Letter from the American Psychoanalytic Association to the Finnish Parliament Gary Grossman, Ph.D.

The Finnish translation of this letter was distributed to all Finnish Members of Parliament in September 2001 in connection with the final Parliamentary debate on Civil Unions in Finland. as sent by Gary Grossman, Ph.D, Chair of the Committee on Gay and Lesbian Issues of the American Psychoanalytic Association to Jorma Hentilä, Chief Editor of Z Magazine of the Finnish Organization of Sexual Equality (SETA) to be distributed to all Finnish Members of Parliament in connection with the final debate on Civil Unions in May 2001. This letter was requested because the opposition to the legal and social equality of lesbians and gays in Finland has come for decades from conservative American psychoanalysts and psychiatrists (Edmund Bergler, Irving Bieber, Warren Gadpaille, Charles Socarides), American Christian psychology (Paul Cameron) and American reparative therapy and ex-gay ministries (Joseph Nicolosi, NARTH, Exodus).

Dear Jorma Hentilä,

The American Psychoanalytic Association has endorsed several positions statements that are relevant to gay and lesbian individuals. The first, adopted in 1992, states the Association's position on homosexuality and its non-discrimination policy on acceptance for training and faculty promotion. It reads as follows:

The American Psychoanalytic Association opposes and deplores public or private discrimination against male and female homosexually oriented individuals. It is the position of the American Psychoanalytic Association that our component institutes will select candidates for training on the basis of their interest in psychoanalysis, talent, proper educational background, psychological integrity, analyzability and educability, and not on the basis of sexual orientation. It is expected that our component institutes will employ these standards for the selection of candidates for training and for the appointment of all grades of faculty including training and supervising analysts as well.

On December 18, 1997, the Executive Council of the American Psychoanalytic Association endorsed the following Resolution on same-gender marriage:

Because marriage is a basic human right and an individual personal choice, it is resolved that the State should not interfere with same-gender couples who choose to marry and share fully and equally in the rights, responsibilities, and commitment of civil marriage.

Finally, in December 1999 the Executive Council endorsed the following statement of its position on psychotherapy with gay men and lesbians:

1. Same-gender sexual orientation cannot be assumed to represent a deficit in personality development or the expression of psychopathology.
2. As with any societal prejudice, anti-homosexual bias negatively affects mental health, contributing to an enduring sense of stigma and pervasive self-criticism in people of same-gender sexual orientation through the internalization of such prejudice.
3. As in all psychoanalytic treatments, the goal of analysis with homosexual patients is understanding. Psychoanalytic technique does not encompass purposeful efforts to "convert" or "repair" an individual's sexual orientation. Such directed efforts are against fundamental principles of psychoanalytic treatment and often result in substantial psychological pain by reinforcing damaging internalized homophobic attitudes.

I hope that you and the members of the Finnish Parliament will find this information helpful in the process of eliminating the discrimination and minimizing the prejudice against gay and lesbian individuals.

Very Sincerely,

Gary Grossman, Ph.D.
Chair, Committee on Gay and Lesbian Issues
The American Psychoanalytic Association

Committee on Gay and Lesbian Issues

Gary Grossman, Ph.D., Chair
309 East 49th Street

New York, New York 10017
Email: garygr@itsa.ucsf.edu

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