Judge: Put Gays in Mental Institutions

ABC News ^ | 4/12/02

[Buffalo Bob]

The fact of the Bible scripture that he quotes in his letter really scares a lot of us...

For the same reason that cockroaches scurry when the light is turned on.

[Judith Anne]

What does "Lamda Legal" mean? I can't remember what "Lambda" stands for...

[Buffalo Bob]

It means homosexual.

[ConsistentLibertarian]

I don't think there's anything in the bible to the effect that homosexuality is a mental illness ...

[ConsistentLibertarian]

Perhpas the judge should be fired for stupidity rather than bias ...

[Ron H.]

...or perhaps applauded for a courageous act as a person.

[Non-Sequitur]

If you don't mind judges making mental health diagnosis then perhaps you would also like psychiatrists making legal decisions?

[chainsaw]

Either way it's still free speech. I applaud the judge for his moral convictions.

[azhenfud]

"Because we pay his salary to sit on that bench, I think we deserve a little more respect than what he's giving us."

Drug dealers, murderers, robbers, rapists, and pedophiles also by proxy of public interest pay his salary. Guess they "deserve" more "respect" than he gives them too...

[ConsistentLibertarian]

There can be bad arguments for true conclusions. Suppose the judge has simply written "Homosexuality is wrong because God forbids it -- the Bible tells us so". That's one case. The same people would sue him, offering the same argument, and the same people here would defend his moral courage. But this case is interestingly different. The judge isn't making a moral claim. The judge is making a medical diagnosis. Moreover, he seems not to even understand the difference. It's his stupidity that's most worrisome. Even if you applaud his morals, you should be embarrassed by his argument.

[azhenfud]

"I don't think there's anything in the bible to the effect that homosexuality is a mental illness..."

No, it's plainly called SIN and the soul that sins without repent will DIE, if not physically, then surely spiritually.

Lev. Ch 20 V 13 "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them."

[JZoback]

If you don't mind judges making mental health diagnosis then perhaps you would also like psychiatrists making legal decisions?

Your getting your strawman agrument mixed up here.

He said in the article he does ask a person their sexual preferences.

[ConsistentLibertarian]

I take it you're conceding the point then: This judge has no biblical authority for his medical diagnosis. What's interesting is that people who differ in their views on the morality or immorality of homosexuality can agree in his stupidity. Christians should be particularly concerned because his stupidity reinforces negative stereotypes.

[ConsistentLibertarian]

The worry about stupid people is that they can't escape their own stupidity. So whatever issue comes before this judge, even mundane questions about corporate securities law, we have to worry that he's too stupid to make the necessary distinctions or to make make appropriate inferences from the facts presented.

[Buffalo Bob]

I don't think there's anything in the bible to the effect that homosexuality is a mental illness ...

I think you are correct, I don't recall any such association. I do remember, however, several passages which refer to homosexuality as sinful, evil, and worthy of death. Imagine the homosexual outrage if the judge would have made those associations. If anything, he was gentle with his assertion.

The judge isn't making a moral claim. The judge is making a medical diagnosis.

You may be right on this one. I think he was making a clear case of their disease being just what most folks know it to be, a mental illness. One that has been shown to be treatable.

[Youngblood]

Drug dealers, murderers, robbers, rapists, and pedophiles also by proxy of public interest pay his salary. Guess they "deserve" more "respect" than he gives them too...

You're categorizing people with criminals merely because they're homosexual (and breaking no laws or harming anyone). This seems reasonable to you?

[azhenfud]

"I take it you're conceding the point then: This judge has no biblical authority for his medical diagnosis."

Yes, the judge did overstep the bounds with the "medical" opinion from scripture, I agree.
Had he held an opinion from medical personnel, that would have been helpful to his arguement, but then based on the support of scripture stating homosexuality is detrimental to society, he offered an opinion for those to seek help - same as if an alcoholic or drug abuser would come before his bench and be told to seek help with their problem....
Az

[ConsistentLibertarian]

If it were a mental illness, it would be mean spirited for God to hold it against a person ... Most people who talk the sin-talk think of it as involving voluntary behavior, not chemical imbalances in the brain.

[ConsistentLibertarian]

Failure to understand what could possibly count as evidence for a claim is a worrisome trait in a judge.

[aruanan]

Most people who talk the sin-talk think of it as involving voluntary behavior, not chemical imbalances in the brain.

Unless they're Calvinists, in which case sin literally is something outside one's control, one's engaging in it having been foreordained by G-d for his greater glory. That's similar to a chemical imbalance in the brain.