With God on Our Side

This from Mercedes Allen at The Bilerico Project:

Sorry, I don’t have a verifiable link for this yet, but it comes from a good source. Three more members have been named to the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-V Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders work group: Friedemann Pfäfflin (Gender Identity Disorder subgroup), Lori Brotto (Sexual Dysfunctions subgroup), and Martin Kafka (Paraphilias subgroup). Kafka advocates the use of Celexa and Prozac to cure crossdressing. I remain convinced that the greater danger in the DSM controversy lies in the likely transformation of “Transvestitic Fetish” (TF) into something overencompassing which will then become the diagnosis for many who better fall under GID, the current diagnosis and medical model for transsexuals.

Zöe adds the eyebrow-raising news that Kafka (was there ever a more appropriate name?) is a member of the Vatican Council and hasn’t published a single paper on gender dysphoria. The post also includes a lengthy extract from the Catholic Herald and is a must-read.

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Previous posts:

• Mad as hell (posted 06 May 2008)
• Still mad: more on DSM-V/Zucker/Blanchard (posted 18 May 2008)
• Crazy love (posted 01 June 2008)

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They set a ladder against the clouds
To climb up to the deity
I want to be there when they hit the ground
And on the walls paint ‘gravity’
You’ve got to have faith, have faith
But faith won’t sit with reason

(Lyrics from Latin Quarter’s “Faith and Reason” by Mike Jones)

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Later edit: Mercedes has been in touch (see comments section) to advise that:

The Opus Dei thing is actually an incorrect assumption. Zoe’s since made a correction. She and I have a few of the same sources, and some of those sources have been running with this without checking.

Zöe has updated her post accordingly and as follows:

UPDATE – had it not been so late when I posted this, I would have cross-checked the reported facts – such as the allegation that he was a member of Opus Dei – with primary sources. And would have found this:

“As a non-Catholic, I was impressed with the deep, genuine concern about the issue, the willingness to be open and listen, and the proactive approach to doing the right thing,” Kafka said. “I was very encouraged by this meeting.”

I won’t remove my post, but I will issue this correction. When I get things wrong, as I will sometimes, I shouldn’t hide it. Otherwise how can others judge my credibility?

My thanks to Mercedes for letting me know of the update, and my apologies for any confusion.

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©2008 Helen G