I didn’t believe it, either, but here’s the article:
What’s next, listing left-handedness as a mental disorder?
Pentagon lists homosexuality as a mental disorder
- Post author:grumpypilgrim
- Post published:June 20, 2006
- Post category:Politics / Reproductive Rights
- Post comments:8 Comments
grumpypilgrim
Grumpypilgrim is a writer and management consultant living in Madison, WI. He has several scientific degrees, including a recent master’s degree from MIT. He has also held several professional career positions, none of which has been in a field in which he ever took a university course. Grumps is an avid cyclist and, for many years now, has traveled more annual miles by bicycle than by car…and he wishes more people (for the health of both themselves and our planet) would do the same. Grumps is an enthusiastic advocate of life-long learning, healthy living and political awareness. He is single, and provides a loving home for abused and abandoned bicycles. Grumpy’s email: grumpypilgrim(AT)@gmail(DOT).com [Erich’s note: Grumpy asked that his email be encrypted this way to deter spam. If you want to write to him, drop out the parentheticals in the above address].
I'm a left-hander and I've read the statistics showing that lefties are more prone to various diseases and accidents. For instance, see here:
Therefore, there is at least an argument (though not a good one) that an employer might discriminate against lefties.
On the other hand, being gay is not associated with any inability to carry out any military duties.
In sum, discriminating against gays with the military's current faux mental disorder label makes much LESS sense than discriminating against left handers.
Is this really new news? Sounds like an old policy they've never bothered changing. Shame on them if they have reissued it.
Erich, that's because left-handed people are possessed by the Devil:
http://www.anythingleft-handed.co.uk/lefty_myths….
I guess demonic possession would be a physical ailment, rather than a mental disorder. Grumpypilgrim, does the Pentagon say anything about possession?
Edgar: Thanks for the heads up. At a minimum, if I'm possessed I'm not responsible for my actions, right? Carte blanche for anything I want to do?
On the contrary; this possession could not take place without your cooperation. You obviously choose to be left-handed.
All sarcasm aside, left-handedness might be a real problem in some military situations. Most hand-held weapons of which I am aware are right-handed. (For example, pistols and rifles typically eject cartridges on the right side. If used in a left-handed fashion, those cartridges can hit the operator.) I cannot claim expertise on this subject, however.
To Erich's and Edgar's comments (with tongue firmly in cheek): left-handedness is obviously a *lifestyle choice*. People *choose* to be left-handed because they are evil sinners. That is why God designed the world for right-handed people and made it so difficult for left-handed people: obviously, right-handedness is divinely ordained. Therefore, to prevent the spread of left-handedness — and prevent society from seeing it as normal, acceptable behavior — we must amend the Constitution to ban left-handed people from marrying each other. We must also ban them from military service, or at least ban them from engaging in left-handed behavior while they are in the military, not just because of the problem with weaponry that Edgar mentioned, but also because it will hurt morale to have sinful, openly left-handed people in our Armed Forces. In the meantime, left-handed people should pray to Jesus to cast out the evil demons that make them left-handed. With God's divine grace and the help of the Holy Spirit, people who practice the perverted behavior of left-handedness might someday overcome their sin. Indeed, if we don't stop left-handed behavior now, there's no telling what might be next: marriages between ambidextrous people or maybe even marriages between people and animals.
Sadly, left-handed people are no less discriminated in many parts of the world. In many Asian countries (including mine), the left hand is considered to be the 'impure' or 'dirty' hand, and accepting food, money, or pretty much anything else is considered taboo. When my mother gives me something, if I take it with my left hand, she literally takes it back from me, and gives it to me, only I'm willing to accept it with my right hand.
And in figures of speech of many languages, including English, 'left-handed' has a negative connotation :
Courtesty dictionary.com
left-handed:
Awkward; maladroit.
Of doubtful sincerity; dubious: left-handed flattery; a left-handed compliment.
(of marriages) illicit or informal; "in Colonial America left-handed marriages between Frenchmen and Indians were frequent" 3: (of marriages) of a marriage between one of royal or noble birth and one of lower rank; valid but with the understanding that the rank of the inferior remains unchanged and offspring do not succeed to titles or property of the superior
not skillful in physical movement especially with the hands
If you thought that only school bullies ostracized people with differences, you're wrong….
Way to ignore what the American Psychological Association has said since 1973, Pentagon!