Homosexuality Is Not a Disease:
A Personal Reflection on Faith, Medicine, Stigma and Human Dignity.
For a long time, I have thought about homosexuality from different perspectives. My thoughts have been shaped by conversations with friends, things I have witnessed, discussions in school and at work, and stories I have encountered online.
I am a Christian, and I understand that people can have different religious, cultural and moral beliefs about sexuality. I also understand that homosexuality remains a sensitive and debated subject in many communities, including Ghana. But for me, one question has continued to stand out:
Is homosexuality a disease?
My answer, based on what I have learned from medical sources, is no.
But before I reached this conclusion, there were several experiences that made me think more deeply about the subject.
What Made Me Choose This Topic?
My interest in this subject did not begin in a classroom or from reading a medical textbook. It began with something I happened to watch.
I once watched a wedding ceremony between two men. As I watched them celebrate, I noticed something very simple: they appeared happy. They were expressing affection for one another, celebrating their relationship and beginning a new chapter of their lives together.
A friend who was with me questioned why I was interested in watching such a wedding. She expressed the view that homosexuality was wrong and described homosexual people as abnormal or mentally unwell.
Her reaction made me stop and think.
I asked myself: Why does another person’s sexual orientation have to become a reason for us to describe that person as sick or treat them without dignity?
People have different experiences of attraction. A heterosexual person may develop feelings for someone of the opposite sex, while a homosexual person may develop feelings for someone of the same sex.
People can have different religious or moral opinions about those relationships. But I began to question whether sexual orientation itself should be described as a disease.
That question stayed with me.
What Does Medicine Say?
Rather than relying only on my personal opinion, I decided to research what recognized medical organizations say.
The World Medical Association adopted its Statement on Natural Variations of Human Sexuality in 2013 and revised it in 2023. Its position is that lesbian, gay and bisexual people represent natural variations of human sexuality and that homosexuality and bisexuality are not illnesses or disorders requiring treatment or a cure.
The World Health Organization also provides important historical context. In 1990, the World Health Assembly stopped classifying homosexuality as a mental disorder.
This distinction matters.
A person can experience a mental-health condition regardless of whether they are heterosexual, gay or lesbian. But that is very different from saying that someone’s sexual orientation is itself a mental illness.
Those are two separate things.
Disagreement Does Not Have to Become Cruelty
As a Christian, I understand why some people approach this subject through their interpretation of the Bible and their understanding of marriage and sexuality.
I also understand that culture and family traditions influence how people think about relationships.
But I have come to believe that disagreement does not have to become hatred.
Someone can disagree with homosexuality without insulting homosexual people.
Someone can hold strong religious beliefs without treating another human being as though they are worthless.
Someone can have a different moral position without spreading medical misinformation about another person.
For me, this is where human dignity becomes important.
We are all human beings before we are anything else.
The Experience of Stigma
Another experience strengthened my interest in this subject.
I once watched a video online about two women who identified themselves as partners while shopping in a supermarket. I cannot independently verify the original source of the video, so I do not present the incident as established evidence. However, what I saw made me think about the effects of stigma.
The women appeared to experience uncomfortable reactions from people around them. According to the account presented in the video, there were moments when they felt that other people were avoiding items they had touched. There was also an uncomfortable interaction at the checkout.
As I watched, I asked myself:
What happens to a person when they are repeatedly made to feel dirty, unwanted or abnormal simply because of their sexual orientation?
Imagine constantly being stared at, judged, insulted or rejected. Even someone who considers themselves emotionally strong can be affected by repeated experiences of rejection.
And this is where I believe we sometimes confuse the person with the stigma surrounding the person.
If someone eventually experiences anxiety, sadness, loneliness or emotional distress because of repeated discrimination, that does not mean their sexual orientation is the disease.
It may mean that the social environment around them is causing them significant emotional pressure.
The World Medical Association recognizes that stigma, discrimination, rejection and other negative social experiences can affect the health and well-being of lesbian, gay and bisexual people.
That distinction is important.
We should not confuse the suffering caused by stigma with the identity being stigmatized.
Faith and Sexual Orientation
Another thing that has made me think is the relationship between sexuality and religion.
Some people assume that someone who is gay or lesbian cannot possibly have faith in God. I don’t think we can make that assumption about every individual.
People have different religious backgrounds and different relationships with faith. Some gay or lesbian people may be religious; others may not be. Some may attend church or another place of worship, pray and consider themselves people of faith.
Sexual orientation does not automatically tell us what someone’s religious beliefs are.
That is why I think it is important to separate these conversations.
A person can have a religious disagreement about homosexuality. But that disagreement does not make homosexuality a medical disease.
Medicine has its own responsibility to distinguish between illness and human variation.
What About Marriage?
Another question that comes to my mind is what happens when people feel pressured to hide their sexual orientation.
In some families and communities, marriage between a man and a woman is treated as an unquestionable expectation. From childhood, people may repeatedly hear that this is the only acceptable path.
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But what happens when someone grows up and realizes that their feelings do not fit those expectations?
They may fear rejection from their family.
They may fear becoming the subject of gossip.
They may fear losing friendships.
They may fear being judged by their religious community.
They may fear discrimination at school or at work.
Because of these pressures, some people may hide their sexual orientation.
In some circumstances, a person may enter a relationship or marriage while keeping an important part of themselves hidden. If that happens, it can potentially create difficulties for both partners.
There may be emotional distress, relationship conflict or infidelity.
However, I do not want to make the unsupported claim that hidden sexual orientation is the reason most marriages fail. Marriages can break down for many different reasons, including communication problems, abuse, financial difficulties, incompatibility and infidelity.
My question is different:
Can social pressure sometimes create problems that we later blame entirely on the individual?
If someone is terrified of being honest about themselves, perhaps we should also ask what kind of environment made honesty feel unsafe in the first place.
The Question of Healthcare
This is another area where I believe compassion matters.
If a person who is gay or lesbian becomes sick, they still need medical care.
If they have a toothache, they need a dentist.
If they have an infection, they need appropriate treatment.
If they have a physical illness, they need a doctor.
If they are experiencing emotional distress, they deserve appropriate mental-health support.
Their sexual orientation should not automatically become the diagnosis.
Healthcare professionals have a responsibility to assess people according to their actual health needs rather than stereotypes.
And patients should be able to seek healthcare without fearing humiliation or unnecessary judgment.
To me, this is not about forcing a healthcare professional to share a patient’s beliefs or lifestyle. It is about professionalism, evidence-based care and human dignity.
What Can We Do Differently?
If we want to reduce the stigma surrounding gay and lesbian people, I don’t think the answer has to begin with complicated ideas.
Sometimes it begins with simple things.
We can listen before judging.
We can educate ourselves instead of repeating myths.
We can stop unnecessary gossip about people’s private lives.
We can teach children and young people to treat people respectfully, even when they encounter differences they do not understand.
Schools and workplaces can take bullying and harassment seriously.
Healthcare professionals can provide respectful and professional care.
Families can create environments where difficult conversations can happen without immediate humiliation or rejection.
Religious communities can continue to teach according to their beliefs while encouraging people to treat others with dignity.
None of this requires every person to have identical beliefs about sexuality.
We cannot force everyone to think alike.
But perhaps we can encourage people to disagree without dehumanizing one another.
My Personal Reflection
I am not writing this article as a medical professional, nor am I claiming that everyone must share my personal beliefs.
I am writing as someone who has watched, listened, questioned and researched.
I am also writing as a Christian who believes that difficult subjects deserve thoughtful conversations.
My position became clearer as I learned more about the distinction between sexual orientation and disease.
I do not believe that calling homosexuality a disease is medically accurate.
At the same time, I recognize that people will continue to have different religious, cultural and moral views about homosexuality. Those differences are real, and people have the right to discuss them.
But there is a difference between disagreement and cruelty.
We can disagree about relationships.
We can discuss religion.
We can debate culture.
We can have different personal values.
But none of these things should require us to stop seeing another person as human.
Perhaps the question we should ask is not only:
“What do I believe about homosexuality?”
Perhaps we should also ask:
“How do I treat people whose experiences are different from mine?”
For me, that is where the conversation about homosexuality becomes a conversation about something much bigger: compassion, dignity, understanding and the way we choose to treat one another.
We may not all agree on everything.
But we can all choose not to make another human being feel worthless simply because they are different.
