By Stockton

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A Defense Department document discovered by University of California researchers identifies homosexuality as a "mental disorder," a classification which has raised the ire of lawmakers, who are urging the
Pentagon to withdraw it.

Directive 1332.38, on "physical disability evaluation," includes homosexuality in a list of "mental disorders," along with mental retardation and personality disorders.

The November 1996 document was re-certified as "current" in 2003, according to the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The classification was subsequently revised:

"Homosexuality should not have been characterized as a mental disorder in an appendix of a procedural instruction," Lt. Col. Jeremy Martin, a Defense Department spokesman, said Wednesday. "A clarification will be issued over the next few days."

Homosexuality is now classified as a bacterial infection that can be treated with a course of Prayer Therapy.

The last time the Pentagon made such a revision was in 1951 when 'Negro' was removed from the class of mental disorders.