Of course gays are not neurotic per se! A neurotic is someone who is out of step with what really is. Do you remember the joke: What's the difference between a neurotic and a psychotic? A neurotic says "2+2=5"; a psychotic says "2+2=4 and I can't stand it." The question -- What is neurosis? -- is closely tied to your world view. In many minority cultures, things that we take for granted would be considered neurotic.

A non-Christian world view finds things that Christians do in general neurotic: pray, believe in miracles, worship an invisible God, or give sacrificially. This is really more of a commentary on the weakness of the term neurosis. I agree that gays can be as psychologically healthy as heterosexuals.

Until 1973, psychiatry regarded homosexuality as an illness. A book-length psychoanalytic study of homosexuality for example was entitled The Homosexual Neurosis. Psychoanalyst Leo Rangell said he had "never seen a male homosexual who did not also turn out to have a phobia of the vagina." (Rangell)

What changed in 1973 was not new scientific evidence, but political pressure from gay lobbyists. (Socarides; ...) Those who defend a position based on the science of today should explain why the science of yesteryear was wrong. They should not merely cite Science as some kind of a sacred cow.

30 August 1996. Copyright information is available.