American Psychoanalytic Association Apologizes For Having Once Labeled Homosexuality As Mental Illness

The Hill reports:



The American Psychoanalytic Association apologized on Friday for previously labeling homosexuality a mental illness.

“It is long past time to recognize and apologize for our role in the discrimination and trauma caused by our profession,” Lee Jaffe, the group’s president, said in a statement. “We all know that hearing the words ‘we are sorry’ is important to healing past trauma.”

“In 1969, homosexuality was considered a mental illness and sexual orientation was conflated with gender identity by the mental health field,” the statement reads. “This led to many being coerced, either by force or choice, into traumatic and harmful methods to ‘cure’ homosexual desires and nonconforming gender identities.”