The Social Issues Committee was instrumental in getting a policy of nondiscrimination adopted by The American in its Statement of Homosexuality. Therefore, when this committee also came forward with a proposed resolution concerning psychoanalysis and gay protest, it might have been expected that this would be presented from a relatively unbiased position. The statement, passed without opposition in the Executive Council and endorsed at the Meeting of Members in May 1993, calls for an atmosphere of free and open exploration in scientific meetings and analytic treatment, and it deplores threats of disruption or intimidation.
Perhaps the committee intended a balanced statement, but its preface addressed only one side of the controversy. It failed to recognize that psychoanalysts have given some cause for the anger that has led to protests. Provocative statements have been made from both sides.
Consider that some analysts still proclaim that all homosexual patients necessarily have serious narcissistic disorders and ego deficits; that a small group of our members worked vigorously to undo our nondiscrimination policy; and that, in the Meeting of Members last December, one of that group attempted to discredit a gay analyst by misquoting him, while another stated that homosexual analysts would be unable to help patients with their marital problems since they were themselves unable to sustain heterosexual marriages (would that also disqualify heterosexual analysts who fail at marriage?).
One more example will make the point, last July, Charles Socarides was interviewed on the MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour about the latest study suggesting a genetic influence in sexual orientation. After dismissing the findings and restating what “we” psychoanalysts believe to be the cause of homosexuality, Dr. Socarides added the egregious insinuation that all these biological studies are suspect because conducted (according to him) by homosexual scientists.
Questioning the validity of research studies not on the basis of methodology or faulty data, but solely on the basis of the presumed sexual orientation of the researcher, is insulting to those scientists and demeaning to the profession Dr. Socarides claims to represent. When put to a vote last December, his proposed amendment to the Statement on Homosexuality was defeated 173 to 92, including proxy votes; those present, who heard both sides of the debate, voted against it 93 to 5. Dr. Socarides's opinions are not those of the majority of psychoanalysts; but unless we state our disagreement publicly, we have only ourselves to blame when activists protest and when fellow professionals dismiss us as narrowminded, unscientific, and homophobic.
Damage has been done over the years, and it is time for us to begin correcting it. Of greater concern to us than protests should be the fact that much of the mental health community now considers organized psychoanalysis irrelevant on the subject. When all other major mental health professional associations (psychiatry, psychology, social work, counseling, nursing) formed a coalition to support President Clinton in lifting the military ban on gays, The American was not even asked if it wished to join. Whether we would have chosen to take an active stand is not the point: our colleagues did not think it worthwhile to ask.
We are a long way from having all the answers about the origins and developmental course of sexual orientation. The issue here is not the theory itself, however, but how we respond to new data, to our professional colleagues, and to changing social realities. We can withdraw into splendid intellectual isolation, insult other scientists, and reap our rewards of scorn and angry protest. Or we can be open to valid research data from sources outside our consulting rooms, participate in an open dialogue, and make our unique contribution. Psychoanalysis has been the object of protest, then ridicule, attitudes moving now toward indifference. We can turn this around, but not if we remain silent and let others misrepresent our views.
Ralph Roughton
Atlanta