Subject: who disease label
From: Olli Stalstrom <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 1996 07:54:51 +0300 (EET DST)

The World Health Organization WHO has published last year its new 
classification of diseases ICD-10, from which homosexuality has been 
completely deleted. The American Psychiatric Association APA declassified 
homosexuality already in 1974. So homosexuality should not be officially 
classifiable as a disease anywhere in the world.

	Finland seems to be an exception, largely due to the strong 
influence of religion and old psychoanalysis. The notorious psychoanalyst 
Irving Bieber has been used as the expert in Finnish psychiatry since 
1971 until today. The present psychiatry textbook still classifies 
homosexuality as a disturbance, although the Finnish National Board of 
Health struck homosexuality of the list of diseases used in Finland in 
1981. Now the equally notorious religious psychoanalusts Socarides and 
Nicolosi are being introduced into this country by the 'reparative 
therapy' movement.

	One of the largest publishing companies will label homosexuality 
as a 'disorder' and 'perversion' in its new large medical handbook in the 
near future, in spite of protests from researchers that homosexuality 
cannot be classified as a disorder or disease. Their psychiatric expert 
is writing from a psychoanalytical tradition and dismissed all protests 
as 'opinions' of 'homosexual groups'. The WHO and APA are, however, 
official bodies, and not 'homosexual groups', and they have made their 
decisions after careful review of the empirical and theoretical studies on 
homosexuality.

	I'm a researcher associated with SETA, the Finnish gay and 
lesbian rights organization. We feel that we should make Finland a test 
case to examine whether the WHO decision has any meaning at all. We feel 
a private Finnish publisher does not have the right to classify 
homosexuality as a disorder.  That's why the disease label was removed. 

	Can anyone tell us how to do this protest? Does the WHO have an 
official mechanism for reviewing protests concerning the abuse of its 
classification of diseases? To whom should the protest be addressed? Does 
the WHO actually have the power to forbid someone from labelling 
homosexuals sick or can it just give a statement? Can anyone recommend an 
expert to help us in preparing this protest?

	Some psychoanalysts will feel very strongly about their right to 
call homosexuality a disorder. Socarides, in the United States, has 
created the concept of 'psychiatric rights', which means the right to 
research, cure and prevent homosexuality and the right for homosexuals to 
be cured. According to Socarides ''socio-political activism must not 
endanger the psychiatric rights''. Our psychoanalysts subscribe to the 
same philosophy. Could a protest be interpreted as an infringement of the 
psychoanalysts' 'rights' to classify homosexuality a 'disorder'? Do 
psychoanalysts have special rights to classify homosexuals as disordered?

	Who should file the protest? SETA is willing to do it, but it 
would expose us to accusations of 'complaining homosexual groups'. Should 
I do it as a researcher (I am just finishing my PhD thesis about the 
medicalization of homosexuality)?

	We feel this test case of Finland and the WHO decision concerning 
it would be of international importance and we want to prepare the case 
well.

Olli Stalstrom
Oksasenkatu 6 B 9
00100 Helsinki 
Finland
email: [email-masked]