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APA Endorses Marriage Redefinition While this is not the first time the APA has taken a position in support of homosexuality and special rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual individuals, the 2011 resolution represents the strongest endorsement of same-sex “marriage” by the APA to date. In 2007, the APA’s Council of Representatives adopted a resolution opposing “discriminatory legislation and initiatives aimed at lesbian, gay, and bisexual persons.” The last time the APA specifically addressed same-sex “marriage” was in 2004, when the APA adopted a resolution that stopped short of fully endorsing same-sex “marriage” but stated the APA’s opposition to what it called “discriminatory” laws that “deny same-sex couples legal access to civil marriage and to all its attendant benefits, rights and privileges.” The APA’s August 2011 resolution on same-sex “marriage” cites what it calls “emerging research literature” on the similarities between same-sex couples and heterosexual married couples and the extension of marriage rights to same-sex couples in some states. It also “reiterates [the APA’s] opposition to ballot measures, statutes, constitutional amendments, and other forms of discriminatory policy aimed at limiting lesbian, gay, and bisexual people’s access to legal protections for their human rights, including such measures as those that deny same-sex couples the right to marry.” The resolution also “calls on state governments to repeal all measures that deny same-sex couples the right to civil marriage and to enact laws to provide full marriage equality to same-sex couples.” Additionally, the APA urges “the federal government to extend full recognition to legally married same-sex couples, and to accord them all of the rights, benefits, and responsibilities that it provides to legally married different-sex couples.” Exactly how the APA’s latest endorsement of same-sex “marriage” will impact the ongoing national battle over the definition of marriage remains to be seen. While homosexual activists and their allies, like the APA, continue to point to so-called “evidence” to support their claims that same-sex “marriage” is good for society, the body of evidence to date is not vast, nor is it trustworthy. Same-sex “marriage” has not been around long enough to conclusively study and determine how it impacts adults, children, and society over the long term. In the few studies that do exist, there are significant flaws in the research, such as missing or inadequate comparison groups and no nationally representative samples, with most studies containing serious flaws that raise questions about the results. (For more on this, see our article, “Why Gender Matters to Parenting”). Much of what has gone wrong with same-sex “marriage” research could be explained by observations found in the 2005 book, Destructive Trends in Mental Health: The Well-Intentioned Path to Harm. The editors, two psychologists who are described as lifelong liberal activists, concluded that psychology has surrendered its professionalism and science to political correctness. Writing about the 1973 and 1974 decisions to reclassify homosexuality as an example, Rogers H. Wright and Nicholas Cummings note: “The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association yielded suddenly and completely to political pressure when in 1973 it removed homosexuality as a treatable aberrant condition. A political firestorm had been created by gay activists within psychiatry. … Psychiatry’s House of Delegates sidestepped the conflict by putting the matter to a vote of the membership, marking the first time in the history of healthcare that a diagnosis or lack of diagnosis was decided by popular vote rather than scientific evidence.” To date, six states (Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont), plus the District of Columbia, have redefined marriage to include same-sex couples. The voters of 30 states, including every Southern state except North Carolina, have responded to the escalating attacks on marriage by protecting the definition of marriage through state constitutional amendments. The North Carolina General Assembly is scheduled to finally consider legislation that would give the voters of this state the opportunity to vote on a Marriage Protection Amendment in a special session this September. “The APA’s adoption of this latest resolution in support of marriage redefinition is no surprise,” said Bill Brooks, president of the North Carolina Family Policy Council. “The governing body of the APA has long been a staunch supporter of the homosexual agenda, including the redefinition of marriage, and this resolution is just the latest example of how political correctness so often trumps science in the field of mental health.” Related resources:
Copyright © 2012. North Carolina Family Policy Council. All rights reserved.
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