You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
The 1992 and 1993 volumes of Psychoanalytic Psychology include articles describing homophobia and psychoanalytic training. Because I was one of the small group that founded Division 39, I had the possibly naive belief that psychologists who are psychoanalysts are still part of science. But it appears that political trends have become the currency.
My theoretical position is clear (at least to me) that homosexual behavior is related to a disorder in development. It is not a choice of lifestyle. I don't want to get sidetracked into discussions of chromosomes or Hooker's “studies”—this could be the topic of a symposium. Why the label homophobic? I believe that label is used as a political statement. Sadly, protest demonstrations have become a substitute for reasoned, scientific inquiry; must the publications of Division 39 enter into the political fray?
On a personal level, I do not care to inquire as to the sexual behavior of friends or acquaintances. But does a theoretic position classify me as a homophobe?
Many years ago, columnist Walter Lippmann wrote, “We define first and then see rather than see first and then define.” Now we have come full circle. We have left the diagnosis of homosexuality as a mental disorder to labeling those who question homosexual behavior as homophobic.