“Homosexuality is nothing to be ashamed of” -Sigmund Freud

Homosexuality, a sexual orientation that many youth souls commit suicide just because their environment is not accepting them as they are. A sexual orientation that brings up loneliness and depression by itself just because of the lack of open-mindedness of certain people.  Did you know that where some people are considering homosexuality as a mental illness, new studies actually have linked homophobia to a mental disorder and low IQ? 

Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, also agrees with this, he stated this in his letter to a mother of a homosexual  as: “It is nothing to be ashamed of, no vice, no degradation, it cannot be classified as an illness.”  Yet, if you are homophobic do not lose hope! You can be someone better. Check: Things You Should Do If You Are Homophobic  

 

This is the full letter of Freud to a mother of homosexual:

April 9th, 1935

PROF. DR Freud

WIEN IX., BERGGASSE 19

Dear Mrs. [Erased]

I gather from your letter that your son is a homosexual. I am most impressed by the fact, that you do not mention this term yourself in your information about him. May I question you why you avoid it? Homosexuality is assuredly no advantage, but it is nothing to be ashamed of, no vice, no degradation, it cannot be classified as an illness; we consider it to be a variation of the sexual function produced by a certain arrest of sexual development. Many highly respectable individuals of ancient and modern times have been homosexuals, several of the greatest men among them (Plato, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, etc.) It is a great injustice to persecute homosexuality as a crime and cruelty too. If you do not believe me, read the books of Havelock Ellis.

By asking me if I can help, you mean, I suppose, if I can abolish homosexuality and make normal heterosexuality take its place. The answer is, in a general way, we cannot promise to achieve this. In a certain number of cases we succeed in developing the blighted germs of heterosexual tendencies, which are present in every homosexual; in the majority of cases it is no longer possible. It is a question of the quality and the age of the individual. The result of treatment cannot be predicted.

What analysis can do for your son runs in a different line. If he is unhappy, neurotic, torn by conflicts, inhibited in his social life, analysis may bring him harmony, peace of mind, full efficiency, whether he remains a homosexual or gets changed. If you make up your mind he should have analysis with me—I don’t expect you will—, he has to come over to Vienna. I have no intention of leaving here. However, don’t neglect to give me your answer.

Sincerely yours with best wishes,

Freud

 

Source: Wikisource