QUB Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) Society

via PinkNews

Northern Ireland’s most famous female politician has said that she does not think all gay people need psychiatric treatment.

Iris Robinson was speaking in the Northern Ireland Assembly, where she is chair of the health committee.

A member of the Alliance party, Stephen Farry, had asked the province’s health minister “for his assessment of the mental-health needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender groups.”

The Minister, Michael McGimpsey, said that “anyone who has a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender sexual orientation often has specific and heightened mental-health needs arising from rejection or hostility from his or her family, the workplace and the wider community.

“I expect any treatment or support by health and social care staff to be offered in a way that is sensitive to the issues arising from a patient’s sexual orientation, and to be delivered in a way that leads to the best outcome.”

The minister was asked to confirm that “sexuality is biological and that it is not accepted practice in either psychiatry or psychotherapy to try to cure homosexuality.”

Then followed this exchange:

“Over the past few weeks, some people have attempted to suggest that I indicated that homosexuality is a mental-health issue, and they have twisted everything that was said on Stephen Nolan’s radio show,” she said.

“I have got broad shoulders, and can take the brickbats that followed from that. However, nothing could be further from the truth. What I did say was that homosexuality —

Some Members: Ask a question.

Mrs I Robinson: I am getting to it. Homosexuality, like all sin, is an abomination. That is what I said. My point, however, is that there are some people —

Some Members: Ask a question.

Mr Deputy Speaker: Will the Member ask the question?

Mrs I Robinson: I am getting to the question.

Dr Farry: You are reading a statement.

Mrs I Robinson: No, I am not.

Dr Farry: Yes, you are.

Mrs I Robinson: Who is the Speaker here?

Mr Deputy Speaker: Will the Member come to the question?

Mrs I Robinson: I certainly will. Does the Minister agree that there are some people who, in their teenage years, are sexually confused, and that they could do with help from practitioners to assist them with talking therapies, to help them to realise exactly what they are — whether they are heterosexual or homosexual?

The Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety: I am not in a position to talk about sexual confusion. What I am in a position to do is to reflect what the American Psychiatric Association concluded.”