Same-Sex Civil Marriage

We are concerned about the APA Board of Trustees' decision to support legal recognition of same-sex civil marriage, as reported in the August 19 issue. Although protecting human rights is important and is to be applauded, we wonder whether the social issues related to the legality of same-sex civil marriage are best left to the courts.

Psychiatry by its very nature deals with complex issues that exist on the cusp of both medicine and culture. However, psychiatry fundamentally identifies itself as a scientific discipline and, as a result, can move only very slowly, if at all, on matters of social or ethical import. Psychiatrists, like all scientists, need to make moral and ethical judgments every day, and that internal and external dialogue deserves a great deal of attention. However, this is very different from a formal institutional declaration that can create only misunderstanding and dissension.

It is not that long ago that homosexuality was regarded as a pathology. To now swing in the other direction is more a reflection of the rudderless moral direction of science than a reasoned moral judgment. If science can answer this question, then where is the research support? This is not an issue that can be answered within the confines of APA, though such interest in making a statement is understandable, given the cultural polarization that exists around this issue.