By Prudence L. Gourguechon on 4/23/2009 7:52 PM
Reflecting on the 40th Anniversary of the Stonewall rebellion, the New York Times published a most peculiar piece on Sunday April 12. Titled “Word for Word: Deviates and Inverts” the anonymous "Week in Review" piece seemed to be a kind of apology for the language and attitude the Times presented as “news” about homosexuality in 1963.
In their broadly quoted “news” story of the early 1960’s, the Times relied upon the expert opinion of a psychoanalyst. The April 12 2009 piece also relied heavily on quotes from this psychoanalyst, who argued, among other long since abandoned ideas, that viewing homosexuality as an illness can be very helpful (now we know that view causes great pain, and even the loss of life especially in vulnerable young people), that homosexuals are inherently emotionally unstable (huh), that homosexual relationships suffer more from jealousy and personality clashes than heterosexual relationship (really??).
The Times notes that “the article’s language, from sources and reporter alike, is outdated at best, derogatory at worst, and many of its assumptions and assertions are long discredited” I'll say.
But as a psychoanalyst, and president of the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA), it deeply troubles me that the Times did not bother to note how profoundly psychoanalysis has changed in its attitude toward homosexuality in the decades since Stonewall. Like other mental health professionals, we know that homosexuality is NOT an illness, that gays and lesbians are NOT inherently unstable, that gay and lesbian relationships and families are no less rich and resilient and stable than heterosexual ones. (which is to say, I guess, that relationships and having strong families is hard, gay or straight, but being gay does not give you a handicap in this arena.)
My colleague Ethan Grumbach, Chair of our Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues, writing on behalf of the American Psychoanalytic Association, wrote this letter to the editor of the Times on April 13:
Deviates’ and ‘Inverts’ (Sunday, April 12) references the study of gay men by Dr. Irving Bieber, a psychoanalyst who believed that homosexuality was an illness that could be treated or prevented. Like New York City, psychoanalysts have come a long way- in their case, by the fact of having discredited Bieber's view. Today, The American Psychoanalytic Association, 3,300 members strong, ardently supports gay marriage and opposes and deplores public or private discrimination against male and female homosexually oriented individuals. Social justice is paramount to psychoanalysts in all aspects of human life- regardless of sexual orientation.
At the American Psychoanalytic Association we are particularly proud of a series of position statements we have approved over the last decade addressing issues such as gay marriage, gay adoption, and gays in the military. Please take a look. |