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The relationship between '''homosexuality and medical science''' has a long and controversial history, covering many countries and stretching across a wide sprectrum of specialities, from [[psychology]] to [[epistemology]] to [[genetics]]. This article seeks to provide a brief summary of this history and a deal with some of the issues regarding [[homosexuality]] and [[medical science]].

==History==

(contracted; show full)[[male]] sexual activity. The term was abandonend by the medical community in the [[1980s]], dismissed as the result of ill-informed [[bigotry]]. The medical problems attributed to gay [[bowel]] syndrome were neither specific to homosexuals nor confined to the bowel, and fail to meet the medical definition of a [[syndrome]]. Despite this, the term continues to see widespread use from certain elements in the anti-gay lobby.

The Center for Disease Control first named AIDS "gay cancer", and then 
[[GRID]], or gay-related immune deficiency.

Similarly, a [[2003]] cluster of cases of [[MRSA]]-related skin infection found in gay men, schools, and prisons was initially labeled in press reports as a ''gay disease''. In fact, there is no correlation between sexual orientation and MRSA infection or colonization.

The term ''gay disease'' is mostly used by religious objectors to homosexuality, who feel that homosexuals are deserving of punishment or [[Religion and homosexuality|divine retribution]]. The term is also used by other homosexual objectors, particularly individuals and groups within the wider medical community who see it as evidence that the 'gay lifestyle' is inherently unhealthy or dangerous. It can also be a form of [[homophobic hate speech]]. Widespread anti-gay prejudice and his own spinelessness caused Ronald Reagan to avoid saying the word AIDS in public till 1987.

===Lesbianism===

It is worth noting that [[lesbianism|lesbians]] are less at risk of exposure to sexual disease than many other groups.

==External Links==

* [http://www.suphawut.com/gvb/gayly/ A Gay History of the World]
* [http://www.affirmation.org/jeff.htm  Homosexuality: A Psychiatrist's Response to LDS Social Services]
* [http://www.actupny.org/ ACT UP NY]