A Southern California gay man has discovered his doctor listed his being gay as a chronic condition.

Matthew Moore, who recently visited a new doctor for a check-up, discovered the doctor had listed his sexual orientation under ‘diagnosis’ and ‘chronic condition’.

‘My jaw was on the floor,’ Moore told ABC4 News.

‘At first, I kind of laughed, I thought, “Here’s another way that gay people are lessened and made to feel less-than,” and then as I thought about it and as I dealt with it, it angered me.’

When Moore returned to his doctor seeking an explanation, she defended her prognosis saying the treatment of homosexuality ‘is still up to debate’ and homosexuality is ‘still being thought of as a disease’.

Moore’s new doctor had listed his ‘homosexual behavior’ using the code 302.0, which prior to 1973 was used by the medical industry to denote sexual deviance and disorders.

He said he doesn’t mind his sexual orientation being noted on his medical chart, but does take issue with his sexuality being listed as a chronic condition.

Moore told ABC4 News: ‘The government tells us often times that we’re not equal, many churches tell us that we’re sinners, and now here’s a medical professional telling us that we’re sick.’

ABC4 News sent an inquiry to Torrance Memorial Physician Network, who quickly responded with an apology letter and a statement saying ‘a diagnosis code was incorrectly used’ and they do not ‘view homosexuality as a disease or a chronic condition’.

Moore said he was happy with the final response but wanted to raise awareness of the issue in case it were to happen to someone struggling with their identity, like a younger person.

He said: ‘If I was a 14-year-old in a small town in Indiana, where I’m from, and I had a doctor tell me or my parents that I was sick because they thought I was gay, it would’ve been very damaging.’

‘I don’t want one other person who’s not straight, to be told that they’re sick or that there’s something wrong with them.’

