Changes in labeling homosexuality in health sciences literature: a preliminary investigation

The purpose of this paper is to describe the image of gay men and lesbian women in health sciences literature since the demedicalization of homosexuality by American psychiatry in 1973. The process of medicalization and demedicalization of any behavior labeled as deviant in American society has received scant attention until recently. In addition, labeling theory has for the most part ignored the labelers and the process by which powerful groups, in this instance American medicine and other health professions, influence the labeling process. Since the American Psychiatric Association's decision to demedicalize homosexuality from an illness to a "suboptimal condition," over 700 articles have been published in the health care literature about various aspects of homosexuality, including a continued debate about the health or illness classification of homosexuality. Literature reviewed for this investigation was limited to letters, policy statements, and editorials or articles written between 1974 and 1983 which were germane to the classification issue.