8. Pathological Bias In layman’s terms, this is nothing more than an extreme form of racism, homophobia, or other prejudices. Dr. Makari [Dr. George Makari, Director of the Institute for the History of Psychiatry at Cornell University] warns that ”the idea of making a social ill a pathological mental illness is very dangerous. It misdirects us by biologizing something that is social.” Still, if bigotry makes the cut for the new DSM, it could have profound implications for our justice system, sparking more defense-attorney tactics that begin with, "Your Honor, my client suffers from..."It's interesting that he thinks that this diagnosis is likely to be used by "racists" and "homophobes" as a defense, but it's more likely to be used against anyone with heterodox opinions about race or orthodox opinions about homosexuality in all sorts of court proceedings.
As for the homophobia thing, it's worth noting that in the first edition of DSM, published in 1952, homosexuality was listed as a mental illness, which was what most people thought at the time. The various changes in the DSM over the years have been the result of activism, not science.
