by Brad Larsen, PhD
PRIDE | MIND
As We Are
Breathing In New Life
I’m the first to admit that living with pride is sometimes a chal-
lenge for me as a gay man. But the way I see it, the alternatives
are not compelling enough to choose otherwise. By living proud
as queer people we display the brilliance, creativity and love that
only we can offer to the world. Living fully as we are is consistent
with mental well-being and it is something about which we can be
fundamentally proud.
But as we know, this
hasn’t always been the
case. I’ve heard many
variations of the fol-
lowing
homophobic
and misogynist themes.
"Little girls who like to
dress like boys and little
boys who like to play
with dolls will grow
up to become lesbian
or gay." "Homosexu-
als experience mental
illness and use alcohol
and drugs at a signifi-
cantly higher rate than
do heterosexuals." "Ho-
mosexuality is an illness
from which individuals
should seek to recover."
Do these sound famil-
iar? As a boy, I had a
fondness for Cabbage
Patch dolls. Did Abbey
Madison and her gold-
en yarn hair cause me to
be gay? Even if she had
that power, who cares?
Photo Horace Long
38
As a psychologist resi-
dent, I think about
these types of state-
ments in the context of my chosen profession. These unfounded
beliefs about the origins, conditions and cures for homosexuality
were canonized by the fields of psychiatry and psychology when
homosexuality was classified as a mental disorder with the publica-
tion of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in
1952. As the story goes, even gay identified members of the Ameri-
JustOut.com
can Psychiatric Association at the time believed that homosexuality
was a mental illness.
Thankfully, the fields of psychiatry and psychology have long since
become champions for the rights of queer people. But the causes
made in the 1950s continue to impact our lives in ways that astonish
me. The truth is that the basis for homophobia today is founded in
the outdated and shaming conclusion that homosexual people are
mentally ill.
The shame experienced by so many youth who are committing sui-
cide over sexual orientation; a father’s belief that he has failed be-
cause his son is gay; a religious leader’s council to a confused family
to engage in reparative therapy; and legislative campaigns that have
kept gay men and women from being treated equally under the law
can all be traced back, in part, to the homophobic belief that we are
fundamentally ill.
Homophobia is the force that makes us feel that we should be
ashamed of our love for same gender others and that we should tuck
away the unacceptable parts of who we are. Understandably, as chil-
dren we learned to hide unacceptable aspects of who we are in order
to keep family, community and friends from rejecting us. This abil-
ity to hide parts of ourselves is essential to our survival, but it can be
essential to our downfall.
When we disavow parts of ourselves in response to homophobia,
what we’re doing is depressing that which we’ve been told by family,
religion, media and society, is unacceptable. We use drugs, alcohol,
sex, work, unhealthy relationships; you name it, to soothe the shame
in our hearts. These parts that we’ve hidden away become deadened
by our attempts to resolve the dissonance. This depressive process is
at the root of a kind of psychological depression, not at all an illness,
but a natural response to an oppressive environment.
Our work, mine too, as the healthy human beings that we are, is to
breathe new life into our whole being; we must awaken those parts
that have been hidden away away and invite them to the party. As
queer people, we must strive to be open, fully endowed and revived,
exactly as we are. Living fully absolves depression of its function and
allows us to quite naturally live with pride.
Dr. Brad Larsen is a clinical psychologist resident in private practice. His clinical super-
visor is Dr. Sharon Chatkupt Lee (Oregon License Number 1599)
Reach Dr. Larsen at brad@bradlarsenpsyd.com
www.bradlarsenpsyd.com
June 2012