The Pentagon is suffering from schizophrenia and needs a good psychiatrist.

That’s about the only conclusion any sane person could come to after following the military agency’s seemingly conflicting attitudes when it comes to policies on homosexuality.

Now, a new Pentagon document that classifies homosexuality as a mental disorder—despite the fact that national psychiatric and psychological associations disavowed that position decades ago—is sure to ignite questions about the agency’s true attitudes on homosexuality.

Granted, the military agency has never been thrilled with the reality of gay and lesbian service members in its ranks, and it isn’t about to win any awards for most gay-friendly work environment.

The most famous gay and lesbian battle with the Pentagon, of course, is the flawed policy on whether or not gay and lesbian people can serve in the country’s military.

The policy itself is the epitome of schizophrenia. "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell," as it is so famously known, essentially says gay and lesbian people can serve in the military as long as they are deeply closeted and, by inference, equally ashamed of their homosexuality.

Still, the policy, when enacted under former President Bill Clinton, was oddly heralded as a political compromise that should have marked a step forward toward breaking down the Pentagon’s homophobic attitudes.

Defenders of the policy say it has at least forced the Pentagon to deal (sort of, kind of) with the issue of gays in the ranks, and that it offers some level of protection to gay and lesbian service members, as long as they are not intent on holding a Gay Pride parade at boot camp or showing up for duty in a tutu. Supposedly, the policy is meant to stop so-called "witch hunts" in the military, which used to be commonplace. Carry a big stick and keep your mouth shut, the philosophy seems to go.

Furthermore, defenders would point out, the military has made some inroads into combating homophobia, like giving anti-harassment training and supposedly not tolerating anti-gay baiting.

Activists guffaw at any defense of "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell."

They point out that anti-harassment policies and statements usually only ever happen after incidents like beatings, even murders, in the military ranks of gay or lesbian individuals.

They say that witch hunts still happen, even regularly, just more discreetly.

And they say more and more people, not less, are being thrown out of the military for being gay or lesbian. (Defenders claim that most of those released from the military for being gay are done so because they violate the policy by officially "coming out" to their superiors.)

Any notion that the military is inching its way to a more enlightened outlook on gay or lesbian service members is absurd denial, activists lament.

Now, the naysayers seem to have more ammunition with a document called a Defense Department Instruction, which lists homosexuality as a mental disorder.

The document was uncovered by the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military at the University of California at Santa Barbara. The Center is well known as a vocal critic of military policy on gays and lesbians.

The document was issued in order to detail discharge policies for service members with disabilities, as well as retirement policies.

But in a section on "defects," the document lists homosexuality alongside reasons for discharge such as mental retardation and personality disorders.

Not surprisingly, this has gay activists and those who watch the military’s policies on gay and lesbian soldiers fighting mad.

This is particularly troublesome since it has long been recognized by the mental health profession that homosexuality is not, in fact, a mental disorder. Indeed, the American Psychiatric Association took homosexuality off its list of mental disorders more than 30 years ago, in 1973.

Since then, every major mainstream mental health professional organization has followed suit. Today, it is widely accepted by the vast majority of mainstream mental health professionals that being gay or lesbian is not a mental disorder.

In fact, the American Psychiatric Association’s head, James H. Scully Jr., sent a protest letter to the Department of Defense’s top doctor in early June, denouncing the listing of homosexuality as a mental disorder.

"Based on scientific and medical evidence, the APA declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder in 1973—a position shared by all other major health and mental health organizations based on their own review of the science," Scully wrote.

A Department of Defense spokesperson has said the policy is under review.

Miffed members of Congress have pointed out that no other Pentagon regulations list homosexuality as a psychological disorder. Nine lawmakers have asked Defense

Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to have all of the Pentagon’s policies on homosexuality and mental health reviewed, and to ensure they reflect the same standard: That being gay is not a mental disorder.

Given the strong body of scientific evidence that supports the conclusion that being gay is not a mental health disorder, it’s possible, even likely, that the Pentagon will change this blatant error in the Defense Department Instruction.

But the bigger issue isn’t simply how this single document does or does not classify homosexuality. The bigger issue is when and how the military is finally going to come to terms with its fragmented, discriminatory and sometimes contradictory positions on gays in the military.

The Pentagon needs to get a grip on the problem, and solve its own homophobia. It’s driving us all crazy.