【Gender Observation】No More Homophobic Day: This day is the day when gay people are removed from the list of "mental illness"

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No More Homophobia Day: This day is the day when gay people are removed from mental illness

May 17, 2019, in addition to being the day of consultation on the draft marriage equality bill, is also the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. Because, on this day 29 years ago, it was the day when homosexuals were finally removed from mental illness.

Each year, the NGO organisation for No More Homophobia Day sets a theme on May 17. In 2019, it seems to echo Taiwan's marriage equality, and the theme of this year's anniversary is:

"Justice and protection for all."

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More than two decades ago, gay was still considered a disease. And more than 20 years later, gay people are still considered by many people not to marry. Today, let's take a look at the story of No More Homophobia Day.

LGBT+ have been removed from the list of mental illnesses for just over 20 years

The definition of disease has always been accompanied by the knowledge power of medicine. What is a disease? Who is sick? Who should be treated? To a large extent, it is inseparable from the medical profession as the core of power, which can define "who is sick". However, this criterion for defining who is sick is actually very floating. It often changes with factors such as social norms, cultural habits, religious habits, and technological levels in different cultures.

Sociologist Foucault once analyzed in "Madness and Civilization" how the medicalized society treats people as "normal" and "abnormal". He analyzed how so-called mental illness patients were subjected to various punishment trainings such as soaking in cold water and binding corsets in the eighteenth century as a kind of physical discipline to force them to learn how to be normal people.

What Foucault really wanted to ask was, who has the right to define these people as crazy and abnormal? Are these research therapies more true evidence-based medicine, or do they come from our narrow imagination of religion and morality? Such stories continue to occur in the process of illness and depathization of the gay community.

In many places in ancient times, same-sex sex has always existed. However, same-sex sex has been stigmatized as a disease by some religions and societies, and even become a norm.

From religion to medicine: why are people afraid of homosexuality?

In the article "The Ins and Outs of the American Psychiatric Association's Depathologization of Homosexuality in 1973" written by Yan Zhengfang and Xu Zhiyun, it is mentioned that people's long-term fear of homosexuality has actually undergone a shift from religion to medicine.

In the 19th century, due to the development of science and law, many behaviors that were previously regarded as "sins" by religion began to be interpreted from a medical perspective, such as unusual behaviors, thinking, speech, sensory experiences, and even criminal acts caused by the unstable mental state.

For example, the well-known Viennese psychiatrist Richard . Kraft. Richard von Krafft-Ebing believed that the occurrence of same-sex sexual behavior was a mental illness caused by physical deterioration.

In 1952, the American Psychiatric Association included gay people in the first edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. In the first edition, it described same-sex lust as an "antisocial personality riot", and in the second edition in 1968, it was called "sexual deviance". In the conservative social atmosphere, in the fifties and sixties, many comrades had to be forced to go to prison or receive medical treatment such as hormone injections.

Such a sinful and sick comrade identity certainly makes people panic. As a comrade, it was a secret that could never be told at the time, and it might even cost you your life.

Let's give justice to our comrades

However, with the follow-up development of medical and psychological research, as well as public opinion that is more homophobic to people, people have found that it is actually unreasonable to pathologize same-sex sexual behavior. In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association announced that homosexuality would be removed from the DSM. On May 17, 1990, the World Health Organization followed suit by removing homosexuals from the 10th edition of the International Classification of Diseases. This has also become a milestone in the depathologization of the gay community.

In 2005, French human rights activist Louis-Georges. Louis-Georges Tin, the organizer of the Committee for No More Homophobia, hopes to call on countries to commemorate this day every year and pay attention to the unfair treatment caused by homosexuality, transgenderism, bisexuality and other sexual orientations.

Last year, the World Health Organization revised the ICD again. This time, it is a destigmatization of the transgender community. In the new version of ICD-11 announced on June 18, 2018, "gender identity disorder" was renamed "gender nonconformance" and removed from mental illness and relisted in the sexual health section.

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No longer homophobic, let's look back at the history of "dirty" gays

After depathologization, homosexuality, bisexuality, transgender, and various ethnic groups with different sexual orientations do not hope to consolidate the boundary between "sick" and "healthy", but want society to understand that the so-called normal is a blurred word. Over the past few decades, countless comrades and seniors have gone a long way to get rid of the stigma.

When comrades take a big step from depathization, it does not only mean that they will be clean and flawless. Instead, I hope that when the entire gay community has gone through so much "dirty" history, one day, the world will see it and give them basic respect. (Extended reading: Why do gay parades dress up in fancy clothes?) The "normal" framework that makes the world sick)

• In 1969, the Stonewall Riot in Greenwich Village, New York, was the first large-scale resistance movement in gay history.
• In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association removed "homosexuality" from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
• In the 1980s, the gay liberation movement that began in San Francisco, USA, was in full swing.
• In 1990, the World Health Organization delisted same-sex sexual behavior in the 10th edition of the International Classification of Diseases.
• In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association changed "gender identity disorder" to "gender dysphoria" in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and also removed it from the list.
• In February 2018, Taiwan's Ministry of Health and Welfare issued a letter announcing that any sexual orientation reversal treatment is not a medical practice and will violate the Criminal Law or the Child and Adolescent Welfare and Rights Protection Act.
• In June 2018, the 11th edition of the International Classification of Diseases removed "gender nonconformity" from mental illness.
• In 2019, Taiwan will become the first country in Asia to marry gay people.
• In 2020, Taiwan will use chip-based identification cards (eIDs), remove the gender column, and retain the number 7 for transgender people.

We also believe that this timeline will continue to get longer and longer.  

Behind homophobia, there is often incomprehension

At the end of this article, we would like to invite you to read that in 1935, psychoanalyst Freud wrote to a mother who suspected that her son was gay. (Read more: How did Freud communicate with a mother who was afraid that her son was gay in 1935?) ）

The following is the content of the reply:

I judge from the letter that your child should be a gay man. I was surprised that you didn't use that word to describe your child. I'm curious, why don't you want to describe your child like that? Homosexuality is obviously not good, but there is nothing to be ashamed of. It is not a vice, nor a degradation, nor is it a disease. We believe that it is a kind of sexual diversity that develops. From ancient times to the present day, there were many great people who were gay (Plato, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, etc.). This is a strong injustice that makes it a crime to persecute homosexuality. If you don't want to believe me, you can read Harvey Locke. Ellis's book.

When we talk about homophobia, what are we talking about? Homophobia is not really a disease, but a resistance mentality that arises from not understanding. Many unintentional remarks, jokes, and humiliations are also born from this. But we understand that it may not be intentional. Even in many cases, homophobia is actually out of concern.

If you don't know much about the gay community in the past, we welcome you to take a look at our website and read this book list. Then, if you wish, you can do the same:

• Share this article with friends
• Check out the fan pages of the marriage equality platform and the gay counseling hotline to find out what they care about most right now
• On May 17, let's go to the Legislative Yuan together