because it isn't "an unhealthy condition of body or mind." By their references to healthy pregnancies, the government and Wikipedia make this clear. (8)(9) I don't know what point Con was trying to make by citing the government's advice on reducing STD transmission, but his own source says there is no guaranteed way to stop it short of quitting sex.Con tosses in the assumption that there are "plenty of ways that men can be psychologically affected due to pregnancies" without providing any proof or even mentioning how this is relevant.Con erects another strawman. He claims I argued that its 'bad' that homosexual relationships don't result in procreation. I never said that. I only explained why the discouraging of procreation enables homosexuality to fit the criterion I presented.OTHER CRITERIAI brought up statistical infrequency because when it is satisfied along with the other criteria, it helps constitute a mental disorder. For Con to claim that statistical infrequency has no impact on whether something is a mental disorder is silly for obvious reasons. I have successfully demonstrated homosexuality as satisfying all the criteria I presented. Thank you everyone. (1) Journal of Human Sexuality 1:53, 2009.(2) Gibson P. Gay male and lesbian youth suicide. In: Feinleib MR, ed. Report to the Secretary's Task Force on Youth Suicide, Vol 3: Prevention and Interventions in Youth Suicide. Rockville, Md: US Department of Health and Human Services; 1989:110–142.(3) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...(4) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...(5) 1 USC § 7(6) 28 USC § 1738C(7) http://www.freedomtomarry.org...(8) www.womenshealth.gov/pregnancy(9) http://en.wikipedia.org...(10) http://www.narth.com...(11) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...