Doctor Lists Homosexuality as Woman's 'Current Disease'

Pride marcher in Madrid by Mario Montero Arroyo/Shutterstock

The woman and her family are outraged, as are LGBTQ+ activists, and they're demanding an apology.

Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.

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Trudy Ring

October 08 2021 2:58 PM EST

May 31 2023 4:30 PM EST

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Activists in Spain are outraged after a 19-year-old woman was given a diagnosis of "homosexuality" from a gynecologist, who listed it as a disease.

The woman, whose name was not released, went to a doctor in Murcia, a city in southeastern Spain, Monday for treatment of a menstrual problem, reports The Guardian, which cites Spanish publication El Diario. He asked if he could list her sexual orientation on his report, and she said yes and that she was gay; she thought at the time that the information might be relevant to her condition. But the report ended up saying "Current disease: homosexuality."

"At first I thought it was funny, but it just isn't," the woman said. She and her mother planned to file a complaint with the Murcian Health Service, and they want an apology.

The regional LGBTQ+ rights organization Galactyco has denounced the doctor's action and demanded an apology as well. "The World Health Organization removed homosexuality from the list of mental illnesses in 1990, and yet, 31 years on, there are still some professionals in Murcia's health service who view sexual orientation as an illness," said a statement from the group.

Galactyco has received "countless" other reports of discrimination against patients, the statement noted. "We find it alarming, unacceptable and intolerable that there are professionals today who are responsible for our health, but who ignore the realities of LGBTI people," the statement said.