Homosexuality removed from DSM (1973)

Homosexuality removed from DSM (1973)

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, activists campaigned against the DSM classification of homosexuality as a mental disorder, protesting at APA offices and at annual meetings from 1970 to 1973. In 1973 the Board of Trustees voted to remove homosexuality as a disorder category from the DSM, a decision ratified by a majority (58%) of the general APA membership the following year. 

A category of "sexual orientation disturbance" was introduced in its place in 1974, and then replaced in the 1980 DSM-III with ego-dystonic homosexuality. Controversy ensued when it was removed in 1987, going against the standard still used by the World Health Organization's ICD-10, the Chinese Classification and Diagnostic Criteria of Mental Disorders and the The Medical Council of India. 

There is also controversy regarding the new category of "sexual disorder not otherwise specified" which can include a state of distress about one's sexual orientation, as well as the diagnosis of "gender

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - DSM

The DSM, including DSM-IV, is a registered trademark belonging to the American Psychiatric Association. It has attracted controversy and criticism as well as praise. There have been five revisions of the DSM since it was first published in 1952. 

The last major revision was the DSM-IV published in 1994, although a "text revision" was produced in 2000. The DSM-V is currently in consultation, planning and preparation, due for publication in May 2012. An early draft will be released for comment in 2009.  The mental disorders section of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) is another commonly-used guide, and the two classifications use the same diagnostic codes.