Resolution 756 (1981)

Discrimination against homosexuals

Author(s): Parliamentary Assembly

Origin - Assembly debate on 1 October 1981 (10th Sitting) (see Doc. 4755, report of the Committee on Social and Health Questions). Text adopted by the Assembly on 1 October 1981 (10th Sitting).

The Assembly,

1. Reaffirming its vocation to fight against all forms of discrimination and oppression ;

2. Believing that all individuals, once they have reached the legal age provided for in the country they live in, should have the right to sexual self-determination ;

3. Convinced that the theory whereby homosexuality, whether male or female, is a form of mental disturbance has no sound scientific or medical basis, and has been refuted by recent research ;

4. Noting that the label of mental disturbance can constitute a severe handicap to homosexuals as regards their social, professional and, particularly, psychological development, and can be used in some countries as a pretext for repressive psychiatric practices ;

5. Acknowledging the World Health Organisation's world-wide competence and influence in medical and psychiatric circles,

6. Calls upon the World Health Organisation to delete homosexuality from its International Classification of Diseases