A few days ago the American Psychiatric Association announced who would write the new revision of the DSM-V, the manual of mental disorders that controls the diagnosis and treatment of gender and sexual difference. The "expert" just named to chair the revisions on sexuality and gender is Kenneth Zucker. Zucker is the major remaining proponent of "reparative therapy" to "cure" kids they think are LGBT.
If the APA doesn't change the committee, the next edition of the DSM-V will probably prescribe reparative therapies as recommended "treatment" for LGBT people. Zucker's named Ray Blanchard to the work group that will rewrite Gender Identity Disorder. Blanchard is connected with ex-gay organizations; his core theory is that transpeople are "really" sex offenders or homosexuals, and homosexuals are mentally ill. Zucker's stated purpose for reparative therapy is that, without it, gay kids will grow up into transsexuals. So any version of Gender Identity Disorder the two of them write will not only put transpeople out of medical help and into conversion therapy, but also redefine GID from an independent diagnosis to a kind of homosexuality.
In other words, their goal is to put homosexuality back in the DSM-V as a mental illness. We'd be back where we were before 1973.
We have to get the word out. If the community protests loudly and fast, the APA will probably have to remove Zucker and Blanchard.
Please help. Spread the word to everyone you know. Any contacts you have with LGBT political advocacy and media organizations, please light a fire with them to pressure the APA to remove Zucker and Blanchard from the DSM-V committee. It matters for all of us.
Contact the American Psychiatric Association
1000 Wilson Boulevard
Suite 1825
Arlington, VA 22209
Contact APA Answer Center
Call Toll-Free: 1-888-35-PSYCH
From outside the U.S. and Canada call: 1-703-907-7300
Email: apa@psych.org
The following link takes you right to the petition:
http://tinyurl.com/3nmncl
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