04 Jul World Health Organization urged to remove sexual orientation ‘disorders’ from disease classifications
The World Health Organization (WHO) has been urged to remove several classifications in its International Classification of Diseases (ICD) guidelines as the United Nations body prepares to release a new edition of the guidelines in 2017.
The recommendation was made by a working group of health experts from around the world who have been tasked by the WHO to review the F66 section of the guidelines.
The ICD has not listed homosexuality as a disorder in-and-of-itself since 1990.
However under the current guidelines if a man marries a woman but then decides he is gay and wants to get a divorce to pursue relationships with other men, that is still considered a disorder.
People who are same-sex attracted but wish they were opposite-sex attracted are also considered to have a disorder as are people who are unsure of their sexuality and experiencing distress because of that.
The 10th edition of the ICD guidelines list these as, ‘Psychological and behavioral disorders associated with sexual development and orientation,’ while also stating, ‘sexual orientation by itself is not to be considered a disorder.’
The listings which the working group take issue with are ‘Sexual maturation disorder,’ which is defined as, ‘uncertainty about one’s gender identity or sexual orientation and distress about the uncertainty,’ ‘Ego-dystonic sexual orientation,’ in which a person is distressed by unwanted same-sex attractions, ‘Sexual relationship disorder,’ in which a person’s abnormal sexual preferences make it difficult to have relationships with other people, and ‘Other psychosexual development disorders’ which is an undefined catch-all diagnosis for sexual disorders that fall outside the previously listed categories.
‘The Working Group recommends that these categories be deleted entirely from ICD-11,’ the global group of medical experts recommends.
‘Health concerns related to sexual orientation can be better addressed using other ICD categories.’
However any changes to the guidelines will have to be voted on by the ministers of health of all World Health Organization countries of which around 80 still criminalize homosexuality.
Source: Gay Star News