Yes I recall that and the decission is still rather debated in many circles. I personally agree with the people that still consider it a mental illness. However I disagree with every1 of them that I have met as to why.
I do agree with the arguement in favor of the change that promoted it as a method of combating prejudice and homophobia. There is no good excuse for that behavior. However I think a better way was needed. What good is pandering to people that object to being identified by a label that society has arbitrarily through misunderstanding placed a negative stigma upon. Just another case of modern medicine treating the effects and not the cause.
Misdefining something to try and stop prejudice and homophobia and to placate the complaints of people that objected to homosexuals being labeled queer is a flawed concept. Is there a 'problem' (I.E. something different then what is supposed to be) with homosexuals? Quite frankly yes. Does that mean it's something we should 'fix'? Absolutely not. Not all problems need fixed.
The reason it is abnormal has to do with the natural process of perpetuating our species which is the reason for sex . Now religion tries to get into the mix and muddles stuff up. But in truth though I am religious I don't think it should be involved in this as not every1 is. Religion is a narrow scope identifier. Meaning it pertains primarilly to the individual that holds it. Where as this needs to be considered under a socialogical scope. Meaning arbitrary individual beliefs should not come into play.
So what are the facts.
Normal for our species is: Man + Woman.
Mental illness is defined as something that is abnormal.
Man + Man or Woman + Woman doesn't equal normal, it equals abnormal.
Therefore: homosexuality = mental illness
A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern that occurs in an individual and is thought to cause distress or disability that is not expected as part of normal development or culture.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_illness
I have a cousin named Becka, Becka is a lesbian, Becka's father was a big fat lazy, abusive, violent, vile individual (stinking word filter I have some better explitives to use to describe the guy). When she was 5 (I was 7) he raped her mother in front of her then beat them both badly and fled when the cops showed up due to the disturbance. She was picked on by boys in school. (I wound up upside down in trashcans on a couple of occasions for trying to defend her.) The one boy I can think of that she ever had a serious relationship with, she caught cheating on her. Now I know for a fact that there was a major shift in how she acted after that first MAJOR incident and that she never fully trusted men again. The effects of her life and the trust and relationship she developed with another girl in highschool I know from first hand observation to be the cause for her deviation from the norm.
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I changed her name since mine is easy to find out and she is naturally very still sensitive of the subject).
I tell you this because I wished to better illustrate that sexual attraction and electrical attraction have many parralels most notably the path of least resistance. Another way to illustrate this would be that I love my wife, I am attracted to women with a little meat on there bones, my wife isn't exactly skiny. Hmmm perhaps thats why I married her.... nope she was skiny then and I liked skinny then. Do you follow me here?
I personally would propose that homosexuality doesn't need fixed because it is not only a problem but one that provides it's own treatment. That may seem like circuller reasoning but take for instance the fact that 1 of the basic human desires is to find happiness. If in your search for happiness you stray into the territory of abnormal you are now labeled mentally ill. But since happiness makes a individual feel normal if you find something that makes you happy you have just reached a equilibriam by redefining what normal is for you.
Now breaking train on the mental illness thing. I'd like to pick on gay rights. There is no such thing IMO. Which isn't to say I think homosexuals don't have rights. To quote my favorite American president, Abraham Lincoln, "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." I just think we all have the same rights. Some people try and use the gay rights banner to promote special treatment for homosexuals.