I hump five-sided things.

[digitaldiscipline]

For all seven of you who haven't seen this already, the Pentagon has decided to go all DSM-V (hah, V - get it?) on us and has come out (again with the puns, zing!) with a statement that lists homosexuality as a mental disorder.

I list stupidity as a disorder, but nobody's doing shit about that.

Maybe none of the authors saw how successful the insanity and homosexuality gambit worked for Corporal (later Sergeant) Maxwell Klinger.

Big Brother is an insatiable, selfish voyeur.  He wants to know exactly what you're doing in the boudoir at all times, and thinks he can, because he's telling you what you're allowed to do.

Comments

[lil-m-moses.livejournal.com]

I don't think Klinger ever tried to claim homosexuality. He was just crossdressing.

[fenixinthedark.livejournal.com]

In the film, "M*A*S*H*", the original Klinger character wanted to commit suicide because he was afraid he was gay. The tune that opens the show TV show of the same name actually has lyrics... "Suicide is painless".

They dumbed the character down to a cross dresser trying to get out of the Army in order to get it past the censors.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

trivia: "suicide is painless" (that's the title) was actually penned by the teenage son of the producer.

[lil-m-moses.livejournal.com]

Ah - I didn't remember that, having only seen the film once, and years ago.

[trystbat.livejournal.com]

Klinger just wanted to be proved crazy -- he even married (& divorced) during the course of the show.

But yeah, the Pentagon is way behind the times. I'm pretty sure homosexuality was taken out of the DSM-V as an illness in the '70s. Sheesh.

[fenixinthedark.livejournal.com]

See the last response for the history of the Klinger character.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

FYI (This was a Big Deal when mduda was taking graduate courses in psychology back in the day...)

(from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_and_psychology )

In 1973 the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the revised Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) after intense debate. They stated that homosexuality "does not necessarily constitute a psychiatric disorder." Effectively, this saw its official acceptance as a viable sexual orientation and saw the increase in gay liberation throughout the Western world.

Many other associations across the world followed suit soon after. The American Psychoanalytic Association made similar steps and began accepting openly homosexual men and women. However, it wasn't until 1992 that the World Health Organisation ceased to classify homosexuality as a mental disorder, followed by the UK Government in 1994, and the Chinese Psychiatric Association in 2001.

that said, there hasn't been any (meaningful) talk of changing the classification back to the DSM-II days, when it *was* classified as a disorder.

[fenixinthedark.livejournal.com]

Playing devils advocate here...

Why is the issue whether or not homosexuality is or is not a "mental disorder" to begin with? As science has *not* discovered a "gay gene", nor have they traced it back to any physical difference that exists at birth, any hypothesis as to what causes a person to be gay is pure speculation...

So, the question then becomes, is it causing anyone or anything any harm to be garden variety "Gay" (adult, consensual sex with a same sex partner)? Is there a victim in this kind of homosexuality any more than there is in garden variety consensual heterosexuality? Does it inhibit a person from performing his or her job any more than being heterosexual inhibits ones ability to perform ones job?

The answer is, no, in all of the above scenarios... therefor, why should anyone *care* whether or not it is or is not a "mental disorder"?

[etcet.livejournal.com]

my ire has nothing to do with the erroneous classification of homosexuality as a disorder, mental or otherwise... it has everything to do with the fucking PENTAGON attempting to define what it is or isn't, not the American Psychological Associaton.

The "p" in APA ain't "Pentagon."

[fenixinthedark.livejournal.com]

True enough...

What potential ramifications does this then have in the short and long term as it pertains to how the government deals with homosexuals in the military that is any different than how they now deal with them?