Lambda Legal, the nations oldest education and legal advocacy group for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and people with HIV, recently premiered a wonderful short documentary on their website. Overruled! documents the Supreme Court Lawrence v. Texas ruling that declared gay sex a basic civil right and acknowledged that gay and lesbian relationships were family relationships deserving of constitutional protection.

It’s a story everyone who ever plans to have sex should hear. The story is told by many members of the legal team and one of the two plantiffs (Lawrence) and it is in their retelling that the film offers its emotional punch. Sadly one of the two plaintiffs, Tyron Garner, passed away in 2006, after the ruling but before this film was made. Overruled! also serves as a powerful reminder of what it means to be granted basic human rights in the eyes of the law, and how many of our citizens are still waiting for that acknowledgment.

Lambda Legal - Watch Overruled! (via Audacia Ray).

_{Image used courtesy of Lambda Legal}

Is It Asking Too Much for Scientists to Use Scientific Methods?

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) is the catalogue of mental disorders that health care professionals use to diagnose psychological and psychiatric conditions. It’s also something like the bible for everyone from insurance companies to the legal system when it comes to determining who is “ill”, who deserves treatment (and more to the point who deserves to get money to pay for treatment) and who should or shouldn’t be locked up. In other words it’s a book that wields a great deal of power and one whose origins most of us know little about.

In theory the DSM categories and criteria are based on research and are as free of social and culture bias as possible. In practice some of the diagnoses are based on large bodies of well replicated research, and some are based on anecdotal and exploratory research. And in practice all of it is influenced by historical and cultural forces. For example prior to 1973 being gay was considered a mental illness according to the DSM. Once removed from the DSM, homosexuality was no longer a mental illness.

The reason I bring this up is because the DSM is currently undergoing it’s fifth major revision and now’s the time that groups from all sides begin to lobby to get their diseases either in or out. The discussions are often infuriating and far more partisan than one would hope for a text that is supposed to be free of bias.

In amongst the jockeying for position a petition has emerged that seems to me to be incredibly simple and very important. It’s a petition to the American Psychiatric Association (who are responsible for the DSM) to adhere to empirical research when revising the DSM. The petition reads:

"We, the undersigned, support the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) own goal of making its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) a scientific document, based on empirical research and devoid of cultural bias. A diagnosis of a mental disorder can have a severe adverse impact on employment opportunities, child custody determinations, an individual's well-being, and other areas of functioning. Therefore we urge the APA to remove all diagnoses that are not based upon peer-reviewed, empirical research, demonstrating distress or dysfunction, from the DSM. The APA specifically should not promote current social norms or values as a basis for clinical judgments."

If you’re interested in signing the petition you can do so here. I learned about this petition at the 40th anniversary AASECT meeting in New Orleans where someone from the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom gave me a sheet to read. I don’t know much about the group who developed the petition specifically but they can be reached at DSMrevisionpetition@yahoo.com.