Is there any truth to the rumor that the American Psychological Association ever...

[KevinS]

..."caved" to gay lobbyists? When you cite the APA website to a homophobe, you'll sometimes hear them protest that the APA data is flawed and "pro-gay" because the APA gave into legal threats by gay lobbyists.

It sounds completely paranoid and absurd....does anyone know for certain? Surely a body of science as prestigious as the APA isn't going to be bullied, and their facts are all factual.
The information that homophobes hate being confronted with is here:

http://www.apa.org/topics/orientation.html

 

[~englishgirl~]

Those gay lobbyists must have got to the British Psychological Society as well...

 

[petec]

I didn't know that gay lobbyists existed--or had that kind of clout. And "legal threats"? Wooooo. Homophobes seem to tap into sources of amazing information. I'm going to ask the next one I meet about all this.

Well, dang. A bona fide homophobe, Crim Liar, just checked in with his nutzo take on the APA ("they're bigots"), but--wouldn't you know?--he seems disinclined to talk about "gay lobbyists" or the influence they wield. I wonder if waterboarding would get it out of him?

 

[AvengedSevenfold]

I have never seen any
I have just looked and all of the search results are from right-wing homophobes who've spread this urban myth
I doubt they caved, it was the time when things we're changing so people knew more and didn't accept the bigotry that previous generations did
besides - saying the APA caved is homophobic propagada

 

[LisaA]

So what was going on before they "caved" to gay lobbyists?

Did they "cave" to hate filled bible thumping bigots with medical degrees granted from god?

 

[CrimLiar1]

Frankly Psychology is a very fuzzy science and is willingly accepts theories which in other fields of science would rightly be challenged and rejected. I have no issue with psychological provided it can be scientifically proven, but much of the APA doctrine was based purely on bigotry!

 

[Robert]

It doesn't take an expert to know that being gay isn't a disease. sheesh.

 

[JayT]

Well, even if that were true... That's how we get things done in America.

That's like saying that the Prop 8 voters "caved" to the Mormon Lobby... It cuts both ways.

But it's not true... The Psychologists in the APA were overwhelmingly in support of the APA removing homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. It didn't fit the definition of a mental disorder.

 

[LaughItOff:t]

Well first and foremost, the American Psychological Association is not the only mental health association that says that homosexuality is not a mental illness, choice, or abnormality, and that homosexuals hardly, if ever, become heterosexual.

Far from it. You also have:

American Psychiatric Association
American Counseling Association
American Medical Association
American Psychoanalytic Association
American Association of Pediatrics
National Association of Social Workers
National Association of School Psychologists

Now that that is out of the way. NO they were not taken over by gay activists or lobbyists. Do you honestly think that a MINORITY could influence the professional decision of over 500,000 mental and medical health professionals? If these mental health organizations were ones to cave into activism, then why isn't homosexuality still a mental illness?

I mean, with how many people are against homosexuality, and who fight so hard just to say that homosexuality is abnormal, homosexuality TO THIS DAY is STILL not considered a mental illness!

Anyone who says otherwise, is therefore wrong. It's just another one of their ridiculous claims they use to forward their gay-hating agenda. Plain and simple.

Soulforce, "What the science says -- and doesn't say -- about homosexuality": http://www.soulforce.org/pdf/whatthesciencesays.pdf

Soulforce, "A Falso Focus on my Family": http://www.soulforce.org/pdf/whatthesciencesays.pdf

Now Soulforce is a LGBT rights organization, but the sources they cite ARE credible, academic sources from those mental health organizations. You're encouraged to research if you are in question of them.

I also encourage everyone to take a look at this video, "Not a sin, Not a sickness" also by Soulforce: http://www.soulforce.org/article/homosexuality-debate-verdict-video