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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==

The real history of homosexuality and medical science begins with the European [[sexology|sexologist]] movement which eventually spawned modern psychology. For a detailed discussion of this please see the article '[[Homosexuality and psychology]]'.

===World War II===

The period from the start of the [[twentieth century]] and [[World War II]] saw a period of sexual liberation, particularly for homosexuals. However, this was all to change with the rise of [[Fascism]] in Europe, particularly in [[Germany]]. The [[Nazi]] Party made use of medical science for the physical profiling to classify various races and 'criminal types', in particular homosexuality. This was perhaps the first modern attempt to make a non-psychological diagnosis of the 'homosexual condition'.

Unlike previous attempts to classify homosexuality as a psychological disorder, the Nazis, who strongly disapproved of 'Jewish' psychoanalysis and psychology in general, based their disapproval of homosexuality on physical factors. This was predominantly motivated by the fear that the spread of homosexuality could weaken or ''effeminise'' the Aryan male, and generally prohibit reproduction. For more information see the article [[Homosexuals in Nazi Germany]].

For many outside of the Axis territories, WWII itself was a sexually liberating experience, particularly for homosexuals. The aftermath, however, brought renewed conservatism and emphasis on family values. Homosexuals were frequently forceably subjected to psychological treatments such as [[chemical castration]], [[sex change]]s and [[electroconvulsive therapy]].

===Sexual Liberation===

When the [[AIDS]] virus first appeared in the [[1970]]s, baffled [[Epidemiology|epidemiologists]] sometimes described the collective symptoms they were seeing as the 'gay disease' or 'gay cancer' because, at first, it appeared to be largely restricted to the male homosexual community. The United States [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]] naming the syndrome Gay Related Immune Deficiency ([[GRID]]), a name which was later replaced with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) when it was discovered that it not only affect homosexuals but also many [[heterosexuals]].

AIDS was a turning point for the gay community. Despite the fact that more people died from Hepatitis A and B, large media coverage was given to the AIDS 'epidemic' in relation to homosexuality. Many in the anti-homosexual lobby leapt upon this as evidence that the 'homosexual lifestyle' was inherently dangerous. Conversely, the gay community, beleagured by the growing health problem and attacks from the press and politicians, were united by the threat. They quickly began to combat the disease through activism and education. Many new gay rights and gay health groups formed, such as [[Gay Men's Health Crisis]] (GMHC), and solicited support from the media and celebrities.

The AIDS crisis also helped to publicise homosexuality in a positive light, as homosexual issues received more coverage. In many ways, it helped jump-start and unify the gay rights movement in the aftermath of the disapointing sexual liberation movement and set the scene for the gay liberation during and after the [[1990s]].

==Issues==

===Gay Rights and Medicine===

Many gay advocates object to the labeling of any medical condition as being gay specific because of its implicit assumptions.

===Genetics===

The advent of modern genetic science has seen revived interest in the argument of nature versus nurture as a cause of homosexuality as well as advances in the treatment of AIDS and other diseases. The precise ramifications of this and modern biotechnology are not yet apparent. See [[genetic basis for homosexuality]] and [[causes of sexual orientation]] for more information.

===The 'Gay Disease'===

The controversial term 'gay disease' or 'gay plague' has sometimes been used to describe an illness or syndrome, normally sexual, which appears to present primarily among [[homosexuality|homosexual]] patients, or even to describe homosexuality itself. The phrase has occasionally been used by doctors, particularly in the 1970s, but carries no specific medical meaning and is not an officially recognised term. The concept of a gay specific disease is largely dismissed, and most pathogens that affect homosexuals are also passable to heterosexuals.

Various attempts have been made to define gay-only or gay-specific diseases, particularly during the 1970s. ''Gay bowel syndrome'' was a term first used in [[1976]], prior to the discovery of [[AIDS]], to describe a series of [[parasite|parasitic]] disorders caused by oral/anal contact and allegedly related to [[homosexual|gay]] [[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]]. It is thought among many gay rights activists, that widespread anti-gay prejudice and his own squeamishness caused Ronald Reagan to avoid saying the word AIDS in public till 1987.

[[ACT UP]], the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, who's famous slogans include, "[[Silence Equals Death]]," organized and inventively protested on many AIDS issues including, treatment, research funding, drug access, and discrimination.

===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]