“Gay men do not exist in Pakistan”, claim certain psychologists.

I only wish psychologists/psychiatrists alike would stand up for the LGBT community like they are for unjust punishments against necrophiliacs. A friend of mine recently came across an article which was pretty scary, where Psychologists in Karachi University actually BELIEVED that there were NO GAY MEN IN PAKISTAN! I mean, what is the POINT of years and years of education when in the end, homophobic people are going to be hired into positions of authority to teach a homophobic society how to view and understand human behavior “objectively”?

Necrophilia is a mental Illness because Psychology says so, but Homosexuality is a mental illness even when Psychology says it isn’t? Huh!

I love this article for the reason it was published, and I only wish that the advocate from Aasha could also have mentioned the vagueness and ambiguity of the law under section 377, and it’s title. The law should be amended and they should define the exact meaning they attribute to the phrase “against the order of nature”, because at this point, people are charged under this law for the “crime” of homosexuality too. This is RIDICULOUS because where necrophilia is considered a mental illness the world over, homosexuality is NOT, and if APA’s word is enough to charge necrophiliacs under this law, and offer them a chance at rehabilitation should they need it, then it should be enough to EXCLUDE homosexuality from it’s interpretation as “against the order of nature” too.

I get knocked down, but I get up again, you’re never gonna keep me down!

We gave the LGBT presentation for our Social Psych class on the 1st of December, 2011. Our group was the only one the homophobic teacher didn’t interrupt to ask questions in the middle, because we obviously made NO mistakes presenting well known FACTS. As SOON as we finished though, she did stand up and say, ”yeeaah, it was good, it’s okay, it was your OPINION, it’s alright…” implying that we had made errors, and she was ABSOLVING us of our stupidity or some such nonsense. We of course told her that there is a difference between fact and opinion, and our presentation ONLY included facts, to which she said, “so thats your opinion”! And seriously, WTF does that even mean?! Interestingly enough though, our group has gotten the highest marks till now (reaction formation?), and if nothing else, I’m pretty sure just choosing, researching and presenting this topic got 4 other people’s (my group members) opinions to change rather drastically about different sexual orientations and taught them how to view these differences positively, despite the deeply damaging effects of the stifling culture and society we come from. I’m definitely counting that as a win.

Pakistani Psychologists’ refusal to acknowledge the normality of Sexual Variance, is sickening!!

So, our Social Psych presentations have started, and today the first group presented theirs on Media, Sex, and Violence. They quoted Homosexuality to be one of the main negative effects of media today, because it “projects it as positive, when it’s CLEARLY an abnormality.” They also talked about how the APA still views homosexuality as a mental disorder (which in actual fact has not been the case since 1973), and how it was sad that the media was propagating that it was normal.

Having sat through the entire presentation, literally shaking in anger, I finally got the chance towards the end to question why they had misrepresented Psychology’s stance towards homosexuality, when both the American Psychiatric Association, and the American Psychological Association removed homosexuality from DSM (Diagnostic Statistical Manual) as a disorder in 1973 and 1975. Before this could be answered properly, our professor rudely interrupted me and asked if I could please tell her who had told me that Psychology considered homosexuality to be normal. Simply dismissing my rant of ‘EVERY Psychology course book authorized by this university and the american psychological association itself, not to mention the scientific and behavioral researches that have been conducted on the topic of sexual variance’, she continued to talk about how the only reason APA removed homosexuality from their “mental disorders” list was due to social pressure from various human rights organizations, and how it is likely that they will declare it to be a disorder again very soon.

Our groups topic of presentation is LGBT rights in Pakistan, and we wanted to show sexual variance as normal within the sexual spectrum, talk about how homophobia effects the society as a whole, and suggest ways to combat the problem of state endorsed intolerance, a plan which I feel she may as well have PISSED ALL OVER. More than anything though, I was truly disgusted by her stubborn refusal as a psychologist, to view things objectively, or even consider how her premature judgement was the key ingredient in fueling prejudice against (or equivalent to a magnificent turd on) our efforts to make people see sexual variance as a normal objective reality, rather than an abnormal sin.