Adopted by the APA Council of Representatives on August 27 & 30, 1987.
WHEREAS the American Psychological Association has been on record since 1975 that “homosexuality per se implies no impairment in judgment, stability, reliability, or general social and vocational capabilities”; and
WHEREAS it appears that the ICD-9-CM is widely used either by mandate or choice by many psychologists nationwide in connection with third-party reimbursement, institutional-based service delivery, and research; and
WHEREAS the next revision of the ICD is not anticipated to be completed until 1992 and may, according to current proposals, then contain the “ego-dystonic homosexuality” diagnosis which APA also opposes; and
WHEREAS the Council of Representatives already has urged APA members not to use the proposed DSM-III-R diagnoses of Periluteal Phase Disorder, Self-Defeating Personality Disorder, and Sadistic Personality Disorder because they lack adequate scientific basis and are potentially dangerous to women;
BE IT RESOLVED that the American Psychological Association: Urge its members not to use the “302.0 Homosexuality” diagnosis in the current ICD-9-CM or the “302.00 Ego-dystonic Homosexuality” diagnosis in the current DSM-III or future editions of either document.
Please cite this policy statement as:
Fox, R.E. (1988). Proceedings of the American Psychological Association, Incorporated, for the year 1987: Minutes of the Annual meeting of the Council of Representatives. American Psychologist, 43, 508-531.
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