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<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT><FONT size=4>CNN: 05-23-05</FONT></DIV>
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<H1>Psychiatrics want recognition of gay marriage</H1>
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<FONT size=1>Monday, May 23, 2005 Posted: 12:04 PM EDT (1604 GMT)
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<P><B style="FONT-SIZE: 14px">ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- Representatives of the
nation's top psychiatric group approved a statement Sunday urging legal
recognition of gay marriage.</B></P>
<P>If approved by the association's directors in July, the measure would make
the American Psychiatric Association the first major medical group to take such
a stance.</P>
<P>The statement supports same-sex marriage "in the interest of maintaining and
promoting mental health."</P>
<P>It follows a similar measure by the American Psychological Association last
year, little more than three decades after that group removed homosexuality from
its list of mental disorders.</P>
<P>The psychiatric association's statement, approved by voice vote on the first
day of its weeklong annual meeting in Atlanta, cites the "positive influence of
a stable, adult partnership on the health of all family members."</P>
<P>The resolution recognizes "that gay men and lesbians are full human beings
who should be afforded the same human and civil rights," said Margery Sved, a
Raleigh, North Carolina, psychiatrist and member of the assembly's committee on
gay and lesbian issues.</P>
<P>The document clarifies that the association is addressing same-sex civil
marriage, not religious marriages. It takes no position on any religion's views
on marriage.</P>
<P>Massachusetts is the only state that allows same-sex marriage. Eighteen
states have passed constitutional amendments outlawing same-sex
marriage.</P></DIV></BODY></HTML>