American Psychoanalytic Association apologises for previously treating homosexuality as an illness

Marks second major apology to LGBTQ+ community during Pride month

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The American Psychoanalytic Association has apologised for previously treating homosexuality as a mental illness.

”It is long past time to recognise and apologise for our role in the discrimination and trauma caused by our profession and say, ‘We are sorry,’” said Dr Lee Jaffe, president of the APaA, which is not to be confused with the American Psychiatric Association.

Psychiatrists declassified homosexuality as a disorder in 1973; psychoanalysts, represented by this apologising organisation, made the same decision nearly two decades later.

The formal apology may be the first incident of a US medical or mental health organisation to issue such an apology, Reuters reports.

The apology was announced at the opening session of the APaA’s 109th annual meeting in San Diego, California.

It received a standing ovation from roughly 200 people, according to those present.

Dr Jaffe says the group has been supportive of LGBTQ+ rights for quite some time, citing their role as early supporter of same-sex marriage, as well as their to opposition to “conversion therapy,” the discredited practice that seeks to change a person’s sexual orientation.

But the explicit apology was still missing, until now.

“It’s hard to admit that one has been so wrong,” he said.

The announcement is the second major apology to past harm done to the LGBTQ+ community during this year’s Pride month, following the NYPD’s apology for their actions during the Stonewall uprising, which heavily influenced the LGBTQ+ movement 50 years ago.

Dr Jack Drescher, an APsaA member and leading authority on the history of psychiatric and psychological treatment of LGBTQ+ people, said the police force’s apology prompted his group’s own version.

“If the police commissioner of New York City could do it,” he said, “why couldn’t we do something similar?”