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HIGH GEAR

JANUARY 1976

A Psychiatrist Speaks On Homosexuality

In order to guage an "average" psychiatrist's view of homosexuality, High Gear randomly contacted local mental health workers in the Northeastern Ohio area. Of four contacts, one agreed to an interview. Dr. Stephen B. Levine, M.D. is a psychiatrist at the Hanna Pavilion located at 2040 Abington Road, University Circle, in Cleveland. He is a former student of Case-Western Reserve University. Although Dr. Levine's history shows no formal research in homosexuality, he has read on the subject and presently has several clients who are "concerned about their homosexuality."

High Gear: Although Freud postulated that all humans are bisexual, psychiatry has historically labeled homosexuality as a mental disorder. What was the evidence linking the two and was the decree in fact propogated by society's moral standards?

Dr. Levine: Prior to Freud, many psychiatrists claimed homosexuality was constitutionally determined, hereditary and a degenerative disease. The assumption that homosexuality is an illness finds its roots in a utopian view of personality development. It is thought that if children are provided with parents who have a loving relationship and relate with affection and interest to their children, they, in turn, will "naturally" become hetero-

sexual. To this day, the utopian view is still widely held, though it has not been scientifically validated Freud

rescued homosexuality from the clutches of this disease-labeling group. Those who followed Freud, however, catapaulted homosexuality into "sickness."

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High Gear: As a professional, can you make any speculations about what you feel are the causes of homosexuality?

Dr. Levine: Homosexuality is not genetic; it's environmental; that is to say, a post-natal phenomenon. Research to date has shown that 2/3 of male homosexuals have a childhood history of, for lack of a better term, "non-athletic behavior." There is an observable avoidance of rough and tumble play and other behavior that is not typical of many other male children. Being atypical causes the person many conflicts; it implies peer rejection and establishes a set of variables which leads to identification with a minority. I can't give you a pat formula for the cause of a homosexual response pattern. The humam mind is too complex for us to understand all of its interrelationships and subsequent manifestations.

High Gear: What about the other third of gay males?

Dr. Levine: The remaining one third are individuals who don't fall into the "non-athletic" pattern of behavior. Since this

group is comprised of separate isolated cases, it is not given as much attention as the major two-thirds who yield a more representative and common sample. Most male homosexuals incidentally, outgrow blatantly atypical behavior. It is usually evident only in the latency periods from ages six to twelve. High Gear: What about gay

women:

Dr. Levine: Frankly, I know very little about the development of female homosexuality. The research available on lesbians is less than a tenth of that for male homosexuals, and most of it reflects the utopian view which alleges that there has been some disruption in the family which results in a lengthy history of tomboyism that the female never outgrows.

High Gear: On December 15, 1973 54% of the American Psychiatric Association voted to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. What brought about this action?

Dr. Levine: It was done as a result of the political organization of the Gay Activists Alliance. They asked a very embarassing question: What is the scientific evidence that homosexuality is a mental illness? The APA appointed a task force to investigate the question; they returned redfaced and said there is no convincing proof that homosexuality per se is a disease. Their report supported

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